Revolution Revisited: Behind the Scenes in East Germany, 1989

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Revolution Revisited: Behind the Scenes in East Germany, 1989 tells the inspiring story of a small group of activists who mobilized the East German movement for democratic reforms, brought down the East German state, and changed the world. The book focuses on one year-1989-in one city-Leipzig, East Germany. The mostly young activists of Leipzig had experienced the injustices of the East German political system, and when they took action to fight for free press, fair elections, and free assembly, activists in other East German cities followed suit. By autumn 1989 their small-scale protests promoting democratic reforms had grown to massive demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands, and ultimately the Berlin Wall fell. Their nonviolent demonstrations had prevailed. Erich Mielke, head of the infamous East German security police, the Stasi, later commented, "We were prepared for everything except for candles and prayers." Appearing in autumn 2014, 25 years after the East European revolutions of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the book provides important insights about democratic revolutions and the end of the Cold War. Patricia Smith traveled to East Germany for the first time in 1964, shortly after the Berlin Wall was built, and since 1986 she has returned to the region almost every year. As the recipient of an IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) Fellowship, she spent 1991-92 in Berlin affi liated with Humboldt University. Her writing on Germany includes After the Wall: Eastern Germany since 1989 (Westview Press: 1998) and articles and papers on topics ranging from the political opposition in East Germany to economic and monetary union to German foreign policy. Patricia Smith has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington in Seattle and has taught political science and international relations at the University of Washington and at universities in Romania. She lives in Ocean Shores, Washington, where she shows her photography at the Gallery of Ocean Shores.