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The relationship between Russia and Germany has been pivotal in some of the most fateful events of the 20th century: the two World Wars, the Cold War, and the emergence of a new Europe from the ashes of communism. This text examines the recent evolution of that tense and often violent relationship from both the Russian and German perspectives. Angela Stent combines interviews with key international figures - including Mikhail Gorbachev - with insights gleaned from newly declassified archives in East Germany and her own understanding of Russian-German relations. She presents a review of the events and trends between the late 1960s and the late 1990s: the onset of detente, the unification of Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the rise of an uncertain new European order. Stent reveals the chaos and ambivalence behind the Soviet negotiation strategy that led - against Gorbachev's wishes - to that old Soviet nightmare, a united Germany in NATO. She shows how German strength and Russian weakness have governed the delicate dance of power between unified Germany and democratized Russia. Finally, she lays out several scenarios for the future of Russian-German relations - some optimistic and others darkened by the threat of a new authoritarianism.