Berlin. Portrait of a City

This huge book is stunning. Beautiful pictures and text. A great present.

Excellent history of Berlin with amazing photos of berlins amazing past

I bought this for my grandma who grew up in Berlin through much of the history covered here. The richness and volume of photographs was enough to make her well up, so it must be pretty accurate...

This is a wonderful photographic documentary of an exceptional city over time, from opulence to war, through to recovery and ambition. If you have memories of Berlin, you need this book.

Great book. Well worth the money but it's heavy!

This book caught my eye in KaDeWe department store in Berlin but it was too large and heavy to pack as luggage. As with most Taschen books it is tri-lingual (English, Frnech and German)It is packed with great photography, some of which has also been used in 'Wirtschaftswunder' also from Taschen, this was a small disappointment. Though on its own it is a fabulous book to sit and admire the images through the ages.The book is not meant for serious reading but gives a nice overview of the history of this awesome city.This is an ideal coffee table book but be warned, its big and heavy!

What European city has more history than Berlin? Taschen's lavish photographic extravaganza shows us the Berlin of Frederick the Great, of Kaiser Bill, of Marlene Dietrich of Isherwood. It shows us the Berlin of Hitler and Speer of course, who tried to build a thousand year empire that lasted barely 12. It shows us the Berlin of Rudi Dutschke, Bertolt Brecht, Willy Brandt and of Erich Honecker who built a wall, which divided the city for some 28 years.Above all this book shows the Berlin of the people, of children walking to school, satchels on their back, of housewives selecting bricks for reuse from the city's ruins after 1945, of DDR citizens in their Trabbis crossing into the West in 1989, of Turkish "guest workers" of gay pride on show during the "Love Parade".After the 2nd world war they thought there was no Berlin anymore. In the sixties, seventies and eighties we all thought there would for ever be two Berlins. Now, united once again, the city takes pride in challenging architecture and exciting events such as the world cup Football tournament of 2006.What can be better than this wonderful book with its 700 glorious pages of fine photography? I tell you what! Its subject : the city itself.!

I’m not going to do a book review. But this book is just wonderful. The concept of writing history through the characters that lived and created it. And beautifully written.