While I generally prefer memoirs or character-driven narratives for non-fiction subjects, I still found this book to be quite a good read. The author's narrow focus on Berlin provides us with an in-depth view of this historical city and the tumultuous time period that separated East and West Berlin. The language is clear and concise, so chronological events are presented in an orderly and easy to understand manner. It would have been useful to have a chronology and cast of characters though presented in addendum (there are a lot of political players from various countries and allegiances), but the major characters are pretty easy to recognize and the author provided mini-biographies as the book progressed to set up important background information.

Most of these characters are political or military in nature (expected considering the postwar era), but Taylor throws in just enough personal stories of local Berliners to keep things interesting. Most of these stories relate specifically to major events (escapes, politically-driven murders, etc), which is useful, but I find it surprising how few personal interviews or documents the author included. There's plenty of quotes from the politicians from their speeches, letters, and other peoples' interviews, but it doesn't look like the author gathered any information from personally conducted interviews (some of these people must still be alive?!?!). Even including quotes from memoirs or diaries held in archives could not have been that difficult, and really would have given the narrative a more personal feeling.

I've studied the post-war era in German history quite extensively, so my only major complaint about this book is that the author's bias is a bit too obviously tilted towards the Western German perspective. Some events (such as the airlift which provided food and supplies to cut-off West Berlin) paint the Western Allies in a rightly heroic light, but the depiction of life in East Berlin (and thus East Germany) is decidedly dark. Sure, there was a lot of corruption in government, a lack of access to information, and a huge Stasi spy network, but people still lived and some even flourished. There is little talk about the community aspects of living in this society - a huge positive to the all-inclusive Soviet lifestyle - so the benefits as such (increased cooperation, close neighbourhoods, practical outdoors training programs, etc.) are swept under the rug. ( )

At school they taught me that, after World War II, Germany was divided in two, with the soviets on one side and the other allies on the other. And that Berlin suffered the same fate. The story is a lot more complicated than that, and this book details all the painful processes that brought to the birth of the two separate states and the suffering the people in Berlin had to go through. Strongly recommended! ( )

Je m'attendais à un ouvrage précis et technique sur le mur, et en fait il s'agit d'un excellent livre sur la division de l'Allemagne, le mur restant bien évidement l'acteur majeur. ( )

A wall which divided a city and thousands of lives for decades and where dozens of people died. An easy to read and informative book about maybe the strangest symbolic monument of the XX. century. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. Taylor has a good 'flow' in his account and just the right dose - in my humble opinion - of personal remarks. If I had had the time I would have read it continuously

So, if you feel an irresistible urge to read about The Wall, this book is a very good choice. Go ahead and enjoy ( )