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Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F. Revised Edition

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Stefan Aust (Author)
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Stefan Aust (Author), Anthea Bell (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 57 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195372755
ISBN-10: 0195372751
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; Revised edition (March 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195372751
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195372755
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 1.4 x 6.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA solid, centrist, journalistic account of the events
By Melanchthon VINE VOICE on March 26, 2009
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
This is the absolute best mainstream journalistic narration of events relating to the terrorist activities of the Baader-Meinhof group, the RAF, in the 1970s in (then West) Germany, which culminated in the suicides of the group's leadership and the unsuccessful hijacking of the Landshut. It similarly traces the ways in which West German policing and security measures changed in an attempt to come to terms with the terrorists, including their imprisonment in a special jailblock and the creation of a special tribunal to try them. Aust goes into detail about the backgrounds of the terrorists, the atmosphere they experienced in the universities and cities of the 1970s, and their wild and suspenseful career and the fears of and sympathies for their deeds in German society.

This is a must-read for English-speaking readers interested in the topic, although two reservations should be noticed: the book was written for a German audience that was already familiar with the basic structure of events. English readers will need to follow the dates in the narrative carefully, as Aust's chapters are short and he switches back and forth at times between the beginning and end of the story. The second thing readers should be aware of is that for all intents and purposes, Aust ends this story in 1977 with the "German autumn," so the narrative focuses on the so-called "first generation" of the RAF, with the second generation dealt with only as they intersected with the members of the movement in prison, and the third generation mentioned only very briefly at the end of the book.Read more ›
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2.0 out of 5 starsDesperately Seeking Editing
By Thomas Paul VINE VOICE on May 19, 2009
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
I grew up with protests against the Vietnam War and with radical leftist organizations like the Weathermen and the RAF. The RAF were perhaps a little more mysterious because they were in far off and, at the time, divided Germany so I was always interested in them. When I discovered this book by Stefan Aust I was excited about the opportunity to read it. I was soon very disappointed. It's not that there isn't a lot of interesting information in the book. The problem is that the author didn't actually go to the trouble to write a book.

The main problem is that there is no structure to the book. There is no logical flow that makes this history of the RAF coherent. After struggling through the beginning of the book, I felt like there were pieces to the puzzle all over the place but no coherent image of what the puzzle looks like. The book doesn't flow as a series of events or topics, in fact it doesn't flow at all. The first 100 pages included more than 40 chapters. Each chapter reads like a brief essay that may or may not have anything to do with the previous chapters. One chapter might take place in 1971 and the next in 1965 and the next in 1967. A chapter might be two pages about a person who gets mentioned once (probably five pages earlier) and then not mentioned again. The biographical essays tell virtually nothing about a person other than straight facts but really give no help in figuring out how they ended up in a radical leftist terrorist group. We read about Andreas Baader's escape from prison without knowing what he was in prison for because that doesn't happen until later. The book reads more like a bunch of notes randomly thrown together as if the author didn't feel like actually editing his notes into a book.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsLet the Power Fall
By Best Of All on March 29, 2009
Format: Hardcover Vine Customer Review of Free Product ( What's this? )
Perhaps a forgotten piece of Cold War history, author Sefan Aust brings the notorious Baader-Meinhof group back into the spotlight with the meticulous exploration of the individuals and fellow travelers associated with the West German-based organization.

Dubbed the "Red Army Faction," the group left a trail of blood and destruction in the 1970s and 1980s; killing at least 47 people and wounding 93, taking 162 hostages and robbing 35 banks. Its peak was in 1977 - the "German Autumn" - when a German businessman was murdered in a botched kidnapping plot, another businessman was kidnapped and later murdered and an airliner was hijacked and flown to Somalia, with the pilot then shot and dumped onto the airport runway.

The RAF - which operated from 1970-1998 - suffered what appeared to be a fatal blow from a mass suicide (murder?) in prison by a trio of top leaders - including founding members Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin - in the aftermath of the "German Autumn," but the organization continued on its brutal trail of bombings and murder into the early-1990s.

Aust - co-writer of the film script for the 2008 German movie, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film - traces the creation of the group from the student movement of the 1960s, with the foundation being built after the suppression of a protest against the Shah of Iran's 1967 Berlin visit. The organization created by journalist Ulrike Meinhof, street fighter Baader and Ensslin.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsMarxism-Leninism meets the nuthouse!

A great book. This is how marxism-Leninism meets the nuthouse. And of course, this should happen in Germany, in the 70's. Read more

Published on September 30, 2013 by R Parreira
5.0 out of 5 starsA Brilliant Book about a Misunderstood Group!

Stefan Aust should be praised in writing and compiling this book about the Baader-Meinhof group or the Red Army Faction. Read more

Published on July 22, 2013 by Sylviastel
5.0 out of 5 starsComplex, deep and very interesting

It's the story of how an almost religious sense of indignation and mistrust of Germany's post war society carried a group of young people to become one of the most cruel terrorist... Read more

Published on April 18, 2013 by Javier
2.0 out of 5 starsDeeply frustrating

"Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the RAF" is a frustrating read. Stefan Aust is, disappointingly, neither intellectually or linguistically up to the task. Read more

Published on March 5, 2013 by Stefan
1.0 out of 5 starsCould be great but finally becomes misguiding

Although it is a deep and well writen story with a lot of usefull historical facts, there are some points where the book misinforms us, even some details which are so critical that... Read more

Published on February 9, 2013 by Stelios Barberakis
3.0 out of 5 starsA nostalgic dalliance through a microcosm of Cold-War Era Terrorism

It was refreshing to read an account of the Red Army Faction from the perspective of a German journalist. Read more

Published on June 29, 2012 by Ryan Fisher
3.0 out of 5 starsAn overview of the Red Army Faction

During the 1970s the Baader-Meinhof gang - the Red Army Faction - sowed fields of terror across West Germany, kidnapping, bank-robbing and killing in the classic terror strategy of... Read more

Published on May 19, 2012 by Daniel Berger
4.0 out of 5 starsGood, workmanlike History of the RAF

If you would like to read a reflective, analytical book about the RAF, then this is probably not the book for you. Read more

Published on October 9, 2011 by Thomas A. Olafson
1.0 out of 5 starsRead Aust with care

Just be advised about this book: 1. it has no scholarly intentions whatsoever (imo, an intended filmscript from the outset); 2. Read more

Published on September 13, 2011 by AlterBerg
4.0 out of 5 starsCompelling but stylistically failing

I was going to give this book a three star dismissal but then I was reminded of just how compelling these kind of terrorists are in romanticized accounts and I realized that I... Read more

Published on June 24, 2011 by Tim Lieder

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