The Fall of the Berlin Wall
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Eloquent . . . immensely readable . . . the saga of the victory of capitalism over the brutal and irrational fraud that was state socialism."
—The Baltimore Sun
"Buckley's lucid account celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit and the will to achieve freedom."
—Publishers Weekly
"This is a small masterpiece of the narrative tradition. The Fall of the Berlin Wall keep[s] readers turning the page."
—National Review
"[A] great narrative of democratic survival and democratic victory."
—The Washington Times
The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was the turning point in the struggle against Communism in Eastern Europe. In The Fall of the Berlin Wall, renowned author and conservative pioneer William F. Buckley Jr. explains why the wall was built, reveals its devastating impact on the lives of people on both sides, and provides a riveting account of the events that led to the wall's destruction and the end of the Cold War.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From the day the Berlin Wall went up, in August of 1961, separating East and West Berlin, to the day it came crumbling down in November 1989, it stood as a symbol of the denial of freedom and the horrors of communism. In his latest book, renowned conservative writer Buckley tells the story of the Wall from its historic inception to its fateful fall. This new entry in Wiley's Turning Points series is not an in-depth historical account of East German communism but a brief overview of critical events, accompanied by Buckley's insightful and occasionally witty commentary. Despite the author's political orientation, the book does not evince a strong political bias (traditionally, conservatives tout Reagan as a major player in the fall of communism, but Buckley devotes a scant couple of pages to Reagan's policies and his famous "tear down this wall" speech); the story of the Berlin Wall is remarkable in itself, capable of being appreciated by all, regardless of their politics. It's a story about separated families, thousands of East Berliners who risked their lives to taste freedom on the other side; those who did not make it-shot down by Communist police as they attempted to scale the wall. Buckley is at times funny, at times genuinely horrified by the Communist regime, and at times exultant over its fall. His lucid account celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit and the will to achieve freedom. Map.
