Overview

The Iron Curtain divided the continent of Europe, north to south, with the Berlin Wall as its most visible, infamous manifestation. Since the Cold War ended and these borders came down, Europe has transformed itself. But we cannot consign the tensions and restrictions of the past to history. At a time when Russia is once again making war and when divisions elsewhere in Europe are on the rise, these old fault lines have new resonance. What do the Curtain and the Wall mean today? What have they left in their wake? In this major new book, Timothy Phillips travels the route of the Iron Curtain from deep inside the Arctic Circle to the meeting point of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. He explores the borderlands where the clash of civilisations was at its most intense between 1945 and 1989, and where the world's most powerful ideologies became tangible in reinforced concrete and barbed wire. He looks at the new Europe that emerged from the ruins. The people he meets bear vivid witness to times of change. There are those who look back on the Cold War with nostalgia and affection. Others despise it, unable to forgive the hard and sometimes lost decades that their families, friends and nations endured. In these historic landscapes lie buried many of the seeds of our world's current disputes - over borders, and about belonging and the meaning of progress. The Curtain and the Wall transports the reader across 5,000 kilometres of Europe and through eight decades, to show how one of the defining stories of the 20th century continues to shape our world today.

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9781783785780

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Reviews

A first class analysis of cold war history * Sunday Independent * [Phillips] visited strange places that very few people have ever heard of but which, nevertheless, were vitally important in the east-west divide... Phillips is a good observer... [with] excellent powers of narrative * Sunday Times * A brilliant book, not only based on an inspired idea, but also written with a keen eye for human hopes, fears and tragedies... Some of the places Timothy Phillips has visited are little known, but now we are unlikely to forget them. We can enjoy meeting the resilient characters along the way, reflect on the desperation of those who tried to escape the Iron Curtain, and learn once again the priceless value of freedom -- William Hague As borders reappear all over Europe, and as war once again begins to smudge the continent's atlas, Phillips's book arrives just when it is needed... Phillips travels equipped with a mass of fascinating prior research, but also with a gift for instant befriending which brings stories and secrets from everyone he encounters -- Neal Ascherson

An account not only of how the Cold War frontiers were drawn, guarded or penetrated by brave escapers, but - more importantly - of how often they were rendered discreetly porous by all kinds of compromise ... fascinating -- Neal Ascherson A brilliant book, not only based on an inspired idea, but also written with a keen eye for human hopes, fears and tragedies. ... full of surprises -- William Hague [Phillips] visited strange places that very few people have ever heard of but which, nevertheless, were vitally important in the east-west divide... [He] can be very funny... Yet Phillips can also be sombre... Excellent * Sunday Times * Phillips has a good ear for historical anecdotes and writes with empathy and acuity about the people and places he encounters... These individual stories are narrated with energy and aplomb * TLS * At a time when we seem to be entering a new Cold War, here's a book on the hangover from the original one... [Phillips] travels from the Arctic Circle to Turkey's eastern border, tracing the history of the Iron Curtain and meeting the people who live with its legacy * Deskbound Traveller * An engaging blend of travel, history and politics, with much resonance for today * Bookseller * A first class analysis of cold war history... well researched * Sunday Independent *

Author Information

Timothy Phillips is the author of The Secret Twenties: British Intelligence, the Russians, and the Jazz Age (Granta, 2017) and Beslan: The Tragedy of School No. 1 (Granta, 2008). He grew up in Northern Ireland and now lives in London. He holds a doctorate in Russian from Oxford University and has written and spoken widely on British and Russian history.

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