This work is a historiography of the German town of Erlangen, which lies approximately 20 kilometers north of Nuremberg in the Franconian region of Bavaria. With a current population of just over 100,000, the city is primarily noted for its university and as the headquarters of the Siemens Corporation.

In this book, author Gary Fouse, who spent three years as a U.S. military policeman in Erlangen, traces the history of Erlangen from its humble beginnings as a village in 1002 to the current era. Fouse describes the city during the most important historical events in German history including the Reformation, the Thirty Years War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the two world wars and post-World War II recovery. Fouse delves into the life of the city under the rule of the House of Hohenzollern, the arrival in 1686 of French Huguenot refugees, the founding of the university, and the history of the Jewish community in Erlangen. Also detailed is the history of the U.S. Army in Erlangen from 1945 to 1994. The author's personal accounts provide an interesting look into the lives of the Americans, both inside and outside the caserne.