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A review by riotsquirrrl
Berlin Now: The City After the Wall by Peter Schneider
4.0
Three quarters of this book is exactly the kind of backstory drama I didn't know I wanted to read. Although as this book is from 2014 I don't know how much it can be described as Berlin Now. The other quarter is the author bemoaning how Muslim residents of Berlin aren't assimilating like he thinks they should. I definitely interpreted it as a "old man yells at clouds" situation until I read the author's Wikipedia page and saw he was active in leftist politics when younger. Then again I also know American liberals who handwring like this about immigration as well. I find the author's moral panic to be a huge blot on the rest of the book.
The other major flaw: this book desperately needs one or more maps and a whole bunch of photographs, even if the author had to take his own photos to reduce costs. I definitely had to use my phone extensively to Google places and buildings referenced, especially when reading the chapter about the rebuilding of the Potsdamer Platz.
The book was definitely helpful to gain some insight into the Berlin I visited and to see how different what I experienced was from how it had been, even a decade ago. Even the Humboldt Center that the author grumbles will never going to be built is now open. I did appreciate getting the entire backstory of the Holzmarkt 25 and how it relates to issues of gentrification in former East Berlin.
In general it was helpful to see the ways in which Berlin is grappling with the same issues as New York City, and how it succeeds and how it doesn't. I definitely came to better understand why some people think the two cities are similar even if they look very different.
The other major flaw: this book desperately needs one or more maps and a whole bunch of photographs, even if the author had to take his own photos to reduce costs. I definitely had to use my phone extensively to Google places and buildings referenced, especially when reading the chapter about the rebuilding of the Potsdamer Platz.
The book was definitely helpful to gain some insight into the Berlin I visited and to see how different what I experienced was from how it had been, even a decade ago. Even the Humboldt Center that the author grumbles will never going to be built is now open. I did appreciate getting the entire backstory of the Holzmarkt 25 and how it relates to issues of gentrification in former East Berlin.
In general it was helpful to see the ways in which Berlin is grappling with the same issues as New York City, and how it succeeds and how it doesn't. I definitely came to better understand why some people think the two cities are similar even if they look very different.