Remember the Berlin Wall
Which went up 65 years ago today.
65 years ago today, as everyone slept or were away on vacation, the Berlin Wall went up. Imagine one night, as you’re sleeping, your government installs a phalanx of armed soldiers and rows of barbed wire down the main street of your city, bisecting it and immediately separating you from families, workers, friends—for the next 28 years—encircling a totalitarian surveillance enclave, not to keep the “baddies” out, but to keep you in. That was the Berlin Wall. Berlin was already a city divided; this was only 15 years after the end of World War II. The citizenry of one city was only a fractal image of what was happening globally—a division we thought we got past in the ‘90s when the Wall eventually came down. Unfortunately, that “golden age” was short-lived, and popular figures are promoting the same failed, resentment-based, “Way of Cain” ideologies that divided Berlin in 1961…and that had laid it waste in Berlin 1945.
You should really read my book, Berliners. I’m serious. You really, really should. It’s a good book that’s important as a kind of map of our moment. And you should give copies to your friends, and especially to any young adults who seem confused about our time and their place in it. You’ll have a much, much better idea of that history…and our current situation. And maybe of that pesky line that Solzhenitsyn reminded us passes through the middle of each of our hearts.
Procure your copy here or wherever you love to buy books, especially from your favorite Indie bookseller. It’s also available on Kindle or Audible, though since AI companies are shredding books, even though they’ve already been sued for stealing our work (including, yes, my books!), I heartily recommend the hardcover. In fact, I think the age of personal libraries is back and must come back.
When you’ve read Berliners, do let me know what you think here in the comments.
I have Berliners and loved it. I'm so grateful for your books in a time where most recently written books (at least those that make "best of" or "best seller" lists) are in no way worth my time or worth the time of my five kids. And don't worry, our personal library is thriving, we are near the 10k mark currently! Thank God for the secondhand market and a husband who is also horrified AI companies are shredding old and rare books.
Yes I’ve read it and got a friend to read it. We both thought it was wonderful! It was interesting, informative, and, I think, a wake up call to what can happen again, even here.