The Curtis book sits on the shelf in my office. The publisher sent it to me for consideration as a possible text for my class. At first glance, it pretty much took itself out of consideration. Don't get me wrong. I think it is a great book - but you can tell just by looking at it that it is not suitable for a community college introductory course in Comparative Politics. The book is 600 pages of dual column text, hard bound. I'm afraid its size alone might put off most of my students.
But it sits on my shelf because it is a really good ‘political science’ text on comparative politics. It emphasizes the political science element of comparing political systems. As a result, it is heavy on the statistics and on the institutional structural elements. It is a really good book, the one I go to when I want to know more about a particular country.
It was a particularly good approach in examining the period of integration that followed the reunification of the two Germanys in the early 90s. Some people, some very prominent people (like Nobel prize-winning author Günter Grass) said it could not be done. The two societies had lived apart too long and had developed on completely different paths. Curtis’ book documents the differences statistically and tracks them over time, as the differences narrow. In the end, Germany integrates itself relatively smoothly. The book illuminates in part how and why that happened. As a result, he gives a great picture of where Germany is today. For specialists and graduate students. It is a great source. As an introductory text, it is probably TMI.
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