When President John F. Kennedy electrified the world by declaring, "Ich bin ein Berliner," he could not have produced the same effect by claiming to belong to any other city. For more than a century, Berlin has exercised a strange fascination for the rest of the world. It has stood as a symbol for arrogant militarism, unrestrained imperialism, bloody revolution, and the terrors of totalitarian rule. In the twenties and thirties it harbored an explosion of artistic expression, from kinky cabarets to the confrontational plays of Bertolt Brecht to the architecture of the Bauhaus. After World War II, its division mirrored the divisions of the old world order. Now, its reunification exemplifies the new, with a reborn Berlin poised to assume greater importance than ever at the heart of the new Europe.In this richly enjoyable narrative, Read and Fisher relate how a dusty outpost on the remotest fringe of the Holy Roman Empire became the biggest and most powerful city in continental Europe. They tell the story of Berlin by focusing not only on political events, but also on a vast range of extraordinary personalities: politicians, soldiers, industrialists, artists, writers and performers, and the often bizarre Hohenzollern princes who ruled the city as their personal fiefdom from 1442 until 1918. But above all, Read and Fisher tell the story of the kleine Leute, the "little people" - wave after wave of immigrants who transformed, and were transformed by, the great city of Berlin.Writing with all their usual verve, humor, and eye for detail, Read and Fisher have produced the essential guide to Berlin's past, present, and future, a fitting companion to their recent epic success The Fall of Berlin. Read Less