Germany Tried Democracy: A Political History of the Reich from 1918 to 1933. By S. William Halperin, Associate Professor of Modern History, University of Chicago. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1946. Pp. viii, 567. $3.75.) and Experiment in Germany: The Story of an American Intelligence Officer. By Saul K. Padover. (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. 1946. Pp. 400. $3.75.)

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-164
Author(s):  
Denise A. Spellberg

Balanced, well-written surveys of the pre-modern history of the Middle East are still, unfortunately, quite rare, and works that illuminate specific areas of that past with aplomb are rarer still. Such, however, is no longer the state of our field with regard to Islamic Spain, which can now be studied and taught from the excellent survey provided by Hugh Kennedy. The book is a fine political history deftly attuned to the elucidation of critical historiographical issues. The importance of contemporary Arabic sources, or lack thereof, is central to the organization of this text, a point that the author utilizes throughout to prompt a sense of critical inquiry from the reader.


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