David Childs' book on the DDR, "Moscow's German Ally" is one of the best books I've read on the history of that peculiar but fascinating country. I have found David Childs to be one of the few historians who is able to write about the experience of the "socialist countries" and who is able to avoid either condemning them outright or praising the regimes unreservedly.

So, as a fan, I bought "Two Red Flags" with some enthusiasm. Like David Child's other books, it's heavy on the documentary but light on the analysis. This approach is fine perhaps when you're writing a book on the history of the DDR but doesn't work very well for a topic like this where the most obvious questions; "why was the left so divided in the 20th century?", "what caused the division?", "what did social democrats and communists agree about/disagree about?", are all left unanswered. It is a good idea for a book but unfortunately it's a very short book that attempts to cover a huge topic and fails. It feels a bit like an A-level "reader" text.

If you're brand new to the subject, this book may be exactly what you're after. If not, save your time.