The Year That Changed the World

The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall

By: Michael Meyer

Narrated by: Ed Sala

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" President Ronald Reagan's famous exhortation when visiting Berlin in 1987 has long been widely cited as the clarion call that brought the Cold War to an end. The United States won, so this version of history goes, because Ronald Reagan stood firm against the USSR; American resoluteness brought the evil empire to its knees. Michael Meyer, who was there at the time as a Newsweek bureau chief, begs to differ.

In this extraordinarily compelling account of the revolutions that roiled Eastern Europe in 1989, Meyer shows that American intransigence was only one of many factors that provoked world-shaking change. He draws together breathtakingly vivid, on-the-ground accounts of the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland, the stealth opening of the Hungarian border, the Velvet Revolution in Prague, and the collapse of the infamous wall in Berlin. But the most important events, Meyer contends, occurred secretly, in the heroic stands taken by individuals in the thick of the struggle - leaders such as poet and playwright Vaclav Havel in Prague; the Baltic shipwright Lech Walesa; the quietly determined reform prime minister in Budapest, Miklos Nemeth; and the man who privately realized that his empire was already lost and decided, with courage and intelligence, to let it go in peace, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet general secretary of the Communist party. Reporting for Newsweek from the frontlines in Eastern Europe, Meyer spoke to these players and countless others. Alongside their deliberate interventions were also the happenstance and human error of history that are always present when events accelerate to breakneck speed.

©2009 Michael Meyer (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A coolheaded reconsideration of the revolutionary fervor that tore down the Iron Curtain in 1989.... Meyer 'liberates' the record with sagacity, precision, and remarkable clarity." (Kirkus)

A Challenge to Conventional US Perception

Michael Meyer tells the story of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 from the European point of view. In the process, he challenges the conventional explanations for that occurance typically repeated in the States. The reader may not be comfortable with this perspective, but the book is valuable just as well. The reader benefits from the fact that Meyer describes events he witnessed during that year.

During the course of the book, Meyer takes jibes at the first George Bush which, for me, lapsed into cliches. That was a disappointment. In the last chapter of the book Meyer, speculates about the about the meaning of the fall of the wall. I don't mind an author taking a particular political view, but this section yielded no real insight for me. It read like the babble you hear from talking heads every night. I was hungry for more analysis or, even, thoughtful opnion. Overall, however, the book is full of insight, filled with interesting stories, and well worth the listener's time. Ed Sala's reading is very good.

Distracting Narration

I enjoyed the personal observations of Mr. Meyer on events surrounding the crumbling of the iron curtain...but I found the monotone of the narrator distracting. I would also caution that the writing style of the Mr. Meyer is not for everyone...I personally find it a little annoying at times.

Spot on!

This is an excellent listen and spot on about how things were in 1989. The author also showed how the effects of 1989 still can be felt today...good and bad. This book should be a mandatory read or listen for every high school or college student.

important history - but quickly getting irrelevant

Wholesome book but not something spectacular. Somewhere in the middle I got slightly bored. It became more interesting at the end. That is a pity that iron curtain did not fall a few decades earlier.

Mostly good, but…

The body of the book specifically about 1989 were very well done. The epilogue was full of anti-American and anti-capitalist BS that took away from an otherwise fine work. The world has changed since the book was written in 2009 - and much of the authors blather in the epilogue has not aged well.

Great book about a great year for democracy.

I lived through the fall of the Berlin wall and thought I was paying attention but there is much in this book I didn't know or remember like the role Hungry played in the fall of communism. Fast moving, lots of information. A part of history we should never forget and we should remember correctly.

Provocative analysis from reporter's perspective

Meyer's book provides an often enthralling synopsis of the events that unfolded at the highest levels of Communist Eastern European governments at the end of the Cold War. Meyer was an on-location reporter at the time & the book reflects his embedded perspective on the events of the era. This is important to note -- Meyer emphasizes the actions undertaken by individual leaders and groups of leaders in the governments and resistance of Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Romania in his analysis. This differs from the types of analyses that might be provided by academics who would examine the broad, underlying forces that contributed to the demise of the Eastern European Communist dictatorships.

The book is at its best when recounting day-to-day events and decisions. For example, Meyer's account of the efforts of Hungarian Communist officials to use a picnic on the Hungarian-Austrian border to accelerate the Fall of the Berlin Wall is absolutely fascinating. Few individuals other than Meyer have the knowledge of the history & personalities required to do the story justice.

One of the book's central themes is that the U.S. government contributed most effectively to the positive outcomes of 1989 (i.e., the relatively low level of violence and the speed of the revolutions) by diplomatic support for reformers like Gorbachev rather than active destabilization or military intervention. Meyer contrasts this with the policies of the George W. Bush administration & takes care to highlight that many of W's most interventionist leaders (e.g., Cheney & Rice) were among the most wrong-headed of George W. H. Bush's advisors. The book is least interesting to me when drawing these parallels, which could be usefully left to the reader.

Sala reads like an exasperated Clint Eastwood, grunting & sighing distractingly throughout. He seems to massacre European names, butchering German most severely.

Overall, a very interesting topic and useful complement to Anna Funder's Stasiland.

Excellent Book written using first-hand expirience

Excellent Book written using first-hand expirience

A good insider's view of some amazing history

Anyone interested in Eastern European history or the end of the cold war will enjoy this inside view of the amazing events and courageous acts which led to the tumbling of first the iron curtain and then the Berlin wall. Who would have thought some obscure Hungarians were behind it all?

Waste of Time

Typical Newsweek reporter