Our West Berlin - Storybook From The Island

Our West Berlin! The beloved urban island where bars and pubs were open all night so the locals could plot the revolution! Where beer was cheap and sausage on a roll was considered dinner. Where the tenements still bore bullet holes from World War II, and the draft did not exist. Where the city government regularly stumbled over some real estate scandal and where the Communist-controlled S-Bahn train did not run (mostly). Where old-timers, Turkish immigrants, and students from West Germany lived side by side without much talking to each other, where winter smelled like coal, and summer smelled like weed. This book is devoted to this half-city, surrounded by the Wall, which ceased to exist in 1989. Two dozen authors who are, or were living in Berlin have contributed stories, from JFK touring Checkpoint Charlie to squatters at the Wall. It is a book for those who remember, and for those who wish they did.

About the author

Ralph Blumenthal, a Distinguished Lecturer at Baruch College of the City University of New York, was an award-winning reporter for The New York Times from 1964 to 2009, and has written and co-authored seven books on organized crime and cultural history. He co-authored a series of groundbreaking Times articles on the secret Pentagon program to investigate UFOs.

Product details

• Authors: Erkan Arikan, Andreas Austilat, Ralph Blumenthal, Tanja Dückers, Gretchen Dutschke, Paul F. Duwe, Paul Hockenos, Harald Jähner, Wladimir Kaminer, Ulli Kulke, Detlef Kurth, Ingo Lamberty, Sharona Legner-Zuriel, Harald Martenstein, Bernd Matthies, Frank Noack, Gerd Nowakowski, Mary Pepchinski, Rosa von Praunheim, Uwe Rada, Kerstin Schilling, Martina Schrey, Carolyn Steinberg
• Assisted by: Eva Schweitzer (Editor), Cindy Opitz (Translation)
• Publisher: Berlinica Publishing
• Original title: Unser West-Berlin
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: ages 12 to 99
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.12.2023
• EAN: 9783960260677
• ISBN: 978-3-96026-067-7
• No. of pages: 240
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 20 mm x 230 mm
• Weight: 319 g
• Illustrations: 104 Abb.
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Essays, feuilletons, literary criticism, interviews; Fiction > Poetry, drama