BEYOND THE WALL A History of East Germany

With a calm, even feel, actor/director and German native Sam Peter Jackson presents this detailed and intense insider's history of a newly minted post-WWII country that was often caught between Russian political purges and American Cold War pressures. This account is told from a fresh non-Western point of view, and Jackson's tone reflects the defiant pride in the author's persistent use of superlatives that somehow give the "largest" economy in East Europe, the "highest" rate of employment of women, and the "most" ruthless police state in the world the same sounding weight. Nevertheless, even though the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and East and West Germany reunited a year later, East Germany's economic, political, and cultural confrontations and accomplishments should not be forgotten. B.P. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2023]