Sign-In
Cart
Berlin Before the Wall: A Foreign Student's Diary with Sketches
Paperback
Series: Routledge Revivals
General World HistoryGerman HistoryIndividual Artists
ISBN13: 9781032844336
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Jan 19 2026
Pages: 262
Weight: 0.91
Height: 0.61 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
In the 1950's, Berlin had come under four-power occupation while still struggling to recover from the war. It had also become the object of a fierce ideological conflict between Stalinist Communism and capitalist democracy, between traditional German values and hopes for a new and better Europe. From these years, when the inhabitants of Germany's Old Reich capital re-evaluated their past and tried to set their hopes for the future, comes the diary of an expatriate Chinese student, himself in search of a new spiritual homeland and as anxious to learn from the victors as from the vanquished.
First published in 1990, Berlin Before the Wall is an account of life in Berlin recorded in the form of a diary and sketchbook kept by Hsi-Huey Liang, a young graduate student, while researching his dissertation in 1954. Capturing a pivotal moment of the Cold War, Liang provides a wealth of detail about a city that has been the subject of enduring fascination. As a historical document, the diary records the political events of the time with an engaging style and compelling immediacy. As a sketchbook, it captures the rhythms of the city, with its witty pencil drawings of people, places, and events. Liang's pencil moves with ease and intelligence from street cleaners to diplomats, and his drawings exhibit not only an extraordinary sensitivity but are also astonishing in their sheer variety and keen insight into the culture of Berlin.
This book will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in the Cold War period, student life, and all things German.
Also in
German History
The Occult in National Socialism: The Symbolic, Scientific, and Magical Influences on the Third Reich
Flowers, Stephen E.
Paperback
The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
Kinney, David
Wittman, Robert K.
Paperback
Germany from Partition to Reunification: A Revised Edition of the Two Germanies Since 1945
Turner, Henry Ashby, Jr.
Paperback
The Origins of Totalitarianism: With a New Introduction by Anne Applebaum
Arendt, Hannah
Applebaum, Anne
Paperback
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Larson, Erik
Paperback
They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted
Lachman, Charles
Hardcover
Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall
Merriman, Helena
Paperback
Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment
Gaines, James R.
Paperback
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Alexander, Larry
Makos, Adam
Paperback
The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945, Revised Edition
Allen, William Sheridan
Paperback
Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World
Buchanan, Patrick J.
Paperback
The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Harrington, Joel F.
Paperback
Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
Whitman, James Q.
Paperback
Defeat at the Dnepr: The XLVIII. Panzerkorps' Counterattack at Kiev, November 1943
Waring, Simon
Hardcover
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp
Olson, Lynne
Hardcover
Reich of the Black Sun: Nazi Secret Weapons & the Cold War Allied Legend
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
Моя Борьба - Майн Кампф: Mein Kampf
Гитлер, Ад&#
Hitler, Adolf
Paperback
Inside the 22 Cells in Nuremberg: Power, Obedience, and the Psychology Behind History's Darkest Decisions
Adams, Taylor
Paperback
The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century
Watson, Peter
Paperback
Germany in Stalin's Crosshairs: The Red Army's Entry into the Second World War, and the Wehrmacht's Actions in 1941
Schwipper, Bernd
Paperback
Nazi International: The Nazis' Postwar Plan to Control the Worlds of Science, Finance, Space, and Conflict
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
Donner, Rebecca
Paperback
The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague
Ash, Timothy Garton
Paperback
Douglas Kelly and the 22 Cells in Nuremberg: What Happens When Power, Loyalty, and Silence Go Unquestioned
Meier, Torsten
Paperback
The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic
Hett, Benjamin Carter
Paperback
When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany
Fergusson, Adam
Paperback
The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil
Ridenour, Al
Paperback
The Shortest History of Germany: From Roman Frontier to the Heart of Europe - A Retelling for Our Times
Hawes, James
Paperback
The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War
Bascomb, Neal
Paperback
A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed by the Rise of Fascism
Boyd, Julia
Patel, Angelika
Paperback
The Myth of the Great War: A New Military History of World War I
Mosier, John
Literary Group International
Paperback
Insignia of the Waffen-SS: Cuff Titles, Collar Tabs, Shoulder Boards & Badges
Michaelis, Rolf
Hardcover
Hitler's Table Talk: The Complete Edition 1941-1944
Heim, Heinrich
Picker, Henry
Bormann, Martin
Paperback
A Hangman's Diary: The Journal of Master Franz Schmidt, Public Executioner of Nuremberg, 1573-1617
Schmidt, Franz
Paperback
Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples Since 1500
Wilson, Peter H.
Paperback
The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II
MacGregor, Iain
Paperback
The Third Way: The Nazi International, European Union, and Corporate Fascism
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
Patton at the Battle of the Bulge: How the General's Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne
Barron, Leo
Paperback
From Occupation to Integration: Recivilizing the French Zone of Post-Nazi Germany, 1945-1955
Flanagan, Drew
Hardcover
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Large Print Edition)
Larson, Erik
Paperback
Foundational Description of the Art of Fencing: The 1570 Treatise of Joachim Meyer (Reading Edition)
Meyer, Joachim
Paperback
Stalin's Great Raid: The Plundering of Germany and the Rise of the Soviet Union to a Superpower
Musial, Bogdan
Paperback
Knowledge of the Stasi in the East German Literary Sphere: Surveillance, Secrecy, and Revelation
Wasihun, Betiel
Windsor, Tara Talwar
Jones, Sara
Paperback
What We Knew: Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany
Johnson, Eric A.
Reuband, Karl-Heinz
Paperback
Night of the Long Knives: Forty-Eight Hours That Changed The History Of The World
Maracin, Paul
Paperback
Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law
Whitman, James Q.
Hardcover
Hitler's American Friends: The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States
Hart, Bradley W.
Paperback