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Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War
Across 3,000 miles and over eight decades, this epic new people's history of the Cold War makes eye-opening sense of a defining 20th-century conflict—and how it continues to shape our world today.
Initially a victory line where Allies met at the end of World War Two, the Iron Curtain quickly became the front of a new kind of war. It divided Europe from north to south for a staggering forty-five years. Crossing it in either direction was always a political act; in many cases, it was a crime to even talk about doing so. New generations have grown up since these borders came down, freed from the restrictions of the Cold War era. But what has the Iron Curtain left in its wake?
Timothy Phillips travels its full 3,000-mile route—from inside the Arctic Circle to where Armenia meets Azerbaijan and Turkey—to craft this epic new people's history of a defining 2oth-century conflict. Here, in the borderlands where a powerful clash of civilizations took form in concrete and barbed wire, he uncovers the remarkable stories of everyday people forever imprinted by life in the Curtain's long shadow.
Some look back on the era with nostalgia, even affection, while others despise it, unable to forgive the decades of hardship their families and nations endured. A director recalls the astonishing night his movie premiered in East Germany—November 9, 1989, the very night the Berlin Wall fell. And a railroad worker recounts the 1951 hijacking of a passenger train from Czechoslovakia that breached the Curtain, granting those aboard immediate asylum in the West. These narratives, by turns harrowing and heartening, paint a vivid portrait of the new Europe that emerged from the ruins. Phillips reveals the Iron Curtain's profound impact on our world today—even as he punctures the fault lines we draw.
Initially a victory line where Allies met at the end of World War Two, the Iron Curtain quickly became the front of a new kind of war. It divided Europe from north to south for a staggering forty-five years. Crossing it in either direction was always a political act; in many cases, it was a crime to even talk about doing so. New generations have grown up since these borders came down, freed from the restrictions of the Cold War era. But what has the Iron Curtain left in its wake?
Timothy Phillips travels its full 3,000-mile route—from inside the Arctic Circle to where Armenia meets Azerbaijan and Turkey—to craft this epic new people's history of a defining 2oth-century conflict. Here, in the borderlands where a powerful clash of civilizations took form in concrete and barbed wire, he uncovers the remarkable stories of everyday people forever imprinted by life in the Curtain's long shadow.
Some look back on the era with nostalgia, even affection, while others despise it, unable to forgive the decades of hardship their families and nations endured. A director recalls the astonishing night his movie premiered in East Germany—November 9, 1989, the very night the Berlin Wall fell. And a railroad worker recounts the 1951 hijacking of a passenger train from Czechoslovakia that breached the Curtain, granting those aboard immediate asylum in the West. These narratives, by turns harrowing and heartening, paint a vivid portrait of the new Europe that emerged from the ruins. Phillips reveals the Iron Curtain's profound impact on our world today—even as he punctures the fault lines we draw.
464 pages, Hardcover
Published March 7, 2023
33 people are currently reading
3067 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Phillips
4 books70 followersI'm originally from a farm in Northern Ireland and now live in Central London. I started learning Russian when I was 12 and have been fascinated by the country and its impact on the world ever since.
When I'm not hunting 1920s spies, I enjoy architectural history, reading novels and travel.
I'm currently (late 2018) working on a new book idea and will reveal more about it in the near future. Feel free to send me any questions or observations about my books. I'm always happy to have feedback or answer queries.
When I'm not hunting 1920s spies, I enjoy architectural history, reading novels and travel.
I'm currently (late 2018) working on a new book idea and will reveal more about it in the near future. Feel free to send me any questions or observations about my books. I'm always happy to have feedback or answer queries.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
November 5, 2023
I found most of Phillips' travelogue quite interesting, particularly the chapters concerning Germany and Austria, as well as the chapter on Trieste. Having served in the US Army in Germany during three of the last four years of the existence of the Iron Curtain, I was particularly interested in the personal stories of Germans who lived through that era. My feeling of surprise and shock when the Berlin Wall fell was mirrored by the memories of the Germans, east and west, who lived through November 1989, and Phillips does a good job explaining the events earlier in 1989 that preceded and contributed to the fall of the Wall.
When I left Germany, and the Regular US Army, in July 1988, I believed as did everyone I knew, that the division of Europe would last for decades longer along the borders with the Warsaw Pact countries, and that West Berlin would remain an island in the middle of the East German police state. But as Phillips describes, the Iron Curtain began to look porous in Hungary in 1989, as East Germans and Czechs began to test the limits of tolerance of the authorities, especially at the PanEuropean Picnic in August. I remember watching the Eastern escapees on US news at the time, thinking, this can't continue, or if it does, Communism is over. And so it was.
I still get emotional watching the December 1989 concert of the Berlin Philharmonic performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with Leonard Bernstein conducting. And in the singing of Ode to Joy, the word "freiheit" was substituted for Schiller's "freude". It still gives me chills. Even though we know, now, this was not the "end of history" whatever that meant, it was nonetheless the beginning of freedom for so many people, despite the "ostalgia" that Mr. Phillips documents among certain groups, it really was freedom from the cold, grey, dead hand of failed communism.
When I left Germany, and the Regular US Army, in July 1988, I believed as did everyone I knew, that the division of Europe would last for decades longer along the borders with the Warsaw Pact countries, and that West Berlin would remain an island in the middle of the East German police state. But as Phillips describes, the Iron Curtain began to look porous in Hungary in 1989, as East Germans and Czechs began to test the limits of tolerance of the authorities, especially at the PanEuropean Picnic in August. I remember watching the Eastern escapees on US news at the time, thinking, this can't continue, or if it does, Communism is over. And so it was.
I still get emotional watching the December 1989 concert of the Berlin Philharmonic performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with Leonard Bernstein conducting. And in the singing of Ode to Joy, the word "freiheit" was substituted for Schiller's "freude". It still gives me chills. Even though we know, now, this was not the "end of history" whatever that meant, it was nonetheless the beginning of freedom for so many people, despite the "ostalgia" that Mr. Phillips documents among certain groups, it really was freedom from the cold, grey, dead hand of failed communism.
December 6, 2022
The Curtain and The Wall is a fantastic bit of history/travel writing and is probably in line to be one of my 2022 non fiction books of the year.
Author travels from the very north of the Iron Curtain to the very south of it - through Europe. Of course he does visit the west and eastern sides of the wall (much easier now that the wall is gone of course!). Phillips does most of the exploration by talking to locals and looking at settlements close to the would be border/wall or in some cases shows the lives in the towns that have been uncerimoniously split by the wall right through the middle.
What I really enjoyed about the structure of the book is also the fact that as you travel south along the wall, you also travel in history - from 47 to 89 to the early 70s. It feels that every decaded is covered by the author and that is a lovely change. Normally books on the Cold War/Iron Curtain try to focus on one particular event/flashpoint/border dispute, this book examines a wild variety of them all in one place.
Quite often books of this nature are travelogues and thought experiments by westerners or easterners themselves - here, whilst naturally looking at things from his own perspective T. Phillips does a great job of talking to locals and really getting the social history right. Yes, whilst a Russian granny in Riga and her views of USSR is unlikely to be very considerate of the other side of the argument - it is great to also hear what she thinks, how she lived and how she sees the Westernised Latvia of now.
Highly recommend it.
Author travels from the very north of the Iron Curtain to the very south of it - through Europe. Of course he does visit the west and eastern sides of the wall (much easier now that the wall is gone of course!). Phillips does most of the exploration by talking to locals and looking at settlements close to the would be border/wall or in some cases shows the lives in the towns that have been uncerimoniously split by the wall right through the middle.
What I really enjoyed about the structure of the book is also the fact that as you travel south along the wall, you also travel in history - from 47 to 89 to the early 70s. It feels that every decaded is covered by the author and that is a lovely change. Normally books on the Cold War/Iron Curtain try to focus on one particular event/flashpoint/border dispute, this book examines a wild variety of them all in one place.
Quite often books of this nature are travelogues and thought experiments by westerners or easterners themselves - here, whilst naturally looking at things from his own perspective T. Phillips does a great job of talking to locals and really getting the social history right. Yes, whilst a Russian granny in Riga and her views of USSR is unlikely to be very considerate of the other side of the argument - it is great to also hear what she thinks, how she lived and how she sees the Westernised Latvia of now.
Highly recommend it.
April 26, 2023
Phillips’s travels take him from Norway’s northernmost tip, where locals on both sides of the border share amiable commercial relations despite the political tensions, to a haunting Azerbaijani city that is filled with tributes to the nation’s ruling family but practically empty of people.
At each stop, he catalogues more of the continent’s turbulent history, from the various wars and annexations to daring stories of escape and cultural obliteration. He relates conversations with ordinary people who lived in the vast shadow of the Iron Curtain. Their recollections make it plain that Cold War battle lines were not as clear-cut as each side’s propaganda implied.
Phillips is a historian, and the book is heavily biased in that area, too much so. I was keen to know more about how the people affected, and their descendants, live today, and that makes up just a thin part of the book.
At each stop, he catalogues more of the continent’s turbulent history, from the various wars and annexations to daring stories of escape and cultural obliteration. He relates conversations with ordinary people who lived in the vast shadow of the Iron Curtain. Their recollections make it plain that Cold War battle lines were not as clear-cut as each side’s propaganda implied.
Phillips is a historian, and the book is heavily biased in that area, too much so. I was keen to know more about how the people affected, and their descendants, live today, and that makes up just a thin part of the book.
December 21, 2024
I went right off this book in the opening chapters when the author was nearly caught out by bad weather and a seasonally closed road in the very north of Norway at the start of his journey. I couldn't help recall how in the 19th century when large parts of the world were still labelled 'Tabula Rasa' potential explorers would make their way to London's Royal Geographical Society and make use of its unrivalled collection of maps and accounts of previous explorations to plan their own. Nowadays Timothy Phillips couldn't even be bothered to use the internet before setting off. Apparently having a mind that is 'Tabula Rasa' is all that is needed to bring to an exploration of foreign parts and their history though I can't help thinking that Mr. Phillips mind might be more fairly called 'Terra Nullius' though not so much owned by no one as filled with nothing.
I must be honest and admit that books like Mr. Phillip's are to me simply examples of the nadir that journalism has fallen into. I don't read books to follow an author's discovery of banalities, clichés and things that didn't know - particularly when what the author doesn't know seems almost limitless. I don't expect a journalist to know everything before searching out a story or visiting a country, but I expect them to know something. Maybe I am hopelessly out-of-date but I remember when Granta published James Fenton's sublime articles on the fall of Saigon and Marcos's snap election and the fall of his dictatorship and the work of Ryszard Kapuscinski, whose work is so universally brilliant that to start singling out particular ones for praise would be invidious. Maybe journalists like Fenton and Kapuscinski and their journalism no longer exist or is no longer possible but that doesn't mean I am going to accept anything less.
If you want to read something really enlightening about Cold War/Iron Curtain borders then read Kapka Kassabova's brilliant 'Borders: A Journey to the Edge of Europe'. You don't need to know everything to write something meaningful, but you must know something. To waste time on this drivel of a book when you could be reading Kassabova's, never mind work by Fenton or Kapuscinski, is not simply stupid, it is criminal.
I must be honest and admit that books like Mr. Phillip's are to me simply examples of the nadir that journalism has fallen into. I don't read books to follow an author's discovery of banalities, clichés and things that didn't know - particularly when what the author doesn't know seems almost limitless. I don't expect a journalist to know everything before searching out a story or visiting a country, but I expect them to know something. Maybe I am hopelessly out-of-date but I remember when Granta published James Fenton's sublime articles on the fall of Saigon and Marcos's snap election and the fall of his dictatorship and the work of Ryszard Kapuscinski, whose work is so universally brilliant that to start singling out particular ones for praise would be invidious. Maybe journalists like Fenton and Kapuscinski and their journalism no longer exist or is no longer possible but that doesn't mean I am going to accept anything less.
If you want to read something really enlightening about Cold War/Iron Curtain borders then read Kapka Kassabova's brilliant 'Borders: A Journey to the Edge of Europe'. You don't need to know everything to write something meaningful, but you must know something. To waste time on this drivel of a book when you could be reading Kassabova's, never mind work by Fenton or Kapuscinski, is not simply stupid, it is criminal.
March 29, 2023
I came across The Curtain and The Wall: A Modern Journey along Europe’s Cold War Border via the Guardian. It’s an engaging, journalistic travelogue set along the edge of the iron curtain. I wasn’t familiar with the northern and eastern extent of this, so the beginning and end were particularly informative. Phillips reflects on the history of these border places and their current status, as well as Russia’s current aggression (although the book was written before the invasion of Ukraine) and Europe’s turn against refugees and immigrants. He recounts discussions with local historians and strangers met by chance to compare experiences of the iron curtain across its span.
For me the highlights of the book were historical anecdotes rather than contemporary reflections. Some are amusing, like the nudist beach right next to a security fence dividing East and West Germany, and this comment:
Others are moving, like the premiere of GDR’s first gay film taking place on the same night the Berlin wall fell:
I was also struck by the chapter on Albania, which reminded me of Lea Ypi’s excellent memoir of growing up there during the collapse of communism, Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History. Prior to reading the latter, I knew nothing about the particular strangeness of the Albanian regime. Phillips adds some striking details to Ypi’s account:
By visiting settlements along the iron curtain as a tourist, Phillips is able to show how the curtain is remembered, or not, via museums and monuments. Thus the book is observational rather than recounting a detailed history of the iron curtain. I would have liked a little more historical analysis in some places, yet found it enjoyable and thought-provoking nonetheless. Phillips is a very engaging writer and evidently good at interviewing. The inclusion of black and white photos from the trip is also an appealing touch.
For me the highlights of the book were historical anecdotes rather than contemporary reflections. Some are amusing, like the nudist beach right next to a security fence dividing East and West Germany, and this comment:
”There is an old Soviet joke about Kremlin propaganda,” he said: “’They lied to use about communism. But everything they said about capitalism was true.’”
