Frederick Taylor - The Berlin Wall (2006)
History – 450 pages – my copy (paperback; 2009) bought for £3.99 from a discount bookstore in Chiswick, London, in August 2010
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Last year saw the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall. A generation has passed since one of the largest of artificial and sinister divides crumbled, and destroyed along with it was the “old” way of living: of separation and fear. If time is called a healer, time is also the historian’s best friend; bringing with it retrospection and that valuable tool hindsight.
Frederick Taylor has made a name for himself by bringing modern German history to the British reading public. The Berlin Wall is a construct of love as well as dedication, with Taylor holding a long time fascination with the people of Berlin. And such attraction clearly shows amongst the book’s pages; here is a well researched and enthusiastic account of the Berlin wall, from its awful inception in 1961 to its celebratory end in 1989.
Centring primarily on the early sixties, Taylor gives the back-story to the divide of East and West, of the rise of the SED in the communist sphere and the more bourgeois allied sector. The fall out and recrimination of the Second World War brought about the wall’s construction, while Taylor shows the wall’s continuing presence as the result of the lack of agreement between communist and capitalist.
Taylor brings in the key characters, such as Walter Ulbricht and Willy Brandt; whilst sparing enough time for a cameo role for John F. Kennedy. And even though this is principally a story of the political “stars” and personalities, the author also brings in many personal stories and the tragedies of those who tried to escape the east, only to meet their early deaths.
So, if the research and the setting ticks all boxes, why is Taylor’s book not a 5 nodder? One of the Worm’s principal nit-picks is the large emphasis upon 1961 – the reader continues forward at snail-pace, even re-treading old ground. Lyndon Johnson’s visit is given the attention of chapter, which contrasts with the book’s hastily constructed conclusion. Yet the greater accusation is Taylor’s unquenchable thirst for a digression; his personal stories add warmth, but unfortunately for the reader, much of his digressions bring us away from the wall and into other political spheres.
The Berlin Wall is a well researched book; but a book that aims at becoming the authoritative text upon the wall’s life and death. However, this is an unaccomplished aim, with Taylor not being the man nor the author of talent to deliver this. His book tries too hard to hit an audience in all sectors. Such an authoritative history will be penned by a hand that has the power to weld such detail – great and small – into a history of true quality.
History – 450 pages – my copy (paperback; 2009) bought for £3.99 from a discount bookstore in Chiswick, London, in August 2010
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Last year saw the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall. A generation has passed since one of the largest of artificial and sinister divides crumbled, and destroyed along with it was the “old” way of living: of separation and fear. If time is called a healer, time is also the historian’s best friend; bringing with it retrospection and that valuable tool hindsight.
Frederick Taylor has made a name for himself by bringing modern German history to the British reading public. The Berlin Wall is a construct of love as well as dedication, with Taylor holding a long time fascination with the people of Berlin. And such attraction clearly shows amongst the book’s pages; here is a well researched and enthusiastic account of the Berlin wall, from its awful inception in 1961 to its celebratory end in 1989.
Centring primarily on the early sixties, Taylor gives the back-story to the divide of East and West, of the rise of the SED in the communist sphere and the more bourgeois allied sector. The fall out and recrimination of the Second World War brought about the wall’s construction, while Taylor shows the wall’s continuing presence as the result of the lack of agreement between communist and capitalist.
Taylor brings in the key characters, such as Walter Ulbricht and Willy Brandt; whilst sparing enough time for a cameo role for John F. Kennedy. And even though this is principally a story of the political “stars” and personalities, the author also brings in many personal stories and the tragedies of those who tried to escape the east, only to meet their early deaths.
So, if the research and the setting ticks all boxes, why is Taylor’s book not a 5 nodder? One of the Worm’s principal nit-picks is the large emphasis upon 1961 – the reader continues forward at snail-pace, even re-treading old ground. Lyndon Johnson’s visit is given the attention of chapter, which contrasts with the book’s hastily constructed conclusion. Yet the greater accusation is Taylor’s unquenchable thirst for a digression; his personal stories add warmth, but unfortunately for the reader, much of his digressions bring us away from the wall and into other political spheres.
The Berlin Wall is a well researched book; but a book that aims at becoming the authoritative text upon the wall’s life and death. However, this is an unaccomplished aim, with Taylor not being the man nor the author of talent to deliver this. His book tries too hard to hit an audience in all sectors. Such an authoritative history will be penned by a hand that has the power to weld such detail – great and small – into a history of true quality.
