Berlin In The Balance

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Berlin In The Balance

Author : Thomas Parrish
Publisher : Da Capo Press, Incorporated
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (555 download)

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Book Synopsis Berlin In The Balance by : Thomas Parrish

Download or read book Berlin In The Balance written by Thomas Parrish and published by Da Capo Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 1999-05-06 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In June 1948, Soviet authorities in Germany announced a land blockade of the American, British, and French sectors of Berlin. Isolated more than one hundred miles within Soviet-occupied territory, western Berlin was in danger of running out of coal, food, and the courage to stand up to Joseph Stalin.As Berlin in the Balance recounts, this crisis was a turning-point for U.S. policy. Just three years earlier, the Soviet Union had been an ally and Berlin the target of American bombers. In 1946 Winston Churchill had ignited protests by calling for an Anglo-American alliance against the USSR. The Berlin blockade made Churchill's ”iron curtain” through Europe an inescapable reality.Led by Harry S. Truman, the Western Allies refused to back away from Berlin. Instead, they took to the air, packing passenger planes with coal, potatoes, flour, and other necessities. Not even the commanders of the year-old U.S. Air Force believed this fleet could supply western Berlin for long. Its main airport was squeezed among apartment buildings. Autumn would bring blinding fogs. And nobody had ever tried to supply a city of millions by air. Berlin in the Balance tells the full, gripping story of this critical conflict—how it developed and how it played out. Noted historian Thomas Parrish shows us the crisis through the eyes of Truman, Stalin, and other leaders. We hear Berliners cheer the arrival of each ”raisin bomber”; the planes' roar was assurance that the democratic powers had not abandoned them. Through sources made available only after the fall of the USSR, we learn how Soviet leaders planned their strategy to drive out the West, what they feared, and what they hoped to achieve. Berlin in the Balance spotlights a different kind of air force heroism—flying heavy transport planes in weather so bad ”the birds walked,” harassed by Soviet fighters but never firing a shot. Under the decisive leadership of General William H. Tunner, crews took off every three minutes around the clock. Soldiers rushed to maintain the airplanes and runways, master a new radar system, even build a new airport. The operation depended on support from Frankfurt to London to Montana, on the sacrifices of German civilians and the boldness of French saboteurs. Using archives and fresh interviews, Parrish details the full scope and success of ”Operation Vittles.”The Berlin airlift stopped Stalin's expansion in Europe. It helped Truman win his upset election in 1948. And it set the course of East-West conflict for the next forty years. More than sixty U.S. and allied fliers died in this great operation, keeping a besieged city fueled, fed, and free. Berlin in the Balance is a masterful chronicle of this crucial, stirring saga.

A Woman in Berlin

Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 0312426119
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (124 download)

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Book Synopsis A Woman in Berlin by :

Download or read book A Woman in Berlin written by and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-07-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For eight weeks in 1945, as Berlin fell to the Russian army, a young woman kept a daily record of life in her apartment building and among its residents. She tells of the shameful indignities to which women in a conquered city are always subject.

Berlin 1961

Author : Frederick Kempe
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101515023
Total Pages : 826 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Berlin 1961 by : Frederick Kempe

Download or read book Berlin 1961 written by Frederick Kempe and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 826 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called Berlin "the most dangerous place on earth." He knew what he was talking about. Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the Cold War-and more perilous. It was in that hot summer that the Berlin Wall was constructed, which would divide the world for another twenty-eight years. Then two months later, and for the first time in history, American and Soviet fighting men and tanks stood arrayed against each other, only yards apart. One mistake, one nervous soldier, one overzealous commander-and the tripwire would be sprung for a war that could go nuclear in a heartbeat. On one side was a young, untested U.S. president still reeling from the Bay of Pigs disaster and a humiliating summit meeting that left him grasping for ways to respond. It would add up to be one of the worst first-year foreign policy performances of any modern president. On the other side, a Soviet premier hemmed in by the Chinese, East Germans, and hardliners in his own government. With an all-important Party Congress approaching, he knew Berlin meant the difference not only for the Kremlin's hold on its empire-but for his own hold on the Kremlin. Neither man really understood the other, both tried cynically to manipulate events. And so, week by week, they crept closer to the brink. Based on a wealth of new documents and interviews, filled with fresh-sometimes startling-insights, written with immediacy and drama, Berlin 1961 is an extraordinary look at key events of the twentieth century, with powerful applications to these early years of the twenty-first. Includes photographs

The Marshall Plan

Author : Benn Steil
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501102397
Total Pages : 624 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Marshall Plan by : Benn Steil