Others are moving, like the premiere of GDR’s first gay film taking place on the same night the Berlin wall fell:
The party was strange beyond all imagining. People were dizzy with the success of the film and also with the momentous events going on all around them. After downing a few drinks a group decided to join the throngs walking up to and through the Bornholmer crossing. One was Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a trangender woman who had played a barmaid in the film. Sometime in the early hours, Dirk recalls Charlotte returning with a West Berlin bottle of beer and a newspaper, like the dove that brought the olive leaf to Noah at the end of the flood. “You realised in that moment,” Dirk says, “that this socialist part of Germany was going to end. You knew it. It was clear. It was over.”
I was also struck by the chapter on Albania, which reminded me of Lea Ypi’s excellent memoir of growing up there during the collapse of communism, Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History. Prior to reading the latter, I knew nothing about the particular strangeness of the Albanian regime. Phillips adds some striking details to Ypi’s account:
I learned that by the time the regime fell in the early 1990s, the Sigurimi had files on one million of the country’s 2.8 million citizens, the majority of the adult population – a rate that even exceeded East Germany’s Stasi. Much of the material was collated here [at the former HQ of the Sigurimi]. In a third room a laboratory is preserved where every item of overseas correspondence was tested as it entered Albania, in case it included chemical or biological weapons. An insane apparatus of suspicion, decoupled from any real assessment of risk, blanketed the country for all Hoxha’s time in charge.
The bunkers are an outworking of this too. One of the new facts to become quite well known about communist Albania is that it was the country with the most bunkers per head of the population. There were as many as 750,000 in the end, more than one for every four inhabitants. These were another Hoxha insurance policy, conceived in the late 1960s and pursued rapidly for the next fifteen years.
By visiting settlements along the iron curtain as a tourist, Phillips is able to show how the curtain is remembered, or not, via museums and monuments. Thus the book is observational rather than recounting a detailed history of the iron curtain. I would have liked a little more historical analysis in some places, yet found it enjoyable and thought-provoking nonetheless. Phillips is a very engaging writer and evidently good at interviewing. The inclusion of black and white photos from the trip is also an appealing touch.
July 20, 2024
4.5 Stars!
This is a part of the world where so much history, so much conflict and so much politics has been crammed into it in a relatively short time. Even today, much of it remains a restless and highly contested part of the world. Phillips covers quite an incredible distance in this, fairly in depth odyssey across the remnants of the old Iron Curtain. From northern Norway, Finland, we go through the Baltic states down through Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Balkans to the Mediterranean and all the way to Azerbaijan.
We learn about the strategic importance of Sweden’s largest island – Gotland and the fear surrounding the so called “Gotland Gambit” which was a persistent anxiety for the Swedes during the Cold War. And this was no over-reaction, especially in light of the fatal incidents of 1952 when Soviet jets shot down two Swedish aircraft near the island, both crashed into the sea killing a total of eight people – an episode later referred to as the Catalina Affair. The first plane had been making covert surveillance on behalf of NATO, in spite of Sweden’s neutral status, something the Swedish government covered up for forty years, the second was a recovery boat plane, searching for the first one – the USSR denied involvement of both incidents up until 1991.
Phillips tells us about the tiny Danish island of Bornholm and the brief occupation by Soviet forces after they drove out the last of the Nazis in 1945, which lasted until 1946, but they left with some firm conditions in place, Denmark had to promise never to allow any foreign troops onto their soil ever again, if they did then Moscow would regard this as a declaration of war.
Apparently thousands of refugees from the nearby communist nations, mostly from East Germany and Poland are thought to have attempted to flee there during the Cold War, but only around 150 are known to have reached the island safely. We also learn about the so called “eardrum” located in a former lighthouse on the coast of the southern tip, which intelligence agencies used to listen in on tank crews during the Prague Spring of 1968.
His trip to East Germany is pretty fascinating, where you’ll find the Prora, the vast coastal holiday camp built by the Nazis, stretching almost five kilometres, it remains the longest man-made complex in the world. Survivors talk about the horrendous sounding automatic firing system on the German border, introduced in the 70s, one recorded case resulted in an intrepid Michael Gartenschlager taking nine bullets which ended his life. Elsewhere we hear about one of the defectors, Lutz Eigendorf, an East German footballer who deserted when his team, Dynamo Berlin played a friendly against Kaiserslautern in 1979. He was later killed in a road accident in suspicious circumstances at only 26.
By 1961 more than 1 in 7 of people in the GDR had left, a total of 2.5 million. The government referred to the wall as an Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart, later on X-Ray scanners were brought in 1982, also resulting in massive dosages unbeknown to the travellers who weren’t told that the scans were taking place. Many past employers died of radiation related cancers. On top of everything else the Berlin Wall was also incredibly expensive to maintain, costing the already fragile economy many millions to run each year, usually with money from the west.
He talks about Operation Valuable in Albania in 1949, regarded by some as the UK’s Bay of Pigs, which saw a disastrous attempt at overthrowing the communist Hoxha government. And of course the British also played a significant part in the slaughter during the anti-Communist drive during the Greek Civil War. Many of those killed had previously fought with Britain to fight fascism.
This was a pretty fascinating read, I learned so much more about many of the forgotten corners of the Cold War, places which tend to get little coverage in the west. This was broken up by nice, clear maps and interesting photos and we see how there's so much more complexity and depth to the minor countries involved in the Cold War. This put me in mind of some of the work done by Erika Fatland and Owen Hatherley who have explored some of the more obscure places in the wider region.
This also makes you think, why is it that so often the biggest or strongest nations are the most insecure and belligerent, like in the cases of China and the US where the international report card always seems to read, “Does not mix well with others!” as they are forever bullying smaller nations, always wanting to taking more and expand further whether in commercial or territorial terms they can never be content with their lot. And also it reminds us that so often how walls and fences are so closely linked to man’s inhumanity to man.
“People who make and control borders want to convince others they have power. With our nation states and flags and visas, we are all conning ourselves that we control the forces that regulate the Earth, conning ourselves that we are no actually mortal. It’s all only lent to us.”
This is a part of the world where so much history, so much conflict and so much politics has been crammed into it in a relatively short time. Even today, much of it remains a restless and highly contested part of the world. Phillips covers quite an incredible distance in this, fairly in depth odyssey across the remnants of the old Iron Curtain. From northern Norway, Finland, we go through the Baltic states down through Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Balkans to the Mediterranean and all the way to Azerbaijan.
We learn about the strategic importance of Sweden’s largest island – Gotland and the fear surrounding the so called “Gotland Gambit” which was a persistent anxiety for the Swedes during the Cold War. And this was no over-reaction, especially in light of the fatal incidents of 1952 when Soviet jets shot down two Swedish aircraft near the island, both crashed into the sea killing a total of eight people – an episode later referred to as the Catalina Affair. The first plane had been making covert surveillance on behalf of NATO, in spite of Sweden’s neutral status, something the Swedish government covered up for forty years, the second was a recovery boat plane, searching for the first one – the USSR denied involvement of both incidents up until 1991.
Phillips tells us about the tiny Danish island of Bornholm and the brief occupation by Soviet forces after they drove out the last of the Nazis in 1945, which lasted until 1946, but they left with some firm conditions in place, Denmark had to promise never to allow any foreign troops onto their soil ever again, if they did then Moscow would regard this as a declaration of war.
