Ebook Peter Schneider - Berlin Now : The City after the Wall TXT, FB2
9780374535421 English 0374535426 A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe 's most charismatic and enigmatic city It isn't Europe's most beautiful city or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, "when natives of New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I allude to Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up." Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers'e"Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low cost of living'e"Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of this rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more, and without public funding (assembling, for example, a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River), than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations of everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane'e"just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page., Divided in 1961, reunited in 1989, Berlin has morphed over the last twenty-five years into Europe's most vibrant melting-pot of artists, immigrants and entrepreneurs. In this book, the author takes us behind the scenes - from wrenching stories of life under the Stasi, to the difference between East and West Berliners' sex-lives., It isn't Europe's most beautiful city or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I mention the name Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up." Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers-Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low (for now) cost of living-Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of this rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more without public funding (assembling a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River) than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations on everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane-just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page., It's Hard to Answer the Question of Why Berlin has become one of the most popular cities in the world. It's not on account of its beauty-Berlin is not beautiful. What attracts visitors to Berlin seems to be what they find missing in so many of the other great cities of the world: the weirdness, the perpetual incompleteness of a city "condemned forever to becoming and never to being." Blending history, journalism, and personal memory, Peter Schneider's Berlin Now takes us to this fascinating, imperfect place-divided in 1981 and reunited in 1389-to reveal the inside story of a singularly vibrant city in a constant state of transformation. Book jacket.
9780374535421 English 0374535426 A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe 's most charismatic and enigmatic city It isn't Europe's most beautiful city or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, "when natives of New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I allude to Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up." Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers'e"Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low cost of living'e"Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of this rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more, and without public funding (assembling, for example, a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River), than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations of everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane'e"just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page., Divided in 1961, reunited in 1989, Berlin has morphed over the last twenty-five years into Europe's most vibrant melting-pot of artists, immigrants and entrepreneurs. In this book, the author takes us behind the scenes - from wrenching stories of life under the Stasi, to the difference between East and West Berliners' sex-lives., It isn't Europe's most beautiful city or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I mention the name Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up." Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers-Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low (for now) cost of living-Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of this rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more without public funding (assembling a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River) than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations on everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane-just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page., It's Hard to Answer the Question of Why Berlin has become one of the most popular cities in the world. It's not on account of its beauty-Berlin is not beautiful. What attracts visitors to Berlin seems to be what they find missing in so many of the other great cities of the world: the weirdness, the perpetual incompleteness of a city "condemned forever to becoming and never to being." Blending history, journalism, and personal memory, Peter Schneider's Berlin Now takes us to this fascinating, imperfect place-divided in 1981 and reunited in 1389-to reveal the inside story of a singularly vibrant city in a constant state of transformation. Book jacket.