Beyond the Wall
A History of East Germany
Basic Books · Print & ebook · February 4, 2025
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the ashes of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, “an expansive and generous history” of East Germany (New Republic) In 1990, a country disappeared.
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- Who it’s for
- A lucid, absorbing look at East Germany beyond the familiar Cold War shorthand.
- Genres
- German History, Cold War History, Communism & Socialism
- Published
- Basic Books, February 4, 2025
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AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the ashes of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, “an expansive and generous history” of East Germany (New Republic) In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to the cusp of a new millennium, the German Democratic Republic presented a radically different Germany than what had come before and what exists today.
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Socialist solidarity, secret police, central planning, barbed wire: this was a Germany forged on the fault lines of ideology and geopolitics. In Beyond the Wall, acclaimed historian Katja Hoyer sets aside the usual Cold War caricatures of the GDR to offer a kaleidoscopic new vision of this vanished country, revealing the rich political, social, and cultural landscape that existed amid oppression and hardship. Drawing on a vast array of never-before-seen interviews and documents, this is the definitive history of the other Germany, beyond the Wall.
Why It Lands
A lucid, absorbing look at East Germany beyond the familiar Cold War shorthand.
Come here for
- East Germany in clear historical focus
- Politics and everyday life, kept readable
Expect
- Cultural context without academic fog
- A sustained narrative pace
Where it sits
| Cold War History | 87% |
|---|---|
| German History | 67% |
| Communism & Socialism | 56% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- German History
- Cold War History
- Communism & Socialism
- Authors
- Katja Hoyer, Sam Peter Jackson, Basic Books
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- Published
- February 4, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- German History