Apparently thousands of refugees from the nearby communist nations, mostly from East Germany and Poland are thought to have attempted to flee there during the Cold War, but only around 150 are known to have reached the island safely. We also learn about the so called “eardrum” located in a former lighthouse on the coast of the southern tip, which intelligence agencies used to listen in on tank crews during the Prague Spring of 1968.
His trip to East Germany is pretty fascinating, where you’ll find the Prora, the vast coastal holiday camp built by the Nazis, stretching almost five kilometres, it remains the longest man-made complex in the world. Survivors talk about the horrendous sounding automatic firing system on the German border, introduced in the 70s, one recorded case resulted in an intrepid Michael Gartenschlager taking nine bullets which ended his life. Elsewhere we hear about one of the defectors, Lutz Eigendorf, an East German footballer who deserted when his team, Dynamo Berlin played a friendly against Kaiserslautern in 1979. He was later killed in a road accident in suspicious circumstances at only 26.
By 1961 more than 1 in 7 of people in the GDR had left, a total of 2.5 million. The government referred to the wall as an Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart, later on X-Ray scanners were brought in 1982, also resulting in massive dosages unbeknown to the travellers who weren’t told that the scans were taking place. Many past employers died of radiation related cancers. On top of everything else the Berlin Wall was also incredibly expensive to maintain, costing the already fragile economy many millions to run each year, usually with money from the west.
He talks about Operation Valuable in Albania in 1949, regarded by some as the UK’s Bay of Pigs, which saw a disastrous attempt at overthrowing the communist Hoxha government. And of course the British also played a significant part in the slaughter during the anti-Communist drive during the Greek Civil War. Many of those killed had previously fought with Britain to fight fascism.
This was a pretty fascinating read, I learned so much more about many of the forgotten corners of the Cold War, places which tend to get little coverage in the west. This was broken up by nice, clear maps and interesting photos and we see how there's so much more complexity and depth to the minor countries involved in the Cold War. This put me in mind of some of the work done by Erika Fatland and Owen Hatherley who have explored some of the more obscure places in the wider region.
This also makes you think, why is it that so often the biggest or strongest nations are the most insecure and belligerent, like in the cases of China and the US where the international report card always seems to read, “Does not mix well with others!” as they are forever bullying smaller nations, always wanting to taking more and expand further whether in commercial or territorial terms they can never be content with their lot. And also it reminds us that so often how walls and fences are so closely linked to man’s inhumanity to man.
“People who make and control borders want to convince others they have power. With our nation states and flags and visas, we are all conning ourselves that we control the forces that regulate the Earth, conning ourselves that we are no actually mortal. It’s all only lent to us.”
June 8, 2023
It could have been a good book. The idea behind the book is interesting but I don’t think the author succeeded.
Much of it could have been written without visiting the places he suggests he did visit. Much of it is secondary school level stuff, little depth, virtually no context and populist in picking up western prejudices without a critical look at the history of the places he writes about.
There are a few interesting bits but not enough to rescue the book from mediocrity.
Overall - disappointing.
Much of it could have been written without visiting the places he suggests he did visit. Much of it is secondary school level stuff, little depth, virtually no context and populist in picking up western prejudices without a critical look at the history of the places he writes about.
There are a few interesting bits but not enough to rescue the book from mediocrity.
Overall - disappointing.
February 2, 2023
Timothy Phillips undertakes a journey along the Iron Curtain from Finland to Azerbaijan. The book is fascinating and dispels any thoughts of a monolithic Eastern Bloc.
November 18, 2022
Retracing the Iron Curtain; A 3,000 Mile Journey Through The End And After Life Of The Cold War by Dr. Timothy Phillips
I have read multiple books about travels along the Iron Curtain. These trips were by bicycle, car, train, walking and in some cases covered the entire length or even the Wall just around Berlin. I found this book to be the most interesting to have read. Why? Mainly because Dr. Phillips focuses on the people who either grew up with the Iron Curtain or are so young, they know of its impact on their parents and grandparents and how this makes them different. Of course, there are many interesting places and historical facts that are covered and many are new to me and I now feel compelled to add them to my “Bucket List” not because of their grandeur but their quirkiness. Two examples: Trieste now part of Italy but was a City State from 1947 to 1954 and the issue was not completely legally resolved until The Treaty of Osimo in 1975. The second is Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan also for many years an Autonomous Region of Azerbejian, a sliver of land bordered by Turkey, Iran and Armenia. Nakhchivan was the first republic to break-away from the Soviet Union, two months before Lithuania.
What really come through is the “Ostalgie” or Nostalgia for the past even when it is remembered with tinted glasses. That somehow losing the security real or imagined provided by big brother is difficult to forget. New to me was also the adaptability locally when the wall was up for certain regions to permit travel back and forth across the Iron Curtain between towns and cities that need resources available on both sides. This was true for example in Norther Finland and the Soviet Union were citizens who lived within 10 miles of each city could travel across the border.
I think there are better books for those who wish to get in a Trabant or bike and travel along the former border using this as a guide book. But if you are seeking to understand what it was like for the people and what they remember from 30 plus years you will find this book well worth the read.
I have read multiple books about travels along the Iron Curtain. These trips were by bicycle, car, train, walking and in some cases covered the entire length or even the Wall just around Berlin. I found this book to be the most interesting to have read. Why? Mainly because Dr. Phillips focuses on the people who either grew up with the Iron Curtain or are so young, they know of its impact on their parents and grandparents and how this makes them different. Of course, there are many interesting places and historical facts that are covered and many are new to me and I now feel compelled to add them to my “Bucket List” not because of their grandeur but their quirkiness. Two examples: Trieste now part of Italy but was a City State from 1947 to 1954 and the issue was not completely legally resolved until The Treaty of Osimo in 1975. The second is Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan also for many years an Autonomous Region of Azerbejian, a sliver of land bordered by Turkey, Iran and Armenia. Nakhchivan was the first republic to break-away from the Soviet Union, two months before Lithuania.
What really come through is the “Ostalgie” or Nostalgia for the past even when it is remembered with tinted glasses. That somehow losing the security real or imagined provided by big brother is difficult to forget. New to me was also the adaptability locally when the wall was up for certain regions to permit travel back and forth across the Iron Curtain between towns and cities that need resources available on both sides. This was true for example in Norther Finland and the Soviet Union were citizens who lived within 10 miles of each city could travel across the border.
I think there are better books for those who wish to get in a Trabant or bike and travel along the former border using this as a guide book. But if you are seeking to understand what it was like for the people and what they remember from 30 plus years you will find this book well worth the read.
December 14, 2022
A travel memoir disguised as a political science piece. Filled with lots of irrelevant personal stories, pictures integrated at random places instead of all together at the end, which I didn't like. Truthfully I got nothing of substance from this. The writing could have been tighter, and had more references to the history instead of just verbal regurgitation that relies on trusting the author. I'm sure some people will enjoy this, but it was not for me.
An advanced copy was kindly provided by the publisher upon request, via NetGalley.
An advanced copy was kindly provided by the publisher upon request, via NetGalley.
January 8, 2023
I don't tend to review books on here, just use it as a reading tracker of sorts, but just a note to say this is a remarkable history themed travelogue, incredibly well researched and beautifully, entertainingly written. I can't recommend it enough.
