• Organisation

The introduction to this text states, "das vorliegende Buch ist in vieler Hinsicht ungewöhnlich," and indeed it is! Aimed at upper level courses, this book is a refreshing and provocative combination of recent and often controversial texts with good solid language practice and grammar exercises. This book has something for everyone. The authors have divided the textbook into five major Themenbereiche: "Stereophon- Stereotyp," "Identitätsfindung und Interkulturalität," "Mit Sprache spielen," "Gewalt und Widerstand" and "Zur Aktualität der Vergangenheit." Each topic area encompasses a cornucopia of materials in the form of articles, letters, songs, cartoons, tourist brochures and government forms, to name just a few examples. I found the selection to be excellent and intellectually stimulating. Often, when I assigned a text, I found that the majority of the students had already read it. This happened frequently in the chapter on terrorism, for example, where students all read ahead out of genuine interest, rather than because they had been told to do so.