Wyden, Peter. Wall: The Inside Story of Divided Berlin. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. 765 pages.

This book is an unusual combination of investigative reporting and personal history. Although the intensely human aspects directly concern the author himself only in one chapter, the reader nevertheless discerns his sensitivities throughout. Wyden was born in Berlin and left at age 13; since 1970 he has been writing from Ridgefield, Connecticut. His excellent reporting on intelligence issues, which is particularly useful when discussing divided Berlin, was established in 1979 with "Bay of Pigs -- The Untold Story."

The human drama is fully half of this narrative, as the interwoven tales of several characters whose lives have been split by the Wall keep punctuating the Cold War's geopolitical gamesmanship. It's the former that makes this book a good read, and the latter that's worthwhile for NameBase. Wolfgang Vogel, the famous spy-swap lawyer, is profiled at some length, and several CIA officers are interviewed, but most of the latter material involves Kennedy, Khrushchev, their diplomats, East and West German officials, and other Cold War players.
ISBN 0-671-55510-3

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