The day after opting to take a beginners German language module and the accompanying module entitled ‘German History & Culture’, I happened upon this book in Waterstones and was instantly struck by the super funky cover (judge me at your will). Of course, the title is striking too. Especially as I was about to begin studying the fall of the Berlin Wall and the events surrounding, leading up to, and following this historical turning point which saw two states reunited as one country.
MacLean captivates the reader with a combination of short bibliographical narratives so interesting that they could at times, quite easily be mistaking for fiction, and cultural German tales, and historical events. A factual, history book that is capable of allowing one to read with relative ease, without straining to focus, in my opinion, can only be a good one. 23 portraits are given a chapter each, from Frederick the Great right up to David Bowie, MacLean glides through the history of a capital city with a hugely turbulent past elegantly, somehow.
The following Guardian article: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/20/berlin-imagine-city-rory-maclean-review hails the book as “A compelling series of portraits captures the intangible something that turns visitors into Berlinophiles” and it’s true, ‘Berlin : Imagine a City’ creates an interest that could almost definitely lead to city break plans…
