Rocking The Wall. Bruce Springsteen

Rocking the Wall explores the epic Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin on July 19, 1988, and how it changed the world. Erik Kirschbaum spoke to scores of fans and concert organizers on both sides of the Berlin Wall, including Jon Landau, Springsteen's long-time friend and manager, to unearth this fascinating story. With lively behind-the-scenes details from eyewitness accounts, magazine and newspaper clippings, TV recordings, and even Stasi files, as well as photos and memorabilia, this gripping book transports you back in the middle of those heady times shortly before the Berlin Wall fell and gives you a front-row spot at one of the biggest and most exciting rock concerts ever, anywhere. It takes you to an unforgettable journey with Springsteen through the divided city, to his hotel, and his dressing room at the open air concert grounds in Weissensee, where The Boss, live on stage, delivered a courageous speech against the Wall to a record-breaking crowd of more than 300,000 delirious young East Germans full of joy and hope. Their thunderous reaction to his speech was so intense that it even briefly brought tears to Springsteen's eyes. And their tremendous, powerful cry for freedom became the "final nail in the coffin" of the Communist regime and subsequently helped fuel the uprising that brought down the Wall.

"Rocking the Wall" ist dem legendären Bruce-Springsteen-Konzert gewidmet, das in Ost-Berlin am 19. Juli 1988 stattfand, das die Mauer erschütterte und die Welt veränderte. Erik Kirschbaum sprach mit vielen Fans und mit Veranstaltern in Ost und West, darunter Jon Landau, Springsteens Manager und Freund. Er schildert Szenen hinter den Kulissen und Erinnerungen von Leuten, die dabei waren, er hat Presse und Fernseh-Aufzeichnungen ausgewertet; sogar die Berichte der Stasi, die das Konzert im Auge hatte, standen ihm zur Verfügung. Das Buch begleitet den Leser auf eine unvergessliche Reise mit Springsteen durch die geteilte Stadt bis zum Open-Air-Gelände in Berlin-Weißensee, wo der Boss, auf der Bühne, eine mutige Rede gegen die Mauer hielt, während ihm eine alle Rekorde brechende Zuschauermenge von mehr als 300.000 begeisterten jungen Ostdeutschen zujubelte.