Berlin Now – The Rise and Fall of the City and the Fall of the Wall – Peter Schneider

Berlin Now by Peter Schneider is the inside story of this uniquely fascinating city over the last five decades, written by a legendary Berliner.In the last fifty years, 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, thrumming with life and possibility. 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.Peter Schneider was born in L++beck, Germany, in 1940, and has lived in Berlin on and off since the 1960s, when he was a key spokesperson for its radical student movement. Renowned as a novelist and essayist, he is now the author of more than twenty books, including the Penguin Modern Classic The Wall Jumper, described by Ian McEwan as 'a wonderful novel'. He has taught at many universities, including Stanford, Princeton and Harvard, and written for many international newspapers, including Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Le Monde and La Repubblica.