OK but not serious history or oral history.

Some interesting anecdotes and mini bios but all too subjective. The reader aggravates this with the comedy caricature voices for ex Stasi, and anyone not mesmerised by the post unification experiences. There is more than enough for which East Germany can be criticised, no need to lay it on quite so thick.

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struggling to listen to the narrator...

...as she's rather too "actorly". Some of the direct speech quotes are excruciating. That said, the lives told in this book, and the history of East Germany, are fascinating. I shall try and finish listening to it but this book for me would have been better read than listened to. Tbh if I could have returned it, I would have, and then read the book.

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A must read/listen

This book gives a humane insight into the horrors that affected the citizens of DDR. The extreme big brother surveillance. The arbitrary decisions made by local Stasi officials, that ruined the lives of the ordinary people. It is important to remember what actually happened. Especially since these things sometimes tends to be romanticized by some people. People who do not know the facts of history.

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The narrator was amazing and made me feel I was there.

Fairly new to audio books but listened to enough to know it’s all about the narrator. Denica weaves the spoken word with seeable descriptions and transposes the emotions of the characters into the listener world. I really enjoyed this audio book thank you.

fascinating take on a moment in history

fascinating take on life for the victims of the Stasi and stasi operatives and officers in the near aftermath of the DDR.

One flaw, please get the narrator a glass of water, and then edit out the bits of her clearing her mouth! i don’t want to listen ti drymouth.

The social history of stasi terror

There are few books that focus specifically on the GDR and this is worth your time. The author is personable and sympathetic to the victims of the regime. My only criticism is that she doesn't really interview credible people who are ostalgic. Everyone who she interviews who have these views tend to be stasi men or crackpots.

Absolutely brilliant

Fascinating from a historical standpoint and beautifully written. Can’t recommend highly enough and I want to read more by this writer.

important History

This book should be in every school curriculum.
Socialism is fine in theory, but in practice it always ends in some form of "Stasiland".

Source: The twentieth century.