This book analyzes the political development of the German left since 1945. In particular, it focuses on the emergence of the Greens as a party and movement, a process which fundamentally altered the nature of progressive politics in the Federal Republic. Indeed, one of the study's central theses concentrates on the Greens' transformative effects which - in the course of a decade - altered the structure and content of what it means to be `left' in Germany. Through detailed historical work and comparative political sociology, the book addresses issues of the left's alteration which have implications well beyond the immediate German context. Special consideration is given, in addition, to the East German left as well as to the revolutionary nature of the changes of 1989/90 in the politics of Germany. The study concludes by reflecting on the future identity of the German - and European - lefts.