First published 1999
The Oktyabrskaia Hotel buzzes with diplomats sipping champagne and signing documents that will unite Germany. But this quiet ceremony masks the dramatic maneuvering that brought Europe to this moment. Condoleezza Rice takes readers behind closed doors to witness the secret negotiations that ended the Cold War's division of Europe. Gorbachev sets forces in motion he cannot control. Soviet and East German officials debate whether to crush German protesters. The Berlin Wall opens through bureaucratic error rather than grand design. Chancellor Helmut Kohl battles reform Communist Hans Modrow for East Germany's future while President George Bush helps contain European resistance to reunification. The real drama unfolds in private rooms where statesmen make nerve-wracking decisions that will reshape a continent. Rice reveals how personal relationships and split-second choices determined whether Europe would remain divided or transform into something entirely new.
Genres: historical, 20th-century, biography-memoir, european-literature, 21st-century, german-literature, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: behind-closed-doors, secret-negotiations
Setting: Berlin, Europe, Germany, Moscow, Oktyabrskaia Hotel
Period: Cold War, German Reunification
664 pages · Paperback · Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH & Co. KG / Ullstein Tas