The Berlin Wall, Frederick Taylor
The Berlin Wall, Frederick Taylor
List: $42.99
On Sale: $6.99

The Berlin Wall
August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989

Author: Frederick Taylor

Narrator: Peter Noble

Unabridged: 21 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 08/25/2020


Synopsis

“This vivid account of the Wall and all that it meant reminds us that symbolism can be double-edged, as a potent emblem of isolation and repression became, in its destruction, an even more powerful totem of freedom.” — The Atlantic MonthlyNOW WITH AN UPDATED EPILOGUE 30 YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF THE WALLOn the morning of August 13, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from family, friends, and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly split a city of four million in two. Within days the barbed-wire entanglement would undergo an extraordinary metamorphosis: it became an imposing 103-mile-long wall guarded by three hundred watchtowers. A physical manifestation of the struggle between Soviet Communism and American capitalism that stood for nearly thirty years, the Berlin Wall was the high-risk fault line between East and West on which rested the fate of all humanity.In the definitive history on the subject, Frederick Taylor weaves together official history, archival materials, and personal accounts to tell the complete story of the Wall's rise and fall.

About Frederick Taylor

Frederick Taylor studied history and modern languages at Oxford University and Sussex University. A Volkswagen Studentship award enabled him to research and travel widely in both parts of divided Germany at the height of the Cold War. Taylor is the author of Dresden and has edited and translated a number of works from German, including The Goebbels Diaries, 1939-1941. He is married with three children and lives in Cornwall, England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anthony on March 03, 2024

Coup d’état. This book tells the story of the infamous wall designed to keep East Berliners in, from its construction in 1961, to its fall in 1989. It began on the night of 12/08/1961, suddenly checkpoints were closed, streets blocked off, barriers built and sewers sealed. Some escaped, but many didn......more

Goodreads review by Mark on September 21, 2021

I knew the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, but lately I have pondered why and how construction of the Berlin Wall originated. In the summer of 1961, I was 8 years old and don’t recall the highlights from my scholastic “Weekly Reader”. The initial impact was not fully revealed to the American public,......more