March 7, 2023
This book is a blend of history and travel memoir. Phillips recounts his journey along the entirety of the Iron Curtain, from the Arctic Circle to Turkey. While on his journey, he meets with citizens who remember their time living under Soviet rule, or adjacent to Soviet controlled areas. Some are nostalgic for the old days, others remember years of hardship, but the lingering effects of life on the Iron Curtain are evident. Each stop is also put in historical context, with a factual recounting of the time spent under Soviet influence and occupation. While the requisite and important Berlin visit was interesting, I enjoyed the insights into less famous locations more. Overall I found the book fascinating and recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting non-fiction read, or for those who are looking for more historical background to the current geopolitical crisis in Ukraine.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.
April 17, 2023
I appreciate the author going above and beyond with these travel essays. When we think About the Iron Curtain, we mostly associate it with places like East & West Germany, not obscure locations like Slovenia or Azerbaijan. Though one should never discredit the true horrors of the GDR, the latter countries mentioned are where some of the more tragic events occurred during the Cold War, which are dutifully noted here. Present day Putin-Ukraine commentary is provided, which a perfect exposition. So much history presented through the captivating interviews as well. I enjoyed this travelogue.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a free ARC.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a free ARC.
August 13, 2023
Engrossing piece of travel writing and history, chock full of interesting people and interviews and little adventures. Much of this was new to me, especially the ways that East Germany tried to keep its people from fleeing. Terrifying stuff there. I had no idea Norway shared a border with the USSR (and Russia still today), or that Azerbaijan has a little piece of itself completely surrounded by Armenia (there are several of these Azeri exclaves, a new word I learned).
September 3, 2025
I think the author mentions how bad the Soviet Union were every two paragraphs and how great the West is every other sentence. But there's some interesting stories
July 8, 2025
Maybe 2,5 ⭐️
Somewhat interesting but bit luckwarm Exposé of life along the former Iron Curtain. Phillips lacks the essential quality of a good travel writer who knows where the right places and people are to color his story.
By his own admission Phillips is a well preprared traveler. And that feels. There is definitley a lack of spontanity, the lucky encounters or the unexpected experiences. Exemplary in this is, that he starts of most of his visits meeting with some kind of (tour)guide, either from a museum or someone with a historical knowlegde of a certain region. This makes it feel a lot of the times as very controled guided tour instead of a tale of personal experiences.
Besides that Phillips chooses to write a lot about the general history of a country or region he passes by. Given the lenght of his travel, it's hardly possible to do more then scrathing the surface of so many complicated histories. And it sidesteps the personal stories of the people who actually lived through those histories.
For instance in his chapter about Albania, he spends a lot of pages telling about the big leader Hoxha. And although that's interesting in it self it's not the kind of information you want from a travelogue. You really want to hear from the people who actually lived under his rule.
During his travels he does share snippits of information and stories that he comes across, which have connections with the Iron Curtain. Some less interesting ones (about American spies in Vienna), some more interesting (about the premiere in East Berlin of a gay movie 'Coming out' on the evening that the Wall came down) and some curious and remarkeble ones, like the Italian Contessa, who succeeded in keeping her house and lands out of Yugoslavia when the new borders were drawn. But all in all he doesn't succeed in lifting those detailed stories into a bigger picture. And often he just misses the big picture completly.
One of the many mishaps in missing the bigger picture is his dealing with the situation of Greece at the end of WW II, the civil war that followed and the role that the big powers played in that. Admittingly he does shortly mention the role of the English support in bringing the right wing victory over the communist. But how you can write a book about the Iron Curtain and it's history and fail to bring up the explicit agreement that Stalin and Churchill made in Yalta about dividing up a lot of European regions, is beyond me.
Churchill thereby promised not to meddle in the take over by the Soviet Union of parts of Eastern Europe, and at the same time Stalin's promised not to interfer in the Greek Civil War. Seems like a pretty important piece of information when you're writing about this specific episode of Greek History.
The interesting parts of the book for me are those dealing with stories I'm not that familiair with. Especialy the histories of the nordic parts, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Sweden and even parts of Danmark, and their close encounters with Russia in the first decade after WW II. These are less told stories about places and people who for a shorter or longer period were overshadowed by the importance of cold war and the strategic place their regions played in it.
Also the history of the Free City of Triest is one not told a lot of times, and one that does still leaves scares and traces of anger up to the present day.
But besides that, the story Phillips tells is bland and non commitial. It misses the spark of a good travel story, finding unkown places and meeting unexpected witnesses of how people close to the Iron Curtain lived through the Cold War and the time after.
Somewhat interesting but bit luckwarm Exposé of life along the former Iron Curtain. Phillips lacks the essential quality of a good travel writer who knows where the right places and people are to color his story.
By his own admission Phillips is a well preprared traveler. And that feels. There is definitley a lack of spontanity, the lucky encounters or the unexpected experiences. Exemplary in this is, that he starts of most of his visits meeting with some kind of (tour)guide, either from a museum or someone with a historical knowlegde of a certain region. This makes it feel a lot of the times as very controled guided tour instead of a tale of personal experiences.
Besides that Phillips chooses to write a lot about the general history of a country or region he passes by. Given the lenght of his travel, it's hardly possible to do more then scrathing the surface of so many complicated histories. And it sidesteps the personal stories of the people who actually lived through those histories.
For instance in his chapter about Albania, he spends a lot of pages telling about the big leader Hoxha. And although that's interesting in it self it's not the kind of information you want from a travelogue. You really want to hear from the people who actually lived under his rule.
During his travels he does share snippits of information and stories that he comes across, which have connections with the Iron Curtain. Some less interesting ones (about American spies in Vienna), some more interesting (about the premiere in East Berlin of a gay movie 'Coming out' on the evening that the Wall came down) and some curious and remarkeble ones, like the Italian Contessa, who succeeded in keeping her house and lands out of Yugoslavia when the new borders were drawn. But all in all he doesn't succeed in lifting those detailed stories into a bigger picture. And often he just misses the big picture completly.
One of the many mishaps in missing the bigger picture is his dealing with the situation of Greece at the end of WW II, the civil war that followed and the role that the big powers played in that. Admittingly he does shortly mention the role of the English support in bringing the right wing victory over the communist. But how you can write a book about the Iron Curtain and it's history and fail to bring up the explicit agreement that Stalin and Churchill made in Yalta about dividing up a lot of European regions, is beyond me.
Churchill thereby promised not to meddle in the take over by the Soviet Union of parts of Eastern Europe, and at the same time Stalin's promised not to interfer in the Greek Civil War. Seems like a pretty important piece of information when you're writing about this specific episode of Greek History.
The interesting parts of the book for me are those dealing with stories I'm not that familiair with. Especialy the histories of the nordic parts, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Sweden and even parts of Danmark, and their close encounters with Russia in the first decade after WW II. These are less told stories about places and people who for a shorter or longer period were overshadowed by the importance of cold war and the strategic place their regions played in it.
Also the history of the Free City of Triest is one not told a lot of times, and one that does still leaves scares and traces of anger up to the present day.
But besides that, the story Phillips tells is bland and non commitial. It misses the spark of a good travel story, finding unkown places and meeting unexpected witnesses of how people close to the Iron Curtain lived through the Cold War and the time after.
