The Firm

June 1, 2010
East Germany was perhaps the most stable satellite in the postwar Soviet bloc, and one of the main reasons was the scope and efficiency of its Ministerium fr Staatssicherheit, the secret police known as the Stasi. Bruce (history, Univ. of Waterloo) examines its operations after first discussing in his introduction the complex way that the Stasi and East Germany have been remembered and interpreted by both Germans and outsiders since 1990. To understand the functioning of the Stasi, Bruce used good archival holdings for two unexceptional local districts north of Berlin. He also makes use of personal accounts from Stasi employees and general citizens, from whom one finds the real flavor and detail of everyday life in the socialist dictatorship. Bruce notes that a vast network of (mostly male) informers was the Stasi's primary means of control because citizens understood, tolerated, and participated in the surreptitious surveillance. This book can be supplemented with Edward Peterson's "The Limits of Secret Police Power" and Anna Funder's "Stasiland". VERDICT For specialists and academic libraries, this well-researched book is as much a cultural and sociological study as a political and bureaucratic history. (Index and photos not seen; maps would have been helpful.)Daniel K. Blewett, Coll. of DuPage Lib., Glen Ellyn, IL

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