The German Democratic Republic (GDR) had been widely considered the most stable of the Soviet Union's allies. Yet, in less than six months beginning in the autumn of 1989, the seemingly solid East German regime went into crisis and in quick order the old GDR was absorbed into the Federal Republic of Germany. In such a rapid and unpredicted transformation, one would have expected to see the sort of massive working class upheaval that marked the Solidarity movement in neighboring Poland. Yet, Nothing of the sort occurred. “Why not?” is the question that provides the focus of this superb study.