The Ghosts of Berlin

Ever read a historical/future view of one of the top cities in the world?   Try reading The Ghosts of Berlin by Brian Ladd.  This book was a suggestion of an RA who studied away at our site in Berlin.  The book is broken into six chapters and in the appendix section a chronology of Berlin’s history.  The chapters capture the long history of Berlin’s physical structure, political influences, and character of the people of Germany.  The divide between East and West Berlin runs throughout the pages.  Having visited Berlin over a year and half ago, the book was a helpful reminder of a “rebuilding” and transforming city.  The physical structure of the Berlin Walls, the controversial divide of the city, provides an excellent backdrop for the entire book --- a city built on divide --- helps the reader understand why the difficulty existed among the people, and of course the leaders.  The book provides strong historical data, pictures of the various structures, and the narrative of former leaders to illustrate the constant difference of ideological and practical differences in how Berlin should look as a city.  The various leaders changed their perspective on which buildings should stay, which buildings should be reconstructed, and which buildings should go.  Berlin, for the most part, has destroyed many of its historical buildings, much through war, but some because of the leaders desire to change the structures.  Other chapters include: Old Berlin, Metropolis, Nazi Berlin, and divided Berlin, and how the Capital was selected as Berlin over Bonn.  All history majors and anyone interested in one of the most important urban centers in Europe (and the world) is captured by the author.  I appreciated learning more about the city, especially so many students travel to this city each semester.  Worth a read, pretty brief but packed with important lessons for political leaders to pay attention to.