Berghahn (history, Columbia U.) provides a synthetic history of the German Empire from its founding in 1871 by Otto von Bismarck through World War I. He takes a thematic approach, offering (for example) chapters on economic developments, the organization of industry, demographic structures and developments, social stratification, minorities and majorities, high and low culture, the sciences and humanities, political parties and elections, extraparliamentary organizations and movements, executive structural and functional change, foreign policy, and World War I as seen "from above" and "from below." In large measure, the work revolves around the concepts of the pluralization and polarization of society. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)