Download or read book The Marshall Plan written by Benn Steil and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2018 American Academy of Diplomacy Douglas Dillon Award Shortlisted for the 2018 Duff Cooper Prize in Literary Nonfiction “[A] brilliant book…by far the best study yet” (Paul Kennedy, The Wall Street Journal) of the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan and its long-lasting influence on our world. In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin’s on the rise, US officials under new Secretary of State George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continue to shape world events. Benn Steil’s “thoroughly researched and well-written account” (USA TODAY) tells the story behind the birth of the Cold War, told with verve, insight, and resonance for today. Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steil’s gripping narrative takes us through the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relations—the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe is vividly portrayed. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steil’s account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan. “Trenchant and timely…an ambitious, deeply researched narrative that…provides a fresh perspective on the coming Cold War” (The New York Times Book Review), The Marshall Plan is a polished and masterly work of historical narrative. An instant classic of Cold War literature, it “is a gripping, complex, and critically important story that is told with clarity and precision” (The Christian Science Monitor).

Isaiah Berlin

Author : Michael Ignatieff
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780805063004
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (63 download)

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Book Synopsis Isaiah Berlin by : Michael Ignatieff

Download or read book Isaiah Berlin written by Michael Ignatieff and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1999-10-15 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, the landmark biography of the preeminent liberal thinker of our time, from celebrated social critic Michael Ignatieff. of photos.

Berlin Diary

Author : William L. Shirer
Publisher : Rosetta Books
ISBN 13 : 0795316984
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis Berlin Diary by : William L. Shirer

Download or read book Berlin Diary written by William L. Shirer and published by Rosetta Books. This book was released on 2011-10-23 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the international bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers a personal account of life in Nazi Germany at the start of WWII. By the late 1930s, Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Nazi Party, had consolidated power in Germany and was leading the world into war. A young foreign correspondent was on hand to bear witness. More than two decades prior to the publication of his acclaimed history, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer was a journalist stationed in Berlin. During his years in the Nazi capital, he kept a daily personal diary, scrupulously recording everything he heard and saw before being forced to flee the country in 1940. Berlin Diary is Shirer’s first-hand account of the momentous events that shook the world in the mid-twentieth century, from the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia to the fall of Poland and France. A remarkable personal memoir of an extraordinary time, it chronicles the author’s thoughts and experiences while living in the shadow of the Nazi beast. Shirer recalls the surreal spectacles of the Nuremberg rallies, the terror of the late-night bombing raids, and his encounters with members of the German high command while he was risking his life to report to the world on the atrocities of a genocidal regime. At once powerful, engrossing, and edifying, William L. Shirer’s Berlin Diary is an essential historical record that illuminates one of the darkest periods in human civilization.

Bowie in Berlin

Author : Thomas Jerome Seabrook
Publisher : Jawbone Press
ISBN 13 : 1906002088
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis Bowie in Berlin by : Thomas Jerome Seabrook

Download or read book Bowie in Berlin written by Thomas Jerome Seabrook and published by Jawbone Press. This book was released on 2008-02 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a biographical and historical account of the recording of David Bowie's albums 'Low', ''Heroes'' and 'Lodger'. Set against the backdrop of post-war Berlin it features a cast of characters including Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk and Robert Fripp. It also looks at the influence Bowie's 'Berlin Trilogy' has exerted on other musicians.

Stasiland

Author : Anna Funder
Publisher : Odyssey Editions
ISBN 13 : 1623730376
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (237 download)

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Book Synopsis Stasiland by : Anna Funder

Download or read book Stasiland written by Anna Funder and published by Odyssey Editions. This book was released on 2015-10-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stasiland tells true stories of people who heroically resisted the communist dictatorship of East Germany, and of people who worked for its secret police, the Stasi. Internationally hailed as a classic, it is ‘fascinating, entertaining, hilarious, horrifying and very important’ (Tom Hanks) and ‘a heartbreaking, beautifully written book.’ (Claire Tomalin). East Germany was one of the most intrusive surveillance states of all time. One in 7 people spied on their friends, family and colleagues. In ‘the most humane and sensitive way’ (J.M. Coetzee) Funder tells the true stories of four people who had the extraordinary courage to refuse to collaborate with the Stasi, and the price they paid. She meets Miriam Weber, who was imprisoned at 16 after scaling the Berlin Wall. She drinks with the legendary “Mik Jegger” of the Eastern Bloc who was ‘disappeared’. And she finds former Stasi men who defend their regime long past its demise, and yearn for the second coming of Communism. Stasiland won the Samuel Johnson Prize for best non-fiction published in English in 2004. It was a finalist for the Guardian First Book Award, the W.H. Heinemann Award, the Index Freedom of Expression Awards, The Age Book of the Year Awards, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Innovation in Writing). It is read in schools and universities in many countries, and has been adapted for CD and the stage by The National Theatre, London.

Civilization

Author : Niall Ferguson
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101548029
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Civilization by : Niall Ferguson

Download or read book Civilization written by Niall Ferguson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.

