"... This reader is a first step towards the planned Syndicate Publication Series. Basically, Deep_Europe: The 1996 - 97 edition consists of a collection of essays and texts that were posted on the Syndicate mailing list during the first 22 months of its existence. The 1996 - 97 edition is meant to be a documentation of V2_East/Syndicate's activities since it was created in January 1996 in Rotterdam. You will find four sections in the reader: Texts includes essays, discussion threads and polemics covering a wide variety of themes such as the Soros debate, discussions on 'Art, Power, and Communication' and the changing role of women in Eastern Europe, posted to the list between February 1996 and October 1997. The following section Reports: Travels & Conferences comprises personal impressions from non-virtual trips through Deep Europe, reports on conferences, meetings, and the recent scandal in Montenegro as well as discussions, a diary and some papers delivered at various conferences. The content of the third section Deep_Europe @ Hybrid WorkSpace is quite obvious, but still: here you will find a full version of the creative output of Deep_Europe, the ten day V2_East/Syndicate workshop at Hybrid WorkSpace (July/August 1997, dX, Kassel). Included are the initial concept, interviews with the participants, letters home and from home, suggestions towards a european media policy and some enlightning remarks about the computer game Europa. And finally, the fourth section entitled Fresh Actions includes amazingly fresh deep european activities, such as writing parallel histories of 'the Empire', collections of strange european words, a dive into corporate undergrounds and a report on the impressive hijacking of the dX web site..."