Along the Wall and Watchtowers: A Journey Down Germany's Divide

Rating:
Summary: An okay book, needs more
Review: It's an interesting subject, but having spent a lot of time in Germany, I'm probably more interested in the subject than most people in the U.S. would be, though . . . I dunno, it's an okay book, but the kid's kinda clueless. he keeps complaining that he can't find maps that show the East/West border, but the border corresponds to the extant borders between the German states, and those are shown on most maps, so what's the problem? He spends too much time complaining he's lost and not enough describing what he sees. Some pictures would have been nice, but you can see typical pictures of watchtowers and fences all over the web, so he probably purposely omitted those. I'm really stunned at how few people he spoke with, or at least how few conversations he relates; I've spoken to more east Germans in an afternoon drive between Leipzig and Dresden. The basic complaint I have here is that he could easily have written a few hundred pages, instead of the what -- 110, 120 in the book. It wasn't boring and he does know how to write.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating journey tracing the route of "The Wall"
Review: Oliver August, the son of East German parents who escaped to West Germany, drives along the route of the now-vanished Wall that separated East from West, and interviews people on both sides of the border along the way. The author is perfectly bilingual and bicultural, and thus in the ideal position to explain to the reader the peculiarities of German behavior and attitudes. The Easterners regard themselves as Germany's second-class citizens and look with nostalgia upon the old East German regime. The final chapter (of 14) is about Berlin, where the author interviews the East German general who supervised the border guards. The author writes well and tells a compelling story of how, despite reunification, the two halves of Germany are far from being able to understand one another. The book has no photos, one diagram, and (only) one map.

Rating:
Summary: The book is really only a diery.
Review: This book is only a diery of a young man traveling the distance of the old East/West German Border. It point out several places of interest not only of that of the old border zone but of those of WWII such as the caves of the making of the V-2 rockets which is rather interesting. I was hoping for more on the Border Zone itself. I was a border guard there in the Hof and Coburg sectors and found he did not reach the true meaning of the border for both sides and what it stand for today. I also found it a poor guide to us because he did not get to all musuems and place of interest for the border. The author seem to give more detail to the people he met then what the Border Zone looks like today. There are no photographs or maps to each of the areas which could help as a guide and to keep the interest of younger people. I also found the research misleading and inaccurate for the old Border Zone such as the city of Hof and the unknown soldier of the tri-zone. For history seeker its an OK book, for History of the East/West German Border Zone I do not recommend. Sorry!