What do you think?
Rate this book
Berlin Before and After: A Cautionary Mirror for Our Times
"Delightfully original, brilliantly conceived, witty, and poignant.” —Brenda Wineapple
Berlin is more than a city; it's a survivor, an enigma, and a mirror to the world, a unique place whose recent past holds essential lessons for us today.
IIn 1929, Berlin stood at a precipice—alive with art, literature, and radical politics, yet trembling under the weight of economic instability and the shadows of extremism. A century later, the city bears the scars and triumphs of everything that dictatorship, devastation, division, and ultimately reunification. Today’s Berlin is both haunted by and distinct from its past, a metropolis where every street corner and memorial carries the echoes of history, acknowledging and thus atoning for what took place there.
A seasoned chronicler of cities and culture, Wendy Lesser reveals Berlin as a place that refuses to forget, a living reminder of both catastrophe and resilience. In its transformations lie urgent lessons for the rest of the world, and particularly for America today.
A history, travelogue, cultural study, and personal reflection, Berlin Before and After captures the essence of a city that has lived through extremes and offers hope and proof that the past need not dictate the future.
Berlin is more than a city; it's a survivor, an enigma, and a mirror to the world, a unique place whose recent past holds essential lessons for us today.
IIn 1929, Berlin stood at a precipice—alive with art, literature, and radical politics, yet trembling under the weight of economic instability and the shadows of extremism. A century later, the city bears the scars and triumphs of everything that dictatorship, devastation, division, and ultimately reunification. Today’s Berlin is both haunted by and distinct from its past, a metropolis where every street corner and memorial carries the echoes of history, acknowledging and thus atoning for what took place there.
A seasoned chronicler of cities and culture, Wendy Lesser reveals Berlin as a place that refuses to forget, a living reminder of both catastrophe and resilience. In its transformations lie urgent lessons for the rest of the world, and particularly for America today.
A history, travelogue, cultural study, and personal reflection, Berlin Before and After captures the essence of a city that has lived through extremes and offers hope and proof that the past need not dictate the future.
- GenresHistory
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 8, 2026
About the author
Wendy Lesser
31 books82 followersWendy Lesser a critic, novelist, and editor based in Berkeley, California.
She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 1, 2026
Lesser’s Berlin Before and After examines how Berlin lives with the physical remains of its past. Through monuments, museums, architecture, films, and ordinary objects, she explores what should be preserved, removed, or reinterpreted.
Her discussion of Good Bye, Lenin! raises the tension between political idealism and reality. It also raises the question of what happens when the dream of creating an ideal society becomes disconnected from reality.
Lesser’s discussion of monuments raises a broad question: when something is removed from public space, what exactly is being removed? An ideology, a memory, an ugly object, or simply something society no longer wants to see? The past itself cannot be removed. Destroying evidence does not destroy history, and confronting an unpleasant past may be more useful than pretending it never existed.
In the end, the past cannot be erased; we can only decide whether to confront it, understand it, or hide it.
Her discussion of Good Bye, Lenin! raises the tension between political idealism and reality. It also raises the question of what happens when the dream of creating an ideal society becomes disconnected from reality.
Lesser’s discussion of monuments raises a broad question: when something is removed from public space, what exactly is being removed? An ideology, a memory, an ugly object, or simply something society no longer wants to see? The past itself cannot be removed. Destroying evidence does not destroy history, and confronting an unpleasant past may be more useful than pretending it never existed.
In the end, the past cannot be erased; we can only decide whether to confront it, understand it, or hide it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Wendy Lesser never expected to fall in love with Berlin; in fact, because of Germany’s history, she’d had a feeling of visceral antipathy toward the country. But once she agreed to take up a three-month residence at the American Academy in Berlin in 2003, she became intrigued and for a long time now has visited at least once a year.
Lesser doesn’t overlook the city’s dark history at all, but she does appreciate its willingness to confront and acknowledge it. Obviously, its Nazi history, but also its brutal colonial history, and more. As she says, it’s a city that is constantly changing, but always leaves markers of its history.
In this book, Lesser portrays Berlin in 1929, toward the end of the Weimar era, with its current state. Very often, she looks at the changes—and similarities—through the arts: film, music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, museum exhibitions. And, toward the end of the book, she presents the city’s transportation system, which she adores, and takes her favorite bus ride through the city and its entire route, noting the many landmarks along the way. Unsurprisingly, she also makes some comparisons between the Weimar and Nazi eras, and the US.
This book had me constantly sidetracked with looking up people or places Lesser mentions and, especially, poring over maps of Berlin. I yearned to be with her on every walk, every performance, every exhibit.
Lesser doesn’t overlook the city’s dark history at all, but she does appreciate its willingness to confront and acknowledge it. Obviously, its Nazi history, but also its brutal colonial history, and more. As she says, it’s a city that is constantly changing, but always leaves markers of its history.
In this book, Lesser portrays Berlin in 1929, toward the end of the Weimar era, with its current state. Very often, she looks at the changes—and similarities—through the arts: film, music, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, museum exhibitions. And, toward the end of the book, she presents the city’s transportation system, which she adores, and takes her favorite bus ride through the city and its entire route, noting the many landmarks along the way. Unsurprisingly, she also makes some comparisons between the Weimar and Nazi eras, and the US.
This book had me constantly sidetracked with looking up people or places Lesser mentions and, especially, poring over maps of Berlin. I yearned to be with her on every walk, every performance, every exhibit.
October 20, 2026
I tried several times to read further. I just wasn't engaged / interested in obscure films from 1929. I couldn't find a story arc or person that intrigued me. I did, however, enjoy a repeat visit to this interesting, modern and historical city!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews