Wall: The inside story of divided Berlin [Hardcover]

Peter Wyden (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Erected in 1961 to stop the mass exodus of East Germans to the West, the Berlin Wall is a grim symbol of the Cold War. Wyden describes superpower confrontations in which the Wall has been central, and reveals in detail the policies and punishments imposed on citizens who either try to cross it or merely express a desire to live in the West. The story of Ota and Barbel Grubel is typical: the couple was imprisoned and forced to give up their children for adoption after an escape attempt in 1973. Among the successful escapes we read of here is the dramatic 1979 flight in a hot-air balloon by the Gunther Wetzel family. Wyden ( The Passionate War ) concludes that reunification of the two countries is unlikely in the foreseeable future, given the magnitude of the ideological and cultural chasm separating them and the disparity in national value systems. That disparity is forcefully elucidated in these pages, and makes very clear why thousands of East Germans are taking advantage of the recent opening of the border between Hungary and Austria. Photos. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Versatile historian Wyden, himself a native of Berlin, has turned his considerable craft to an engaging account of the Berlin wall. He describes the Cold War background of East-West tensions, the internal German problem, the crisis caused by the ongoing flood of East German refugees, the espionage and intrigue within Berlin, the motives of the Soviets and East Germans, the reactions of the United States and West Germans, and, most poignantly, the impact of the wall's existence on the lives of Berliners, East and West. This is a popular presentation, written with verve, approaching the subject from many diverse and quickly shifting viewpoints and time frames. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
-James B. Street, Santa Cruz P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 762 pages
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster; First edition (1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671555103
• ISBN-13: 978-0671555108
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,547,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for people still wondering why the wall-up&down, August 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Wall: The Inside Story of Divided Berlin (Hardcover)

I read this book early in 1990. I recall it as a "can't put down book". But, I had experienced the WALL in July,1989, also visited East Berlin. I was in the Army NG in 1961 when the wall went up and worried about being federalized and all of us fighting yet, again, another War in Europe. We all know the outcome, but after visiting both Berlin's I finally understood what it meant to be FREE. Again from memory, Peter Wyden wrote the book before the wall came down, in it he stated that Wall would stand for a long time. Don't hire Peter Wyden as a prophet or seer. However, you should read the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the wall came tumbling down...shortly after publishing:), May 2, 2003

By 

Mark H. Schwartz "Multilingual" (Tel Aviv, Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wall: The Inside Story of Divided Berlin (Hardcover)

This scholarly work, carefully footnoted and annotated, is a must for Berlin Wall mavens and all historians. I can't emphasize enough the irony of the timing of the publishing of this book...literally weeks before the Wall fell. Mr. Wyden apparently decided not to publish a second edition with an epilogue as the whole world found out on Nov 9-10,1989.

This book is a definite must-read. No one could have predicted the fall--Mr. Wyden simply said that it would eventually happen.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Wall., July 16, 2011

By 

A Critic - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wall: The Inside Story of Divided Berlin (Hardcover)

At times, the author seems to get carried away with personal annecdotes and rather needless discriptions of acquaintances, when he could have nearly just as easily excised them entirely, or substituted them with more interesting facts/accounts. Also, unless, I am mistaken, he never discusses the massive costs that were necessary to man and maintian the Berlin wall and DDR border.

He does, however, manage to include many wide-ranging details of the wall and life in the DDR. Of course, the genesis of the wall is given, as well as many of the escape attempts. The apropriate politicians are characterized. There's a discussion of espionage. Much psychology is discussed: everything from the Western German public's evaluation of reunification over the decades to the crazy people who actually went East. Three of the more interesting topics include televison, the privitization of the escape industry, and the wall's automated death machines, first conceptualized for concentration camps but never built until they were used to guard the German-German border.

While the author did not exactly predict the tearing down of the wall, he seems to have left the possibility open.

Overall, I think this is an interesting and worthwile book, not only for anyone interested in the Berlin Wall or the DDR but also for those interested in Eastern Europe or Communism.