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A review by psr
Berlin: Imagine a City by Rory MacLean
5.0
MacLean constructs a history of the city over the last 500 years through portraits in miniature of people who have lived there. Some of the characters were well known to me - Bowie, Isherwood, Dietrich, Goebbels, Speer, Brecht, JFK, Fred the Great... Others, drawn from more obscure aspects of the city's mythology, I hadn't encountered before.
The book was never less than interesting across its 25 chapters. MacLean writes very well, frequently novelising his material and keeping the reader gripped (no dusty old textbook narratives here). The history of Berlin it presented was overwhelmingly grim. Medieval barbarity, Prussian militarism and conquests, the First World War and chemical warfare, Nazism and the Holocaust, area bombing, the Stasi and the Wall... It was perhaps as well that the concluding chapter ended on a note of optimism. It's a timely reminder of the dangers we face, especially with the spectre of nationalism rising once again from the crypt, in Europe and elsewhere. Personally, I find learning about my European neighbours and the history we share rather more useful than slamming the Brexit door in their faces.
MacLean was a little too keen to point out - on several occasions - that he knew some of the principal characters. The text required some judicious editing here and there, I felt. These minor caveats aside, it's well worth reading.
Postscript. After completing my review, I had a look at what others had to say about the book. The major theme for carping/harping on about it seemed to be that it wasn't a straightforward history of Berlin. This to me doesn't seem germane (ha ha). A cursory read of the back cover and index clearly informs the potential reader that this is not a history textbook. It seems rather harsh to judge MacLean's book for not being something it wasn't intended to be in the first place.
The book was never less than interesting across its 25 chapters. MacLean writes very well, frequently novelising his material and keeping the reader gripped (no dusty old textbook narratives here). The history of Berlin it presented was overwhelmingly grim. Medieval barbarity, Prussian militarism and conquests, the First World War and chemical warfare, Nazism and the Holocaust, area bombing, the Stasi and the Wall... It was perhaps as well that the concluding chapter ended on a note of optimism. It's a timely reminder of the dangers we face, especially with the spectre of nationalism rising once again from the crypt, in Europe and elsewhere. Personally, I find learning about my European neighbours and the history we share rather more useful than slamming the Brexit door in their faces.
MacLean was a little too keen to point out - on several occasions - that he knew some of the principal characters. The text required some judicious editing here and there, I felt. These minor caveats aside, it's well worth reading.
Postscript. After completing my review, I had a look at what others had to say about the book. The major theme for carping/harping on about it seemed to be that it wasn't a straightforward history of Berlin. This to me doesn't seem germane (ha ha). A cursory read of the back cover and index clearly informs the potential reader that this is not a history textbook. It seems rather harsh to judge MacLean's book for not being something it wasn't intended to be in the first place.