Michał Kosman’s book is worthy of attention not just within the context of the ongoing discussions regarding deteriorating Polish-German relations. It deserves to be read for a number of reasons, in order to verify widespread opinions on the role of Germany in European politics in the final decade of the twentieth century. The most important of these reasons are: high competence of the young researcher (affiliated with universities in Bydgoszcz and Poznań), his balanced opinions and comments formulated on the basis of German-language publications and magazine articles, and thorough factographical presentation.