Most people don"t think of Berlin as a beautiful city, but it is filled with stunning sights, sounds and textures, and they will astonish you all the more if you know the stories behind them. Today"s Berlin is new and vibrant, but history has left its scars here as in few other places on earth. If you look in the right places, you can find vestiges of the glories of old Prussia as well as the abominations of Hitler"s Third Reich and of the outer bulwark of the Soviet empire. Brian Ladd, a historian who has been returning to Berlin for twenty-five years, leads the reader to familiar landmarks, but also into obscure corners of the city, and tells you what you need to know about them. He explains what the sights of Berlin have meant to Berliners who coped under kings and dictators, and who toiled, suffered and celebrated as their city was destroyed and rebuilt. This book invites you to share their passions as it draws you into the dynamic new capital that has risen from the bloody ruins of German history.