November 15, 2024
A travelogue where everywhere has a bizarre story about the Cold War frontier – and few of them well known from a UK perspective. It's a great idea very well executed!
February 15, 2023
This is a book about the politics of travel. There’s one scene that Tim describes in this fascinating book that I found particularly moving. An old German couple, Rolf and Hilda, living just on the Western side of the border with Czechoslovakia (in the West German town of Selb), take him to the spot where they witnessed a spectacular escape from the Iron Curtain: A rail line passed from Czechoslovakia to West Germany carried only freight and passed through a opening in the barbed wire fence that marked the border. Rolf saw a passenger train appear unexpectedly on the freight line picking up speed as it headed for the border, crossing through the gap in the fence, and then screeching to a halt on the Western side. The train had been hijacked by four armed Czechs who wanted to flee across the border with their families, who had to overpower three members of Czechoslovak state security who were also on the train. 83 other people on the train who were unwitting escapees decided to return to the East, but the hijackers became front page news in the USA and were even greeted by an American model train manufacturer sensing a marketing opportunity when they arrived in the States! (One recurring theme in the book is the fact that refugees are enthusiastically welcomed when they have strategic significance, and ruthlessly excluded when they do not.) Rolf later campaigned to get the rail line reopened for passenger traffic in 2015, and when Tim tells Rolf and Hilda he’s going to take that line to Bratislava they give him enthusiastic travel recommendations for the trip that they themselves are too old to take. That scene made me want to hop on the next train to Bratislava, even though I’m sitting in my living room in San Francisco.
That feeling of freedom of movement, of crossing borders with or without great fear, is evoked in dozens of surprising stories that show how the massively complex geopolitical situation of the Cold War in Europe is expressed in the lives of individual human beings in this supremely enjoyable book.
And it has added a couple of out of the way spots to my travel to-do list, including:
-The beautiful, modernist Alvar Aalto library, built in the 1930s in what was then part of Finland, and now is in Russian Vyborg
-Taking the Yugoslav-era train from Jesinice, Slovenia to the Slovenian/Italian border towns of Gorizia/Nova Goricia through the Julian Alps, “one of the most spectacular railway trips of my life” (p. 297)
That feeling of freedom of movement, of crossing borders with or without great fear, is evoked in dozens of surprising stories that show how the massively complex geopolitical situation of the Cold War in Europe is expressed in the lives of individual human beings in this supremely enjoyable book.
And it has added a couple of out of the way spots to my travel to-do list, including:
-The beautiful, modernist Alvar Aalto library, built in the 1930s in what was then part of Finland, and now is in Russian Vyborg
-Taking the Yugoslav-era train from Jesinice, Slovenia to the Slovenian/Italian border towns of Gorizia/Nova Goricia through the Julian Alps, “one of the most spectacular railway trips of my life” (p. 297)
December 21, 2024
A fun and interesting look at life along the Iron Curtain in the 30+ years after it fell. Mr. Phillips does a great job in telling the story of the East-West relations, what people feel about the relations with the East/West today, and the cultural history that was created by the events of the Cold War. The last section was probably the best, as Southern Europe rarely gets talked about. I learned a whole lot from this book. I feel that there are better definitive histories of the Iron Curtain (Anne Applebaum), but this is a great "what has happened since" book. Easy read, although the picture placement in the chapters made the reading clunky at times. Minor annoyance, still a fantastic read.
November 13, 2023
Wonderful read. Terrific insight into the Cold War, the people who experienced it, and the state of Europe today as a result of it. Grateful for Phillips and this book. Today more than ever, we would be wise to heed his warnings and learn from the past to stop bad actors from dividing us.
“Desperate times of persecution, many within living memory, are repackaged as happy periods of unity with the apparent purpose of creating grounds for yet more persecution.”
“Desperate times of persecution, many within living memory, are repackaged as happy periods of unity with the apparent purpose of creating grounds for yet more persecution.”
March 7, 2023
Partially inspired by Winston Churchill's March 5, 1946 Fulton, Missouri speech about the iron curtain descending and locking "all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.... from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic," (pg 7) Timothy Phillips spent several months traveling along the former Iron Curtain in 2019. Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War combines travelogue with interviews and historical research of the various locales Philips traveled through.
The book is arranged into five sections, with each one beginning with maps of the locales traveled. Philips began in Oslo, Norway and then traveled South. At each of these locations he shares what he personally did: travel arrangements, sites visited and any interviews he was able to have with locals, staff of historical institutions and especially those who had living memory of life under or next to the Soviets. This content is then paired with historical research that briefly but succinctly details the areas pre-Soviet, Soviet and post Soviet history. It is the middle period that garners the most attention and Philips is able to speak to the individual experience and learns and shares of many seemingly minor moments that had the potential to ignite world war III. As a narrator Philips is also quite clear about his privileged position, noting where others struggle to do what his white face and western passport allow him to do easily.
A fascinating, excellent history of a landscape that seemingly appeared overnight and was thought to last for centuries, that instead has reverted to more localized concerns. Portions of the Iron Wall remain, as Phillips notes there were many more than just the one well known Berlin Wall.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
The book is arranged into five sections, with each one beginning with maps of the locales traveled. Philips began in Oslo, Norway and then traveled South. At each of these locations he shares what he personally did: travel arrangements, sites visited and any interviews he was able to have with locals, staff of historical institutions and especially those who had living memory of life under or next to the Soviets. This content is then paired with historical research that briefly but succinctly details the areas pre-Soviet, Soviet and post Soviet history. It is the middle period that garners the most attention and Philips is able to speak to the individual experience and learns and shares of many seemingly minor moments that had the potential to ignite world war III. As a narrator Philips is also quite clear about his privileged position, noting where others struggle to do what his white face and western passport allow him to do easily.
A fascinating, excellent history of a landscape that seemingly appeared overnight and was thought to last for centuries, that instead has reverted to more localized concerns. Portions of the Iron Wall remain, as Phillips notes there were many more than just the one well known Berlin Wall.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
August 18, 2023
Writer and Russia expert Timothy Phillips decided it would be interesting to take a long trip along what used to be the Iron Curtain, that is, the border between Soviet countries and non Soviet countries. It runs from Norway in the north to Greece in the south. He made side trips here and there and along the way, reflected on history and politics, visited with people who remembered, and observed what has changed and what hasn't. It was fascinating! I especially enjoyed his thoughts on Trieste, which involved the concept of City-States. Also weirdly captivating was his trip to Nakhchivan, an autonomous republic that is part of (or is not a part of) Azerbaijan. Lots to digest, written in a journalistic style. (Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.)
October 4, 2023
A compassionate and yet still unflinching look at the aftereffects of the Cold War. The Iron Curtain was at times only a symbolic border, but impact of living under those conditions has not lessened with time. Future generations still feel the weight, though they do not remember the wall. As global conflicts ramp up and old super powers rise up, it seems as if the Cold War may never end.
You learn a few terrible truths about the British, but they come as no surprise. That being said, the brutality of the Soviet Union and the members of the Warsaw Pact was stomach-clenching to read. I would have liked more photos, but it was a great book.
You learn a few terrible truths about the British, but they come as no surprise. That being said, the brutality of the Soviet Union and the members of the Warsaw Pact was stomach-clenching to read. I would have liked more photos, but it was a great book.
