{"product_id":"berlin-now-9780241970836","title":"Berlin Now","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBerlin Now\u003c\/i\u003e, and on the 25th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall, a legendary Berliner tells the inside story of the city.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver the last five decades, no other city has changed more than Berlin. Divided in 1961, reunited in 1989, it has morphed over the last twenty-five years into Europe''s most vibrant melting-pot of artists, immigrants and entrepreneurs. Pieces of the wall are collected around the world. Blending memoir, history, anecdote and reportage, this legendary Berliner takes us behind the scenes - from wrenching stories of life under the Stasi, to the difference between East and West Berliners'' sex-lives, to a present-day investigation of its arts scene, night-life, tumultuous politics and hidden quirks - revealing what makes Berlin the uniquely fascinating place it is.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeter Schneider makes\u003cb style=\"font-family:\" verdana tahoma font-size:\u003e the city come alive\u003c\/b\u003e. He knows his stuff and shares it beautifully, elegantly, generously and \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Schneider makes the city come alive\u003c\/b\u003e. He knows his stuff and shares it beautifully, elegantly, generously and informatively.\u003cb\u003e Berlin has found its bard\u003c\/b\u003e -- Breyten Breytenbach, author of 'Notes from the Middle World'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEnlightening\u003c\/b\u003e. Berlin resident \u003cb\u003eSchneider unearths the city's charms and hazards \u003c\/b\u003e. . .  [to] reveal an authentic city that does not bother being more lively than beautiful * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWonderful\u003c\/b\u003e -- Ian McEwan (on 'The Wall Jumper')\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarvelous \u003c\/b\u003e. . . creates, in very few words, \u003cb\u003ethe unreal reality of Berlin\u003c\/b\u003e -- Salman Rushdie (on 'The Wall Jumper')\u003cbr\u003eSchneider's description of \u003cb\u003ethe Berlin Wall from both sides . . . is the ultimate depiction of this structure\u003c\/b\u003e. Nothing more need be said -- Werner Herzog (on 'The Wall Jumper')\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Schneider, a novelist and essayist who knows and loves Berlin like few other living German writers, gives an intimate picture of the city's transformation\u003c\/b\u003e * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe inside story of the city then and now\u003c\/b\u003e * Stylist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBerlin Now\u003c\/i\u003e is stuffed with glorious anecdotes about the rows over architecture, infrastructure, sexuality and morality in a city forced to weld itself together since 1989\u003c\/b\u003e * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs rich, vibrant and snappy as its subject\u003c\/b\u003e * Wanderlust Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eIn 30-odd short pieces on th\u003cb\u003ee city's architecture, its immigrant communities, its famous night life and its sexual mores\u003c\/b\u003e, Mr. Schneider tries to answer this question: If Berlin is not beautiful, why is it so beloved? \u003cb\u003eTo his credit, he avoids the easy answers\u003c\/b\u003e * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gathering of illuminations, a button box of participant observations \u003c\/b\u003e. . . Schneider is an old-school flaneur, a psychogeographer who can screw down very close upon a subject. \u003cb\u003eHe finds a wide scattering of exceptional nooks and crannies whose critical mass may well be the city's soul\u003c\/b\u003e * Barnes and Noble *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIlluminating. Page after page yields surprising nuggets of wisdom\u003c\/b\u003e . . . Schneider entrances with his off-the-beaten-track forays. \u003cb\u003eHis final picture is a detailed and absorbing portrait of an unfinished city that has all the dynamism of a complete one\u003c\/b\u003e * New Criterion *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[An] engrossing book, which attempts what's practically impossible - describing the essence of what makes Berlin so \u003ci\u003eBerlin\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e * Christian Science Monitor *\u003cbr\u003eThe author of \u003ci\u003eThe Wall Jumper\u003c\/i\u003e presents his collected musings about the city that has inspired and perplexed him since he was first seduced by West Berlin as a young man in the early 1960s. Berlin is not traditionally beautiful, he notes; it is a hodgepodge of cultural fits and starts . . . \u003cb\u003eIt is a city scarred by its history but also proud of its weirdness, its resilience, and its condition of constant change. In the end, Schneider seems to suggest, liveliness is far more important than beauty\u003c\/b\u003e * Booklist [STARRED REVIEW] *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn intriguing journey through Berlin by a longtime interested observer\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733408133463,"sku":"9780241970836","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241970836.jpg?v=1720000012","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/berlin-now-9780241970836","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}