Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany
by Victor Grossman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Victor GrossmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08
ISBN: 1558493859
Number of pages: 328
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Book Reviews of Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany
Book Review: A Very Perceptive Memoir.
Summary: 5 Stars
As one reviewer has already stated, this book fills in a very important historical gap and deserves a wide readership. Beginning with the author's early life in an America more open to new ideas than the late 1940s, the narrative depicts the ugly days of the blacklist that could have led to Grossman's unjust imprisonment had he not fled to East Germany. However, his book is no blanket apology for the East German system since he keenly notes its flaws and failures to erect a more democratic system of government that could have paralleled the Prague Spring. It had its faults but there were also very important benefits that were lost after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the start of commodification and neo-Nazi movements. Grossman's chronicle involves his struggle with the system in an attempt to find his own way to make it work for both himself and his family. He also introduces readers to figures such as the barely known American activist singer Dean Reed (1937-2006) and Jane Fonda. The book contains a postscript by an American historian providing an interesting and balanced perspective on the events told. This work is important both as a personal history and chronicle of a particular era that has now gone away.
Summary of Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany
What could impel a privileged 24-year-old American serving in the US Army in Germany in 1952 to swim across the Danube River to what was then referred to as the Soviet Zone? Why did he decide to forsake the land of his birth and build a new life in the young German Democratic Republic? These are the questions at the core of this memoir by Victor Grossman who was born Stephen Wechsler but changed his name after defecting to the GDR. A child of the Depression, Grossman witnessed first-hand the dislocations wrought by the collapse of the US economy during the 1930s. Unemployment, poverty, strikes and the fight to save Republican Spain from fascism made an indelible impression as he grew up in an environment that nurtured a commitment to left-wing causes. He continued his involvement with Communist activities as a student at Harvard in the late 1940s and after graduation, when he took jobs in factories in Buffalo, New York and tried to organize their workers. Fleeing McCarthyite America and potential prosecution, Grossman worked in GDR with other Western defectors, He was able to establish himself as a freelance journalist, lecturer and author. Travelling through East Germany he evaluated the failures as well as the successes of the GDR's "socialist experiment". He also recorded his experiences, observations and judgements of life in East Berlin after reunification, which failed to bring about the post-Communist paradise so many had expected.Memoirs Books
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