On November 9, 1989, massive crowds surged toward the Berlin Wall, drawn by an announcement that caught the world by surprise: East Germans could now move freely to the West. The Wall—the infamous symbol of a divided Cold War Europe—seemed to be falling. But the opening of the gates was not planned by the East German ruling regime—nor was it the result of a bargain between either President Ronald Reagan or President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It was an accident.
In this talk, prize-winning historian
Mary Elise Sarotte draws on her research for her recent book
The Collapse: The Accidental Fall of the Berlin Wall to show how a perfect storm of decisions made by daring underground revolutionaries, disgruntled Stasi officers, and dictatorial party bosses sparked an unexpected series of events culminating in the chaotic fall of the Wall. Twenty-five years ago this October, these events ultimately resulted in German unification. Sarotte discusses the far-reaching consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall for international relations until this day. Following her talk she will be in conversation with
Steven E. Sokol, President of the American Council on Germany.
Reviews of The Collapse
“This is easily the best book on the fall of the Berlin Wall.”—Fareed Zakaria,
GPS Book of the Week
“Sarotte is a superb historian. She’s ferociously intelligent, but what really separates her from her colleagues is her acute sensitivity to human drama.”—
Washington Post
“An authoritative and fast-moving account of the events that led up to the collapse of East Germany.”—
Financial Times
Mary Elise Sarotte earned her bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, her doctorate in history at Yale University, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. After her postdoc, Sarotte went on to become a White House Fellow, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and a tenured member of the faculty of the University of Cambridge in England. Sarotte returned to the States to become a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California (USC), where she is Dean’s Professor of History, and a research associate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. The Collapse, her fourth book, appeared on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall and was selected one of the best books of the year 2014 by the Financial Times and The Economist.
Steven E. Sokol became President of the American Council on Germany on May 1, 2015. Previously he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh from July 2010. Before that, he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany. Dr. Sokol has also served as the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Berlin, was the Head of the Project Management Department at the Bonn International Center for Conversion GmbH (BICC), and was a Program Officer in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Sokol holds a doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University, an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.
Presented in collaboration with the American Council on Germany.
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