The Berlin Wall

By: Frederick Taylor

Narrated by: Daniel Philpott

Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The appearance of a hastily constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall.

A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of imminent missile-borne apocalypse. This threat would vanish only when the very people the Wall had been built to imprison breached it on the historic night of 9 November 1989. The Berlin Wall is the definitive account of a divided city and its people.

©2009 Frederick Taylor (P)2011 Audible Ltd

Fascinating Content but Terrible Accents

I found the content of the book to be so interesting. I find this period of history to be so captivating and this book helped contribute to me learning more about the period. However, the narrator's accents were unnecessary and were poor caricatures that severely detracted from enjoying the book. In retrospect, reading the hard copy would have been a better option.

Narrator lost his place?

The book is a fascinating history of the Berlin Wall. I would have rated higher except for several places where the narrator repeated the passage he just completed reading. I’d think that this could be edited so this would not have been presented. Could have finished the book a couple of minutes sooner!

Bad transfer from CD

Great story. Bad transfer from CD as various sentences and phrases would repeat themselves. In one case the entire name and title of the book was repeated. (I presume that this was were the end of one CD meet the beginning of the next CD.)

Good Book, horrible "voice acting"

The book itself is good and the subject very interesting. In part, the narrating is quite good. But for some inexplicable reason the narrator resorts to absolutely terrible voice acting whenever reading quotes. I suppose it is meant to be engaging, bit the fake German and Russian accents that is performed is like nails across a cosmic blackboard. Bone chillingly bad. Nikita Khrushchev at times sounds more like a drunk Scotsman than Russian. All the Germans sound like mad scientists straight out of Dr. Strangelove. It is stereotypical beyond belief. This really shames an otherwise fine performance and a good book. I would not have bought it, had I known, and I find it hard to listen to. Please stick to just straight reading in the future or at least provide a warning prior to purchase, so we can avoid spending good money on this kind of "voice acting".

Makes a dark chapter "enjoyable"

If you could sum up The Berlin Wall in three words, what would they be?

A big story

What did you like best about this story?

It covered all facets and not just personal or diplomatic but intertwined the stories to give a really complete future. So you learned about the effect of the Wall on people like many histories but also how it was planned and then executed At first I wasn't sure about the narrator, but as I went along his narration really helped the story along.

Excellent narrative about a dismal era.

What made the experience of listening to The Berlin Wall the most enjoyable?

The compelling stupidity about the Cold War.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It didn't really have a "character".

What does Daniel Philpott bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He helps focus the events.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No, it was all very sad.

Any additional comments?

no

Good book, sloppy audiobook

The book itself was fine, well written and informative. The audiobook did not totally do it justice. There were several edit mistakes with the narrator repeating or rereading parts of the book. It made the performance feel sloppy.

Fascinating Story with Auditory Flaws

I've always found Berlin and its history fascinating. It's one of those cities that doesn't get the recognition it deserves and always fades behind the flash and glitter of cities like New York or Paris. However, if they took the time to explore a little deeper, and uncover the warm glow of Berlin, they would see it's a rich and beautiful city with an extraordinary but sad history. The Berlin Wall is one of those stories.
Like most stories, it has a happy ending but it's roots take place in the rubble of a miscalculated war, where only hunger and lost hopes could be found. And from that rubble, we are taken on a journey that stretches twenty-eight years (1961-1989): where liberators act more like occupiers and claw at the remains of a ruined city, where the belief that the human will and want for something better could be squashed and through a repressive regime, host a 96 mile wall making prisoners of its citizens. Where people cling to hope and are willing to risk their lives for freedom and in the end, break though to find that freedom.
I think this book would be a fabulous addition to any library or supplemental study, as it subtly shows the hypocritical ideologies of any extreme (Nazi's vs Communist's, as in the end, they wind up behaving like each other), and how the human will is a force to be reckoned with and admired.
My rating takes issue with the audiobook, not the overall story itself, which tends to focus on the early years of the Wall, and flutters over 70s and 80s - the fall of the Wall (the last three chapters).
It's not the narrator - the narrator has a nice, clear, strong voice. At first I was a little taken aback when he did the accents but after awhile got used to them. My issue comes in the form that I don't think the producer...or whoever is in charge of production, listened to the final product. There are maybe five or six passages where the narrator repeats himself. For instance when LBJ arrives in Berlin, the narrator said a sentence, then there's a one-or-two second pause and then he repeats the same sentence and continues on with the paragraph.
When it happened the first time, I found it a little jarring, at first I thought there was a glitch and then corrected itself but when it happened again...and again...and again, it made the audible-hosted audiobooks seem a bit unprofessional, especially since this has also happened with another audible audiobook, - Churchill's Secret War - (Mukerjee).

Interesting book, awful narration

Very interesting survey of both the history of Berlin, and the political context in which the GDR built the wall.

But, unfortunately, I returned the book about half way through because I couldn't stand the narration. The reader insists on reading quotes in the accent and character of the quoted person, which sounds like a reasonable approach until every few minutes you hear the jarring voice of a German military commander. I'll probably buy the ebook instead.

Good overall but could be slightly shorter

I found this a very interesting and well narrated history of the Berlin Wall which did a good job of capturing the state of the world at the time and the global significance of Berlin. I did feel however that the book could have been made a bit tighter by not repeating quite as many stories of escapes which became slightly less interesting as more and more were discussed.

A worthy listen.