This volume of twenty-three essays by German and American historians deals with the most important issues of US policy toward Germany in the decade following World War II: Germany's democratisation, economic recovery, rearmament, and integration into the European community and Western alliance. All contributions to this volume are based on recent research in German and American archives, and include two comprehensive essays on archival sources and a selected bibliography. In contrast to most other studies, the essays cover not only the period of military government (1945-1949) but also the era of the Allied High Commission for Germany.