Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Book

In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited and East Germany ceased to exist. In a country where the headquarters of the secret police can become a museum literally overnight and one in fifty East Germans were informing on their country men and women there are a thousand stories just waiting to get out. ; Anna Funder tells extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany - she meets Miriam who as a sixteen-year-old might have started World War III visits the man who painted the line which became the Berlin Wall and gets drunk with the legendary 'Mik Jegger' of the east once declared by the authorities to his face to 'no longer to exist'. ; Anna Funder is sassy and the stories she discovers enthralling and she writes superbly about what it's like to live in Berlin now as the city knits itself back together - or fails to. ; This is history full of emotion attitude and complexity.By turns funny heartbreaking and stirring - she tells the story of the collapse of a way of life with wit style and sympathy. - Marie Claire ; A fascinating book. It is written with rare literary flair. I can think of no better introduction to the brutal reality of East German repression - Sunday Telegraph ; A highly-readable and stylishly-written account of the Stasi's 40 year reign of terror - Irish Times ; Funder is a superb interviewer...she seems to be asking all the questions East and West Germans should be asking themselves - Elena Lappin Sunday Times