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The Berlin Wall
- Narrated by: Daniel Philpott
- Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, Europe
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Summary
The appearance of a hastily constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall.
A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse. This threat would vanish only when the very people the Wall had been built to imprison breached it on the historic night of 9 November 1989. The Berlin Wall is the definitive account of a divided city and its people.
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What listeners say about The Berlin Wall
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Iain
- 10-01-12
Ultimately a little disapointing......
Having now read and listened to this book I would make the following observations:
1. It is probably a bit longer than it needs/should be and therefore feels overlong and laborious at times
2. It is frequently ruined by the comical German, Russian and American accents. Unnecessary and very irritating
The Berlin wall is one of the most significant political and social man-made structures of the last century and deserves a book that tells it's tale with more passion and pace
11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Burning Crowe
- 21-01-12
Lots of content skillfully weaved together.
I thought this audiobook was amazing. I loved it. The book gives a lots of detail about the build up the wall's being built - Ulbricht's rise to power and so on. I also appreciated the many personal storys - Hagen Koch and Conrad Schumann for example.
I do, however, agree with the previous reviewer of this title that the accents get on your nerves a bit, especially in the beginning, but, actually, as the book went on, I began to accept them, appreciate them even.
Highly reccommended, by me anyway.
6 people found this helpful
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- T. D. Johnston
- 01-04-19
The Narration Is Appalling
I'm struggling to finish this book because the narrator chooses to use the most trite and stereotyped accents when quote foreign nationals. It's really distracting from the actual story, and does not enhance the experience in any way. Just calm down and read the words as is. His attempts at American and Russian accents are really quite comical. Listen to Stassiland, much better narration.
2 people found this helpful
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- zero
- 15-04-22
Interesting history
good general book, odd glitch where the narrator tries out the same phrase with different accents. a bit spoilt at the end where the book has a rant at Brexit
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- Mike
- 19-12-21
Absolutely amazing book!
Really good book and totally disagree with previous reviewers but foreign accents are really good and give this audiobook an additional flavors. Well researched and well read!
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- Amazon Customer
- 24-09-21
Great story but awful accent
Why does the narrator put on a terrible German accent????????? it's needless and just silly!
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- AJ
- 09-07-21
Good context to Berlin wall
Good book with context before and after the wall. Would recommend it a lot
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- FredrikM
- 09-04-21
Best history book I have listened to
Riveting. Spellbinding. Could not put it down for hours at the time! Highly recommended read!
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- pauljimmyn
- 26-08-20
Not for me
Well researched and I formative, but too much breadth.
I wanted more of a human tale. Not the authors fault, just not what I was hoping for.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-04-20
Berlin a city divided
The author arguments that Germany could not easily be reunited.
The West seemed to be perfectly satisfied to let the cruel wall stand because it removed a continuing , serious danger to the stability of Europe.
In the light of events surrounding the wall it shows there is simply no evidence that the West seriously considered taking action to
remove the wall.
Great account of the history pre and post wall .
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- Jera Media
- 28-02-21
Good book, sloppy audiobook
The book itself was fine, well written and informative. The audiobook did not totally do it justice. There were several edit mistakes with the narrator repeating or rereading parts of the book. It made the performance feel sloppy.
1 person found this helpful
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- Douglas
- 26-05-19
Interesting book, awful narration
Very interesting survey of both the history of Berlin, and the political context in which the GDR built the wall.
But, unfortunately, I returned the book about half way through because I couldn't stand the narration. The reader insists on reading quotes in the accent and character of the quoted person, which sounds like a reasonable approach until every few minutes you hear the jarring voice of a German military commander. I'll probably buy the ebook instead.
1 person found this helpful
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- Martin
- 21-03-19
Good Book, horrible "voice acting"
The book itself is good and the subject very interesting. In part, the narrating is quite good. But for some inexplicable reason the narrator resorts to absolutely terrible voice acting whenever reading quotes. I suppose it is meant to be engaging, bit the fake German and Russian accents that is performed is like nails across a cosmic blackboard. Bone chillingly bad. Nikita Khrushchev at times sounds more like a drunk Scotsman than Russian. All the Germans sound like mad scientists straight out of Dr. Strangelove. It is stereotypical beyond belief. This really shames an otherwise fine performance and a good book. I would not have bought it, had I known, and I find it hard to listen to. Please stick to just straight reading in the future or at least provide a warning prior to purchase, so we can avoid spending good money on this kind of "voice acting".
1 person found this helpful
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- Ausandtif
- 13-04-15
Good book so so reading.
