Introduction: answering the German question -- Tomorrow the world: images of Germany before the Cold War -- Germany belongs in the western world: Germany and consensus politics in America, 1945-1959 -- Your post on the frontier: Germany in an age of consensus, 1945-1959 -- The anti-German wave: maintaining and challenging consensus in an age of chaos, 1959-1969 -- We refuse to be "good Germans": Germany in a divided decade, 1959-1969 -- The hero is us: representations of Germany since the 1960s -- Conclusion: the significance of the German question in the twenty-first century.