A Question of Balance

Author : Michael Creswell
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674022973
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (229 download)

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Book Synopsis A Question of Balance by : Michael Creswell

Download or read book A Question of Balance written by Michael Creswell and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2006-10-31 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Challenging standard interpretations of American dominance and French weakness in postwar Western Europe, Michael Creswell argues that France played a key role in shaping the cold war order. In the decade after the war, the U.S. government's primary objective was to rearm the Federal Republic of Germany within the framework of a European defense force--the European Defense Community. American and French officials differed, however, over the composition of the EDC and the rules governing its organization and use. Although U.S. pressure played a part, more decisive factors--in both internal French politics and international French concerns--ultimately led France to sanction the plan to rearm West Germany. Creswell sketches the successful French challenge to the United States, tracing the genuine, sometimes heated, debate between the two nations that ultimately resulted in security arrangements preferred by the French but acceptable to the Americans. Impressively researched and vigorously argued, A Question of Balance advances significantly our understanding of power politics and the rise of the cold war system in Western Europe.

Many Thousands Gone

Author : Ira Berlin
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674020825
Total Pages : 516 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (28 download)

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Book Synopsis Many Thousands Gone by : Ira Berlin

Download or read book Many Thousands Gone written by Ira Berlin and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today most Americans, black and white, identify slavery with cotton, the deep South, and the African-American church. But at the beginning of the nineteenth century, after almost two hundred years of African-American life in mainland North America, few slaves grew cotton, lived in the deep South, or embraced Christianity. Many Thousands Gone traces the evolution of black society from the first arrivals in the early seventeenth century through the Revolution. In telling their story, Ira Berlin, a leading historian of southern and African-American life, reintegrates slaves into the history of the American working class and into the tapestry of our nation. Laboring as field hands on tobacco and rice plantations, as skilled artisans in port cities, or soldiers along the frontier, generation after generation of African Americans struggled to create a world of their own in circumstances not of their own making. In a panoramic view that stretches from the North to the Chesapeake Bay and Carolina lowcountry to the Mississippi Valley, Many Thousands Gone reveals the diverse forms that slavery and freedom assumed before cotton was king. We witness the transformation that occurred as the first generations of creole slaves--who worked alongside their owners, free blacks, and indentured whites--gave way to the plantation generations, whose back-breaking labor was the sole engine of their society and whose physical and linguistic isolation sustained African traditions on American soil. As the nature of the slaves' labor changed with place and time, so did the relationship between slave and master, and between slave and society. In this fresh and vivid interpretation, Berlin demonstrates that the meaning of slavery and of race itself was continually renegotiated and redefined, as the nation lurched toward political and economic independence and grappled with the Enlightenment ideals that had inspired its birth.

The Girl from Berlin

Author : Ronald H. Balson
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250195268
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis The Girl from Berlin by : Ronald H. Balson

Download or read book The Girl from Berlin written by Ronald H. Balson and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the newest novel from internationally-bestselling author Ronald. H. Balson, Liam and Catherine come to the aid of an old friend and are drawn into a property dispute in Tuscany that unearths long-buried secrets An old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the Tuscan hills by a powerful corporation claiming they own the deeds, even though she can produce her own set of deeds to her land. Catherine and Liam’s only clue is a bound handwritten manuscript, entirely in German, and hidden in its pages is a story long-forgotten... Ada Baumgarten was born in Berlin in 1918, at the end of the war. The daughter of an accomplished first-chair violinist in the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic, and herself a violin prodigy, Ada’s life was full of the rich culture of Berlin’s interwar society. She formed a deep attachment to her childhood friend Kurt, but they were torn apart by the growing unrest as her Jewish family came under suspicion. As the tides of history turned, it was her extraordinary talent that would carry her through an unraveling society turned to war, and make her a target even as it saved her, allowing her to move to Bologna—though Italy was not the haven her family had hoped, and further heartache awaited. What became of Ada? How is she connected to the conflicting land deeds of a small Italian villa? As they dig through the layers of lies, corruption, and human evil, Catherine and Liam uncover an unfinished story of heart, redemption, and hope—the ending of which is yet to be written. Don't miss Liam and Catherine's lastest adventures in The Girl from Berlin!

The Berlin Boxing Club

Author : Robert Sharenow
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062076922
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis The Berlin Boxing Club by : Robert Sharenow

Download or read book The Berlin Boxing Club written by Robert Sharenow and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-05-17 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sydney Taylor Award-winning novel Berlin Boxing Club is loosely inspired by the true story of boxer Max Schmeling's experiences following Kristallnacht. Publishers Weekly called it "a masterful historical novel" in a starred review. Karl Stern has never thought of himself as a Jew; after all, he's never even been in a synagogue. But the bullies at his school in Nazi-era Berlin don't care that Karl's family doesn't practice religion. Demoralized by their attacks against a heritage he doesn't accept as his own, Karl longs to prove his worth. Then Max Schmeling, champion boxer and German hero, makes a deal with Karl's father to give Karl boxing lessons. A skilled cartoonist, Karl has never had an interest in boxing, but now it seems like the perfect chance to reinvent himself. But when Nazi violence against Jews escalates, Karl must take on a new role: family protector. And as Max's fame forces him to associate with Nazi elites, Karl begins to wonder where his hero's sympathies truly lie. Can Karl balance his boxing dreams with his obligation to keep his family out of harm's way? Includes an author's note and sources page detailing the factual inspirations behind the novel.

