The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989

by Frederick Taylor

Book Overview

"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 Monthly

On 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060786140
• ISBN13: 9780060786144
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 486 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A vivid picture of what Soviet East Berlin & Allied West Berlin looked like after WWII

The book is great at explaining the tension and separation among Berlin after World War II. Freedom to travel through both sides is quickly eroded and a wall is thrown up over night. This book sheds light on the many victims who tried to escape East Berlin. Great read!

the wall

A well written insightful look at Berlin, the wall and the cold war. As with any good history this is a story of people places and time. Taylor brings to life people as diverse (or maybe as similar) as Fredrich the Great, Erich Honecker, the Cold War Leaders and working class Berliners. Each story had me going to Google Earth to look for the part of Berlin in which it took place. Taylor starts not in 1961, but with founding of Berlin as a divided cityand takes us through the rise and fall of the wall and those who built it. If you like history from a European viewpoint rather than the harsh anti-communism of most American treatment of this subject you'll like this book.

History at its best

Frederick Taylor distinguished himself in his previous book "Dresden." He repeats that distinction in this fascinating, informative book on the Berlin Wall. Deep research and a facile writing style make this book a highly informative and interesting read which moves effortlessly from specifics like escape attempts and stories of the dead to a well written overview ending which he entitles "the theft of hope" for the East Germans. His carefully concealed contempt for Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker never slides into a polemic. Taylor even allows a trace of humor or maybe farce describing Lyndon B. Johnson's 1961 visit to Berlin who sees Willy Brandt's fine shoes and demands to shop for a pair for himself on Sunday. Taylor, obviously fluent in German, joins the ranks of other fine English historians, all knowledgeable in German, who have recently written superb histories about Germany and European affairs; Max Hastings' "Armageddon," Ian Kershaw on Hitler, Richard Evans' books on the rise of Nazism, Antony Beevor on the battles of Stalingrad and Berlin, and Adam Zamoyski on Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna. These are all fine histories which obviously come about by the access to records, previously unavailable, before the fall of the Wall.

Background to the east sector closure in Berlin

I was only a boy when the east sector of Berlin was sealed. It captured my imagination. If the background to this important event is of interest, then I cannot imagine it being covered better than in Frederick Taylor's book. For me the book has the added pleasure of reading like a thriller. An extremely rewarding read, backed by thorough research.

The Berlin Wall

I gave this book to my husband as a gift. Here is what he says: It makes fascinating reading, especially for people who have lived through that era. It is all very well explained and the reporting is precise and historically correct. It is a surprising relevation as the writer reveals the mind and execution of events by German communistic elements. He also gives the insight of how the Western Forces: Great Britain, France and the USA handled the situation in occupied Germany.

A Well-Constructed Analysis of the Icon of the Cold War

Having read Frederick Taylor's fast-moving and extremely informative 'Dresden,' I was looking forward to his latest book on that icon of the Cold War - the Berlin Wall. I was not disappointed. The story of the Wall is not quite as linear as that of Dresden, in which events moved inexorably towards the horrific fire-bombing. Rather, there are three acts: the lead up to the construction of the Wall in 1961; the Wall years; the endgame, 1989. From the start, the book builds with excitement as it is becomes clear that GDR leader Ulbricht, supported by Security Secretary Honecker, will prevail against the preference of (the surprisingly rational) Khrushchev and be allowed to imprison his own people (who were fleeing in huge numbers). Amazingly, all this was not clear to Western security services. At the beginning of the 'Wall years' there is a slowing of pace as West Germany and the world come to grips with what has happened right under their noses, and in defiance of the four-power Potsdam Agreement. But it doesn't take long for the excitement to rise again with the escape attempts and the first death. The unravelling of Soviet power that leads to the eventual dismantling of the Wall seems, in the end, to be a closing chapter of the Second World War rather than of the Berlin Wall itself. Taylor's strength as a historian and storyteller is his ability to weave a great deal of minutely researched detail into a highly readable, very accessible tale. The book taught me an astonishing amount, even though I lived through much of this saga. But it was a pleasure, never a chore. This book is highly recommended for those who wish to more fully understand a frightening period of recent history.