[Berman's] work is convincing and well written, and her discussion of the role of ideas is spirited and welcome. Chapter 2 should be required reading for all political scientists who are unwilling to look beyond numbers to see the force of ideas.
   --Foreign Affairs

[The Social Democratic Movement] is a comparative analysis of the developments of two of the most important social democratic parties in Europe, the SPD of Germany and the SAP of Sweden. It sets out to explain how the German Social Democrats, at the largest interwar party, could not effectively prevent the collapse of Weimar Germany, whereas at the same time the Swedish Social Democrats were establishing political hegemony in their own country...The book outlines the contrasts between the Swedish and German developments through well-contextualized country-specific chapters, first on long-term political development, then on national transitions to (full) democracy, then on responses to the depression. The book is thoroughly researched and clearly written, with each chapter beginning with an insightful and very fitting quotation.
   --Alan Siaroff, Recensions [Italy]

Sheri Berman is Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University.