Book had several repeats in the performance. Loved the depth of the authors knowledge of east Berlin. Other than recording issue it was worth the time
1 person found this helpful
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- Vlr
- 28-08-14
Excellent, intelligent, well-written book
What about Daniel Philpott’s performance did you like?
Unlike another reviewer, I wasn't bothered by Philpott's mimicking the speech of various politicians. It made the book clearer for listening purposes. The pronunciation was largely good and it always helps that the reader speaks with an English accent. American narrators a. Are often nasal and b. Mispronounce foreign words more
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No but it was amusing at times in a cynical way
Any additional comments?
Good book, well worth reading
1 person found this helpful
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- Andrew D. Brown
- 11-06-13
Makes a dark chapter "enjoyable"
If you could sum up The Berlin Wall in three words, what would they be?
A big story
What did you like best about this story?
It covered all facets and not just personal or diplomatic but intertwined the stories to give a really complete future. So you learned about the effect of the Wall on people like many histories but also how it was planned and then executed At first I wasn't sure about the narrator, but as I went along his narration really helped the story along.
1 person found this helpful
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- Frank A
- 14-02-19
Narrator lost his place?
The book is a fascinating history of the Berlin Wall. I would have rated higher except for several places where the narrator repeated the passage he just completed reading. I’d think that this could be edited so this would not have been presented. Could have finished the book a couple of minutes sooner!
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- K. Michael
- 09-11-18
Fascinating Story with Auditory Flaws
I've always found Berlin and its history fascinating. It's one of those cities that doesn't get the recognition it deserves and always fades behind the flash and glitter of cities like New York or Paris. However, if they took the time to explore a little deeper, and uncover the warm glow of Berlin, they would see it's a rich and beautiful city with an extraordinary but sad history. The Berlin Wall is one of those stories.
Like most stories, it has a happy ending but it's roots take place in the rubble of a miscalculated war, where only hunger and lost hopes could be found. And from that rubble, we are taken on a journey that stretches twenty-eight years (1961-1989): where liberators act more like occupiers and claw at the remains of a ruined city, where the belief that the human will and want for something better could be squashed and through a repressive regime, host a 96 mile wall making prisoners of its citizens. Where people cling to hope and are willing to risk their lives for freedom and in the end, break though to find that freedom.
I think this book would be a fabulous addition to any library or supplemental study, as it subtly shows the hypocritical ideologies of any extreme (Nazi's vs Communist's, as in the end, they wind up behaving like each other), and how the human will is a force to be reckoned with and admired.
My rating takes issue with the audiobook, not the overall story itself, which tends to focus on the early years of the Wall, and flutters over 70s and 80s - the fall of the Wall (the last three chapters).
It's not the narrator - the narrator has a nice, clear, strong voice. At first I was a little taken aback when he did the accents but after awhile got used to them. My issue comes in the form that I don't think the producer...or whoever is in charge of production, listened to the final product. There are maybe five or six passages where the narrator repeats himself. For instance when LBJ arrives in Berlin, the narrator said a sentence, then there's a one-or-two second pause and then he repeats the same sentence and continues on with the paragraph.
When it happened the first time, I found it a little jarring, at first I thought there was a glitch and then corrected itself but when it happened again...and again...and again, it made the audible-hosted audiobooks seem a bit unprofessional, especially since this has also happened with another audible audiobook, - Churchill's Secret War - (Mukerjee).
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- M. Cutler
- 16-01-17
Bad transfer from CD
Great story. Bad transfer from CD as various sentences and phrases would repeat themselves. In one case the entire name and title of the book was repeated. (I presume that this was were the end of one CD meet the beginning of the next CD.)
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- Michael
- 30-11-13
Marred only by the Narrator's Affectations
If you could sum up The Berlin Wall in three words, what would they be?
History worth knowing
Who was your favorite character and why?
It's a work of non-fiction. The question is inappropriate.
Would you be willing to try another one of Daniel Philpott’s performances?
No. His attempts to apply fake (and poorly executed) English, German and Russian accents to the quoted passages detracted mightily from the book. It's a piece of non-fiction, not a community theater stage play.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
It's a work of non-fiction. This question is inappropriate.
Any additional comments?
The author has done an excellent job of telling the story of the Berlin Wall, providing considerable background that I was unaware of, even though I was born in Berlin in 1954. I expected the book to start in 1960 or thereabouts, but to my surprise it started long before then. The historical context added greatly to the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about Berlin, its politics, WW2, the Cold War, East Germany's many deceptions, and the contributions of key historical figures. Kudos to Mr. Taylor ... and thanks!
2 people found this helpful