The texts, written between 1960 and 1969, reveal the source of Ulrike Meinhof's captivating conviction and simultaneously her bitter rejection: it is her attempt to confront the political contradictions of a society obsessed with success and equally deceitful, against the democracy promised in the Basic Law, and to create a counter-public sphere. Whether it concerns the emergency laws, old Nazis in high political offices, the Vietnam War, the Shah's visit to Berlin, German armament policy, or a different approach to East Germany – Meinhof precisely identifies the points where the break becomes visible, soberly and coolly contrasting the politically convenient facade of reality with the actual facts, and she judges decisively. It is a portrait of the political conditions in the 1960s, presented in a way that is difficult to surpass from today's perspective.