The Berlin Wall cover art

The Berlin Wall

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The Berlin Wall

By: Frederick Taylor
Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
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About this listen

The appearance of a hastily constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall.

A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse. This threat would vanish only when the very people the Wall had been built to imprison breached it on the historic night of 9 November 1989. The Berlin Wall is the definitive account of a divided city and its people.

©2009 Frederick Taylor (P)2011 Audible Ltd 20th Century Europe Germany Modern Politics & Government War Imperialism Eastern Europe Military Cold War Self-Determination City Interwar Period

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All stars
Most relevant  
I'm struggling to finish this book because the narrator chooses to use the most trite and stereotyped accents when quote foreign nationals. It's really distracting from the actual story, and does not enhance the experience in any way. Just calm down and read the words as is. His attempts at American and Russian accents are really quite comical. Listen to Stassiland, much better narration.

The Narration Is Appalling

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I thought this audiobook was amazing. I loved it. The book gives a lots of detail about the build up the wall's being built - Ulbricht's rise to power and so on. I also appreciated the many personal storys - Hagen Koch and Conrad Schumann for example.

I do, however, agree with the previous reviewer of this title that the accents get on your nerves a bit, especially in the beginning, but, actually, as the book went on, I began to accept them, appreciate them even.

Highly reccommended, by me anyway.

Lots of content skillfully weaved together.

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As a child of the cold war, born in 1963, I was always aware of the Berlin Wall, but never visited the city before reunification. This is an excellent history of the events that led to the wall being built & everything that followed after that.
I've visited the city since 1989, including seeing the TV tower, & the world clock in Alexanderplatz, which I'd seen in an illustrated guide to Berlin at college. Pretty small & unimpressive given that it was a socialist showpiece. I do regret not seeing the sentry change on the Neue Wache, dammed smart drill!

The Berlin Wall

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The author arguments that Germany could not easily be reunited.
The West seemed to be perfectly satisfied to let the cruel wall stand because it removed a continuing , serious danger to the stability of Europe.
In the light of events surrounding the wall it shows there is simply no evidence that the West seriously considered taking action to
remove the wall.
Great account of the history pre and post wall .

Berlin a city divided

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Really good book and totally disagree with previous reviewers but foreign accents are really good and give this audiobook an additional flavors. Well researched and well read!

Absolutely amazing book!

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The book is interesting and well documented. But the reader imitates accents throughout (e.g., German accent if quoting a German), which is extremely annoying and completely unnecessary.

Good book, awful reading

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It was gripping and informative from start to finish. The narration very clear and engaging.

Excellently researched and informative

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But why the ‘voices’..... found the use of phoney German and East European accents almost racist.
The attempted American accents were appalling.... Johnson and Kennedy didn’t sound anything like these week attempts.
Needed a better narrator

Good story but

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like all Taylor’s work, but the audiobook has numerous editorial errors with long repeated sections. Just needs cleaning up. As it is i find it hard work

The book is good,

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Well researched and I formative, but too much breadth.
I wanted more of a human tale. Not the authors fault, just not what I was hoping for.

Not for me

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