Beyond the Wall: The Lost World of East Germany

Rating:
Summary: CANNOT COMPARE TO HIS EARLIER WORKS
Review: In this book, the talented photographer and writer Simon Marsden turns to the forner Communist State of East Germany, showing us houses, monuments and statues that few Westerners have seen. He shares writing duties with fellow author Duncan McLaren. The book contains Marsden's trademark ghostyly images, but fans of Marsden will probably not enjoy this book as much as his earlier works. He shows us many buildings, but unlike in his other wonderful books, we are not treated to tales of the long-ago people that lived there; we are not given any ghost stories to wonder about.
Perhaps Marsden would not like to be typecast as a photographer of "haunted houses", but that's what he's good at. He takes us into a distant, gothic past, where we can believe that restless spirits walk behind every window of the great houses he photographs. In this book, his aim is to not only show us the landscape and ancient buildings of this country, but to tell us of the horrors that these people have suffered: a noble aim, but not one I was looking forward to when I bought this book.
I love Mr. Marsden as a "tourguide" to the ghostly realms of the forgotten past, not as a socially-minded journalist. Sorry, sir, but please get back to thrilling me with the haunts of the spirits of wicked earls and murderous duchesses. That is where your real talents lie!