June 14, 2023
I read a lot of books about the Iron Curtain and former communist countries and this book is undoubtedly one of the best. It is full of interesting information - things I never heard of before - and surprising turns The author engages in interesting conversations that lead to new insights. Read this book !
October 22, 2023
This book was such a joy to read, from start to finish. The author mixes anecdotes and history that paint a picture of some of the most incredible locations along what was once the iron curtain. I randomly found this book at a bookshop, and I'm so glad I picked it up.
June 3, 2023
This is an incredible book, absolutely stunning
June 6, 2023
“Between a high solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.” - Haruki Murakami as quoted in “Retracing the Iron Curtain”
This was a smart, interesting and empathetic way to learn the history and human impact of the Cold War due to the capricious borders designated by faraway rulers to create uncertainty, fear and arbitrary divisions within families, townspeople and countries. These borders kept the enemy out. The Soviet bloc rulers then used borders to keep their people in.
Phillips travels from the tippy top of Norway (yes, Norway shares a border with Russia; I didn’t know that either) along the former Soviet bloc borders all the way down to Armenia. Along the way, he meets people on both sides of the border who lived through the Cold War, those who were born after the Cold War’s end but still feels its impact, and those who want its political and human history to live on in small, unsung community museums.
Not surprisingly, as with our world’s recent tilt to the right, the author finds a good amount of nostalgia for the “way it used to be”. That’s countered by those who learned poignant lessons of human freedom and fiercely advocate for an end to restrictive borders. A border keeps others out, but it also can keep you in. The latter point seems to have been forgotten.
Growing up in America, the Berlin Wall to me symbolized the Cold War. In today’s Berlin, you can’t conceive of a wall dividing such a vibrant city. I saw Berlin before the Wall fell and many times after. I still am in (happy) shock that there are only markers in the ground where the Wall once stood. Before its fall, you could climb to watch areas and peer across the Wall into a long stretch of no man’s land and then to the buildings on the other side, where you tried to imagine living in a place so close yet so far from allowing a basic human right: the freedom to express yourself by leaving. This may seem melodramatic but I felt deep otherworldliness myself going across two Soviet borders (Berlin via Checkpoint Charlie and Czechoslovakia via a train border crossing) and that line on a map became very real. I, lucky to have an American passport, could enter, see another way of life — in my short time there, I found it bleak, stuck in time, orderly, wary, secluded — and leave. It was eye-opening and I never felt so happy in my backpacking travels as when crossing back into the West.
That said, you soon forget about the privileges you have and may even take them for granted. As an East German couple who managed to move to West Germany said they were most shocked by how little people used their intellectual freedoms. “They could read anything they liked but they had no books.”
When the Wall fell, I remember watching the images on TV; incredulous that less than a year before, I touched it and thought, this will never come down. Those who lived on both sides at that historical moment must have felt the surreal mixed with overwhelming joy and endless possibility. Phillips summed up those days of an evaporating border, writing “that epic moment about progress and rupture when the old was not yet dead but the new was already being born.”
Phillips spends a good amount of time in the middle of the book discussing the Wall and Germany. It’s nice that he also spends so much time on other Soviet borders that straddled the West; he makes up for what we didn’t learn in history class by writing about border areas in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Macedonia, and others. It sorta makes you want to don your backpack and go on an historical adventure; one that makes you appreciate the current ability, if you possess a certain passport and are not a certain immigrant, to travel back and forth freely over arbitrary lines on a map.
This was a smart, interesting and empathetic way to learn the history and human impact of the Cold War due to the capricious borders designated by faraway rulers to create uncertainty, fear and arbitrary divisions within families, townspeople and countries. These borders kept the enemy out. The Soviet bloc rulers then used borders to keep their people in.
Phillips travels from the tippy top of Norway (yes, Norway shares a border with Russia; I didn’t know that either) along the former Soviet bloc borders all the way down to Armenia. Along the way, he meets people on both sides of the border who lived through the Cold War, those who were born after the Cold War’s end but still feels its impact, and those who want its political and human history to live on in small, unsung community museums.
Not surprisingly, as with our world’s recent tilt to the right, the author finds a good amount of nostalgia for the “way it used to be”. That’s countered by those who learned poignant lessons of human freedom and fiercely advocate for an end to restrictive borders. A border keeps others out, but it also can keep you in. The latter point seems to have been forgotten.
Growing up in America, the Berlin Wall to me symbolized the Cold War. In today’s Berlin, you can’t conceive of a wall dividing such a vibrant city. I saw Berlin before the Wall fell and many times after. I still am in (happy) shock that there are only markers in the ground where the Wall once stood. Before its fall, you could climb to watch areas and peer across the Wall into a long stretch of no man’s land and then to the buildings on the other side, where you tried to imagine living in a place so close yet so far from allowing a basic human right: the freedom to express yourself by leaving. This may seem melodramatic but I felt deep otherworldliness myself going across two Soviet borders (Berlin via Checkpoint Charlie and Czechoslovakia via a train border crossing) and that line on a map became very real. I, lucky to have an American passport, could enter, see another way of life — in my short time there, I found it bleak, stuck in time, orderly, wary, secluded — and leave. It was eye-opening and I never felt so happy in my backpacking travels as when crossing back into the West.
That said, you soon forget about the privileges you have and may even take them for granted. As an East German couple who managed to move to West Germany said they were most shocked by how little people used their intellectual freedoms. “They could read anything they liked but they had no books.”
When the Wall fell, I remember watching the images on TV; incredulous that less than a year before, I touched it and thought, this will never come down. Those who lived on both sides at that historical moment must have felt the surreal mixed with overwhelming joy and endless possibility. Phillips summed up those days of an evaporating border, writing “that epic moment about progress and rupture when the old was not yet dead but the new was already being born.”
Phillips spends a good amount of time in the middle of the book discussing the Wall and Germany. It’s nice that he also spends so much time on other Soviet borders that straddled the West; he makes up for what we didn’t learn in history class by writing about border areas in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Macedonia, and others. It sorta makes you want to don your backpack and go on an historical adventure; one that makes you appreciate the current ability, if you possess a certain passport and are not a certain immigrant, to travel back and forth freely over arbitrary lines on a map.
November 8, 2023
A great opportunity missed... This book could have been a great read, but it has a few issues.
For a travelogue, the author concentrated too much on historical information. Since the countries he passes through exceeds 10, it is impossible to give any hint of historical analysis in such few pages dedicated. The historical context is very very shallow, lack any sophistication, nor fair comparison.
As a travelogue, it is only average I guess. Again, I wished the author focused on the post socialism affects more. For example, some more factual data about the after affects of the collapse of the wall (instead, there is a lot of text about the PAST of the wall, which is less relevant with the subject of this book, I think). A chapter on Khrushchevka and their fate, maybe. The Spomeniks of Yugoslavia and vandalism on those... Communist Party election results for the last four decades in different countries and differences and similarities. The economic boom or collapses of ex-soviet countries, and if any of those countries still keep any soviet traditions. How are different ex-soviet countries reflect on the experience in their national history museums?..... I think those could have been particularly interesting research to read for me.