The Crooked Timber Of Humanity

Author : Isaiah Berlin
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1446496961
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (464 download)

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Book Synopsis The Crooked Timber Of Humanity by : Isaiah Berlin

Download or read book The Crooked Timber Of Humanity written by Isaiah Berlin and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-06-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isaiah Berlin is regarded by many as one of the greatest historians of ideas of his time. In The Crooked Timber of Humanity, he argues passionately, eloquently, and subtly, that what he calls 'the Great Goods' of human aspiration - liberty, justice, equality - do not cohere and never can. Pluralism and variety of thought are not avoidable compromises, but the glory of civilisation. In an age of increasing ideological fundamentalism and intolerance we need to listen to Isaiah Berlin more carefully than ever before.

The Balance of Empires

Author : John W. Walko
Publisher : Universal-Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1581125925
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (811 download)

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Book Synopsis The Balance of Empires by : John W. Walko

Download or read book The Balance of Empires written by John W. Walko and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2003 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 10, 1952, almost a decade before the Berlin Wall existed, the U.S.S.R. controversially proposed the creation of a reunified, rearmed and neutral Germany. A year before Stalin's death, this was the last overture he tendered on "the German Question." However, the bid failed and Germany remained divided for another 38 years. Why? One can understand neither the Cold War nor the eventual reunification of Germany in 1990 without understanding this 1952 incident. The world in which we live now was created in no small part by the backroom decisions during a few months of 1952. This book on the March Note should appeal to both the armchair historian and the social scientist. Besides being a fascinating tale of diplomatic intrigue, it provides a valuable case study for International Relations scholars. Scholarly arguments of Realism vs. Idealism, levels of analysis, open vs. closed door diplomacy, the selection of which tier of authority to address an issue (from chief of state to low functionary), institutionalism and path-dependence, and the ever-present issue of spin control are all in evidence here. As such, this book could make a useful classroom assignment in International Relations, Diplomatic History, American or European Studies, Journalism or Media Studies. Yet, the theoretically-disinclined can also leave these arguments in the background and simply enjoy this little-known tale of empires which still shapes our lives today.

To Save a City

Author : Roger G. Miller
Publisher : Texas A&M University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781603440905
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (49 download)

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Book Synopsis To Save a City by : Roger G. Miller

Download or read book To Save a City written by Roger G. Miller and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2008-04-21 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following World War II, the Soviet Union drew an Iron Curtain across Europe, crowning its efforts with a blockade of West Berlin in a desperate effort to prevent the creation of an independent, democratic West Germany. The United States and Great Britain, aided by France, responded with a daring air logistical operation that in fifteen months delivered almost three million tons of coal, food, and other necessities to the people of Berlin. Now, drawing on rare U.S. Air Force files, recently declassified documents from the National Archives, records released since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the memories of airlift veterans themselves, Roger G. Miller provides an original study of the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Airlift was an enterprise of epic proportions that demonstrated the power of air logistics as a political instrument. What began as a hastily organized operation by a small number of warweary cargo airplanes evolved into an intricate bridge of aircraft that flowed in and out of Berlin through narrow air corridors. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, a stream of airplanes delivered everything from food and medicine to coal and candy in defiance of breakdowns, inclement weather, and Soviet hostility. And beyond the airlift itself, a complex system of transportation, maintenance, and supply stretching around the world sustained operations. Historians, veterans, and general readers will welcome this history of the first Western victory of the Cold War. Maps, diagrams, and more than forty photographs illustrate the mechanical inner workings and the human faces that made that triumph possible.

Gay Berlin

Author : Robert Beachy
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307473139
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Gay Berlin by : Robert Beachy

Download or read book Gay Berlin written by Robert Beachy and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of Randy Shilts Award In the half century before the Nazis rose to power, Berlin became the undisputed gay capital of the world. Activists and medical professionals made it a city of firsts—the first gay journal, the first homosexual rights organization, the first Institute for Sexual Science, the first sex reassignment surgeries—exploring and educating themselves and the rest of the world about new ways of understanding the human condition. In this fascinating examination of how the uninhibited urban culture of Berlin helped create our categories of sexual orientation and gender identity, Robert Beachy guides readers through the past events and developments that continue to shape and influence our thinking about sex and gender to this day.