Germany Today is a fascinating investigation into the West German spirit by the leading student of contemporary Europe, Walter Laqueur. Concerned with where Germany has come from and where it is headed, Laqueur addresses specifically the divisions and insecurities so reported of late: the widespread feeling of "angst", the rise of the apocalyptic anti-establishment Greens, and the anti-nuclear movement. He places these in the context of the leveling off of the postwar economic boom and other changes in German society and sees them as a manifestation of a deep-seated German tendency toward emotional extremism rather than, as some see it, a sign that Germany is a "house on fire", or a society verging on collapse. He foresees economic and political crises ahead, and a testing of the system, but overall a greater levelheadedness, common sense, and tolerance than in past periods of German history.