A compilation of essays on united Germany after 1990, here Habermas, a public intellectual, political commentator, and prominent critical theorist, touches upon issues such as the revival of German nationalism, the problem of reconciling with the East German past, and critiques the ‘normalization’ processes that were put into effect after the fall of the Wall. Significantly he analyzes modern Germany’s relationship with the West through the lens not of 1989, but 1945, which he argues marks the moment that Germany repudiated nationalism and anti-Semitism and embarked on joining the western Enlightenment fold. Particularly important for understanding Germany’s special situation in the post-1989 landscape is the essay 1989 in the Shadow of 1945: On the Normality of a Future Berlin Republic.