Dietrich Orlow is professor of history at Boston University.

In his examination of Prussian politics during Weimar, Orlow has mined an impressive array of archival sources, including the papers of most of the principal personalities and the surviving records of the state government. He has also scrutinized the press of that period and worked through a published course too often neglected in favor of unpublished documentations: parliamentary proceedings. The result is a treasure trove of information about Germany's largest state during its brief period of democratic government.