Two young American academics try to assess the role and growth of the Greens in German life and politics. They see the factions called Greens as ". . . without any doubt one of the Federal Republic's most authentic and quintessential creations," in part because they are opposed to German nationalism. The Greens describe a new and, they argue, probably permanent element in a political society where the traditional support of the old left is evaporating. Some interesting insights and a considerable mastery of the literature.