Berlin, the Wall and me

Regular readers of The Baron might be interested in the recent release of a book called Checkpoint Charlie, by Iain MacGregor, which covers the history of the Berlin Wall. It got great reviews in the New Statesman and The Times, among others. 

Important vanity note: it includes a slim chapter on Tim Garton Ash, Hans-Ulrich Joerges and me - largely focussed on how Uli Joerges and I operated as Reuters correspondents in East Berlin. But Reuters folk who spent any time in Berlin will find the rest of the book of much more interest - MacGregor secured fascinating interviews with former soldiers and border guards from both sides and there are gripping accounts of various US-Soviet confrontations, especially in Autumn 1961. ■