Berlin is a city that visionary architects, city planners, social revolutionaries, and ruling kaisers have all tried to reshape. As a result, it is sheathed in layers of modern history, each providing a chapter in the city's story of constant change. Its rich atmosphere of energy made it the intellectual hub of early twentieth-century Europe: its lively theaters, cafes, and bawdy street life drew visitors from around the world.
The four intimate walking tours in this book reveal Berlin's breathtaking history as a small medieval commercial town; as the capital of a nineteenth-century Prussia; as the modern dreamscape of the Weimar Republic; as the "new Rome" of the Third Reich; as a divided city, and now, as the capital of a reunited Germany. Readers will be taken through Merlin Mitte, site of the Brandenburger Tor and the dismantled Wall; past the old stones and new synagogues of the Jewish Quarter; among the working-class neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg; and into the politically vibrant Kreuzberg. Berlinwalks also explores the city's cultural development through the creations of its artists, architects, and novelists, among them Bertolt Brecht, Christopher Isherwood, and Kathe Kollwitz. The book also features maps, more than forty black-and-white photographs, general advice and information, and a select list of restaurants, hotels, and shops.
