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.
Erik Kirschbaum, a native of New York City and long-time
Springsteen fan, has lived in Germany for more than twenty-five
years and in Berlin since 1993. He is a correspondent for the
Reuters international news agency and has written about
entertainment, politics, sports, economics, as well as disasters
and climate change in nearly thirty countries. He is a devoted
father of four, an enthusiastic cyclist, a solar power entrepreneur
and an unabashed crusader for renewable energy. Rocking the Wall is
his third book.
Praise for Rocking 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
"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
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