The best depiction of a German small town. Kurt Tucholsky. When enraged farmers thwart a livestock seizure, everything falls apart in a small town in northern Germany. Intrigues and political machinations are forged, and no one can escape the game of money and power. With this vivid, deeply human novel, Hans Fallada creates a rich panorama of the internal political misery of the Weimar Republic. "My small town stands for a thousand others and for every large one as well." Hans Fallada.