Reviews

"Diefendorf's book is excellent history, thorough, documented, well organized, and readably written."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Far-ranging....An extremely valuable contribution to planning history and to postwar German history."--Journal of Modern History
"Not only historians but students of architecture, urban planning, and historic preservation, as well as lawyers, environmentalists, and communitarians, will find much of absorbing interest in this dense but well-written history. Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"A fascinating account of the reconstruction of German cities following the end of World War II...Diefendorf suggests that by learning from the German experience of revitalizing its devastated cities, the United States can be more efficient in attacking urban blight in its own cities."--History: Reviews of New Books
"[A] major contribution to the subject."--American Historical Review
"In his introduction to this detailed, fascinating study of rebuilding in the German Federal Republic, the author reminds us that urban reconstruction is a very complex and emotionally charged subject, since so many concerns, both practical and psychological, need to be satisfied."--German Studies Review
"Diefendorf's text is both thorough and illuminating....A welcome contribution to the English-language literature on post-war German urbanism."--The Times Literary Supplement
"This impressive study is supported by a wide range of maps, diagrams, tables, photographs and sources culled by the author from over thirty archives. All this is woven into a detailed and fascinating analysis."--History Today
"The book not only offers something to specialists and historians, but also it attempts to reach a broader public through its explanations."--Die alte Stadt
"Diefendorf's analysis will be particularly valuable because of its breadth and depth. That is, he looks at the reconstruction from the perspectives of all the major participants of the rebuilding process and he places his analysis fully into the historical context of the culture and politics of German planning traditions since the late nineteenth century."--Diethelm Prowe, Carleton College
"On the basis of research that took him to twenty-five libraries and archives in ten German cities, Diefendorf has written a thorough and absorbing study of city planning and rebuilding in West Germany and West Berlin in the early and mid-twentieth century. Paying attention to over twenty cities that had populations in excess of 100,000 in 1939, he has succeeded in encompassing local developments within a analytic framework that is both comprehensive and
illuminating."--Andrew Lees, Rutgers University, Camden