I think the author hadn't made a lot of research before the trip. So there is no deep analysis the author could make in this book - apart from the "Russia bad!" agenda. This is more like a lay person's travelogue, which is a disappointment for me. I think if i made such a trip in the purpose of writing a book afterwards, I would have prepared a lot before taking the first flight.
A few more points.
->
- The author tells about the bourocracy of applying for a Russia visa, which is more difficult than Azerbaijan, Turkish or Albanian visas. I just have to recommend the author to visit https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/a... and see what bourocracy is!
- At Azerbaijan, the author claims that this would be the first country with a living active cult leader he'll be visiting. I couldn't help thinking that the author is British, where there was a queen until a few months before, whom I think is a cult figure. The two are obviously incomparable, tough strangely, in some ways, they are!
- The author writes that Berlin was bedecked in red banners, slogans and Marxist-Leninist portraits. Well, we all know that at the other side of the wall, the Allies were doing exactly the same, changing street names to Charles De Gaulle etc. etc. I think the author is too much biased.
- Soviet soldiers had never seen an elevator before and were enjoying the lift at Vienna, ha?
-
I enjoyed the book, but it could have delivered much more.
My recommendations for the topic will be:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
For a travelogue, the author concentrated too much on historical information. Since the countries he passes through exceeds 10, it is impossible to give any hint of historical analysis in such few pages dedicated. The historical context is very very shallow, lack any sophistication, nor fair comparison.
As a travelogue, it is only average I guess. Again, I wished the author focused on the post socialism affects more. For example, some more factual data about the after affects of the collapse of the wall (instead, there is a lot of text about the PAST of the wall, which is less relevant with the subject of this book, I think). A chapter on Khrushchevka and their fate, maybe. The Spomeniks of Yugoslavia and vandalism on those... Communist Party election results for the last four decades in different countries and differences and similarities. The economic boom or collapses of ex-soviet countries, and if any of those countries still keep any soviet traditions. How are different ex-soviet countries reflect on the experience in their national history museums?..... I think those could have been particularly interesting research to read for me.
I think the author hadn't made a lot of research before the trip. So there is no deep analysis the author could make in this book - apart from the "Russia bad!" agenda. This is more like a lay person's travelogue, which is a disappointment for me. I think if i made such a trip in the purpose of writing a book afterwards, I would have prepared a lot before taking the first flight.
A few more points.
->
"2/18 quarter checked", "3/18 quarter checked"... Together these signs are rare relics of the darkest times in Viennese history, when the Soviet Army invaded, occupied and liberated the city.The darkest times? An invasion? End of ww2?
- The author tells about the bourocracy of applying for a Russia visa, which is more difficult than Azerbaijan, Turkish or Albanian visas. I just have to recommend the author to visit https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor/a... and see what bourocracy is!
- At Azerbaijan, the author claims that this would be the first country with a living active cult leader he'll be visiting. I couldn't help thinking that the author is British, where there was a queen until a few months before, whom I think is a cult figure. The two are obviously incomparable, tough strangely, in some ways, they are!
- The author writes that Berlin was bedecked in red banners, slogans and Marxist-Leninist portraits. Well, we all know that at the other side of the wall, the Allies were doing exactly the same, changing street names to Charles De Gaulle etc. etc. I think the author is too much biased.
- Soviet soldiers had never seen an elevator before and were enjoying the lift at Vienna, ha?
-
London and Washington's plan was to land trained guerillas on the Albanian coast and guide them to domestic resistance There were sound strategic and humanitarian reasons to attempt this. Haxha's regime was gruesome.Again, very shallow analysis.
I enjoyed the book, but it could have delivered much more.
My recommendations for the topic will be:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
March 11, 2023
Being of Polish heritage, I am always interested in stories about the borderlands of Eastern Europe, about the fall of communism and the sweeping changes in these areas across history. Adding to the recent histories is “Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War” by Dr. Timothy Phillips, a collection of travel essays that trace the ”Iron Curtain” that divided east from west for almost 50 years in the past century.
This is part memoir, part history, but mostly travelogue: Dr. Phillips travels the divide, from northern Scandinavia down through Armenia, a 3,000-mile journey by plane, train, boat, car. Along the way we focus on lesser-known areas, places where we see how the implementation of polices from far away are applied to realities on the ground: how mutual interdependence on both sides of the border (like the Finns and Russians) were handled away from the spotlight of places like Berlin. People found ways of dealing with the new realities, and with the collapse of the USSR they had to readjust once again. Not surprisingly, some of the older generation now express nostalgia for the certainty and simpleness of those post-war years, conveniently forgetting about the nuclear threat and the guns pointed at each other.
I found the history that Dr. Phillips shared both interesting and relevant, once again focusing on the stories one doesn’t normally hear. But where this book really stood out were the personal stories, the recollections and reminisces of the people who lived through this era, as well as those who only heard the stories of their parents and grandparents. Some remember it fondly, some recall the horrors and the fears, some just go about their business adjusting as they always had and always will. This is a fine addition to the literature of these often overlooked borderlands.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from The Experiment via NetGalley. Thank you!
This is part memoir, part history, but mostly travelogue: Dr. Phillips travels the divide, from northern Scandinavia down through Armenia, a 3,000-mile journey by plane, train, boat, car. Along the way we focus on lesser-known areas, places where we see how the implementation of polices from far away are applied to realities on the ground: how mutual interdependence on both sides of the border (like the Finns and Russians) were handled away from the spotlight of places like Berlin. People found ways of dealing with the new realities, and with the collapse of the USSR they had to readjust once again. Not surprisingly, some of the older generation now express nostalgia for the certainty and simpleness of those post-war years, conveniently forgetting about the nuclear threat and the guns pointed at each other.
I found the history that Dr. Phillips shared both interesting and relevant, once again focusing on the stories one doesn’t normally hear. But where this book really stood out were the personal stories, the recollections and reminisces of the people who lived through this era, as well as those who only heard the stories of their parents and grandparents. Some remember it fondly, some recall the horrors and the fears, some just go about their business adjusting as they always had and always will. This is a fine addition to the literature of these often overlooked borderlands.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from The Experiment via NetGalley. Thank you!
May 30, 2023
Some of my fellow Americans don't know about Stalin, or imagine "freedom" to be the ability to put their shoes gleefully on a congresswoman's desk. Most of us really don't know what we have. I got this book for the section on the far North but it was readable and interesting so I stayed all the way through to the museum devoted to the strongman of Azerbaijan containing his everyday clothes and other such items interesting only to the faithful ("the thing about personality cults is that they are usually equal parts ridiculous and frightening"). Here is a city the "second most bombed" during WW2 - I think few would be able to guess which were nos. 1 and 2; they were surprises to me: Valletta and Kirkenes. There is a photo of "Cold War Object Number 1", a box with names in it, now residing at the Bornholm Museum. Throughout his long journey, Phillips describes the "constant existential uncertainty" of the different Iron Curtain countries - I especially liked his phrasing of "the weird world of Albanian communism" (known to anyone who has read a Kundare novel). It is an interesting view of the uneasiness of the West regarding communism that immediately followed its wartime alliance with the USSR. Phillips also points out some Russian leaders' frequent longing for that superpower status that can only be achieved in their minds by reuniting the former USSR by force.
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