A review by sarahtokar
Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War by Timothy Phillips, Timothy Phillips

hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed listening to this on audio, though I probably should have read a hard copy so I could remember the place names better.  Also, I could have used some maps and pictures to enhance the experience.  Overall some great new tidbits of history to add to my decent understanding of the topic.  Like the little Danish island which was liberated and controlled by the Soviets at the end of the war (unlike the rest of the country);  the tiny piece of West Germany -- a popular seaside getaway - which lay in East German territory;  the dozen or so smaller versions of the Berlin Wall;  the outrageous numbers of Stasi personnel (and the correspondingly large # of files on GDR citizens);  the bizarre features of Albanian communism;  the Corfu Strait event (British Bay of Pigs); the also bizarre nature of Azerbaijan geography and current cult of personality.