Rocking the Wall explores the epic Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin on July 19, 1988, and how it changed the world. Erik Kirschbaum spoke to scores of fans and concert organizers on both sides of the Berlin Wall, including Jon Landau, Springsteen's long-time friend and manager, to unearth this fascinating story. With lively behind-the-scenes details from eyewitness accounts, magazine and newspaper clippings, TV recordings, and even Stasi files, as well as photos and memorabilia, this gripping book transports you back in the middle of those heady times shortly before the Berlin Wall fell and gives you a front-row spot at one of the biggest and most exciting rock concerts ever, anywhere. It takes you to an unforgettable journey with Springsteen through the divided city, to his hotel, and his dressing room at the open air concert grounds in Weissensee, where The Boss, live on stage, delivered a courageous speech against the Wall to a record-breaking crowd of more than 300,000 delirious young East Germans full of joy and hope. Their thunderous reaction to his speech was so intense that it even briefly brought tears to Springsteen's eyes. And their tremendous, powerful cry for freedom became the "final nail in the coffin" of the Communist regime and subsequently helped fuel the uprising that brought down the Wall.
Inside this book is as clear a statement of the power of this music as anyone, ever, has come up with."
-Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone music critic
"An illuminating and impressively detailed examination of a frequently overlooked moment in the nexus of rock music and political liberation. I learned a great deal and enjoyed doing so."
-Eric Alterman, author of It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen
Berlinica Publishing LLC offers English-language books from Berlin, German; fiction, non-fiction, travel guides, history about the Wall and the Third Reich, Jewish life, art, architecture and photography, as well as travel guides and cookbook. It also offers documentaries and feature films on DVD, as well as music CDs. Berlinica caters to history buffs, Americans of German heritage, travelers, and artists and young people who love the cutting-edge city in the heart of Europe. Berlinica cooperates with Berlin-based publishing houses.
Berlinica's current and upcoming titles include "Our West Berlin," by various authors, also five translated books by famed Weimar author Kurt Tucholsky as well as Harold Poor's landmark biography of Tucholsky, two translated plays by Ernst Toller, and two American travel stories by Alfred Kerr and Roda Roda, soon to be followed by Egon Erwin Kisch's "Paradise America".
In the non-fiction department, we have "Rocking the Wall," the Bruce-Springsteen-book and "Burning Beethoven," about German Americans in World War I, both by Erik Kirschbaum, also "Mark Twain in Berlin," by Andreas Austilat, "Berlin 1945: World War II: Photos of the Aftermath," by Michael Brettin, "The Berlin Wall Today," a full-color guide to the remnants of the Wall, by Michael Cramer, "Berlin in the Cold War," about post-World War II history, the comprehensive guide "Jews in Berlin," by Andreas Nachama, Julius Schoeps, Hermann Simon, and "A Place they Called Home," edited by Donna Swarthout about Jews returning to Germany.
We also offer "The Berlin Cookbook," a full-color collection of traditional German recipes by Rose Marie Donhauser, the picture book "Wings of Desire," by Lothar Heinke, "Martin Luther's Travel Guide," by Cornelia Domer, "Leipzig! The City of Books und Music," by Sebastian Ringel, and "Berlin For Free," a guide for the frugal traveler by Monica Maertens.
Industry Reviews
Inside this book is as clear a statement of the power of this music as anyone, ever, has come up with."
-Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone music critic
"An illuminating and impressively detailed examination of a frequently overlooked moment in the nexus of rock music and political liberation. I learned a great deal and enjoyed doing so."
-Eric Alterman, author of It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen
"It was cultural forces, not merely political or military ones, that won the Cold War for the West, and which may yet spring more oppressive regimes from the tyranny of the old and joyless. Young East Germans wanted their rock and roll;
-Tris McCall, The Star Ledger, New Jersey
"...a glorious example of the influence that rock 'n' roll can have on people who are hungry and ready for change."
-Michelle Martin for The Washington Post
Kirschbaum is convinced it was the most politically important rock concert ever held. His book makes a strong case that historians should explore Springsteen's impact in fuelling the revolution.
David Crossland, Der SPIEGEL, Germany
Springsteen is still with us. The regime of the German Democratic Republic is not.
Stephen Evans, the BBC
In telling the back story of how the concert came to be, "Rocking the Wall" also offers a fascinating historical snapshot of East German Communist cultural officials scrambling to contain the brewing political restlessness all around them.
Vanessa Fuhrmanns, The Wall Street Journal
"Once in a while you play a place, you play a show that ends up staying inside of you, living with you for the rest of your life," he said. "East Berlin in 1988 was certainly one of them."
Kate Connolly, The Guardian
"What was intended by East Berlin's hard-line leadership as a pacifier for their people, Kirschbaum argues, had the opposite effect and turned into a powerful agent for change."
Derek Scally, The Irish Times
"It was like a brief embrace with the Statue of Liberty."
"Global Post
