Description
Book SynopsisThis book explains how and why Berlin became the symbolic capital of the Cold War. Paul Steege anchors his account of this emerging global conflict in the terrain of a city literally shattered by World War II. In this history of everyday life, he claims for Berliners a vital role in making possible Berlin's iconic Cold War status.
Trade Review'Steege's fascinating book is a superb example of 'history from below'. He is not the first historian to have examined the lives of the people of Berlin in this period, but no one has illuminated the interaction between daily life and global politics as effectively as he does.' Journal of European Studies
Table of Contents1. Postwar Berlin: the continuities of scarcity; 2. October 1946: rolling back Soviet power; 3. June 1947: Berlin politics in the shadow of the black market; 4. March 1948: Berlin and the struggle for the Soviet Zone; 5. August 1948: battle lines on the Potsdamer Platz; 6. June 1949: ending the blockade.
