A smartly guided romp, entertaining and enlightening, through Europe 's most charismatic and enigmatic city It isn't Europe's most beautiful city, or its oldest. Its architecture is not more impressive than that of Rome or Paris; its museums do not hold more treasures than those in Barcelona or London. And yet, when citizens of "New York, Tel Aviv, or Rome ask me where I'm from and I mention the name Berlin," writes Peter Schneider, "their eyes instantly light up." Berlin Now is a longtime Berliner's bright, bold, and digressive exploration of the heterogeneous allure of this vibrant city. Delving beneath the obvious answers―Berlin's club scene, bolstered by the lack of a mandatory closing time; the artistic communities that thrive due to the relatively low (for now) cost of living―Schneider takes us on an insider's tour of this rapidly metamorphosing metropolis, where high-class soirees are held at construction sites and enterprising individuals often accomplish more without public funding―assembling a makeshift club on the banks of the Spree River―than Berlin's officials do. Schneider's perceptive, witty investigations on everything from the insidious legacy of suspicion instilled by the East German secret police to the clashing attitudes toward work, food, and love held by former East and West Berliners have been sharply translated by Sophie Schlondorff. The result is a book so lively that readers will want to jump on a plane―just as soon as they've finished their adventures on the page. *Starred Review* The author of The Wall Jumper (1984) presents his collected musings about the city that has inspired and perplexed him since he was first seduced by West Berlin as a young man in the early 1960s. Berlin is not traditionally beautiful, he notes; it is a hodgepodge of architectural fits and starts, like the aging Fernsehturm and the ubiquitous concrete Plattenbau apartments of the old East Berlin but also the contested and commercialized new Potsdamer Platz. It is a city scarred by its history but also proud of its weirdness, its resilience, and its condition of constant change; a city in which a bitter debate over what to do with an asbestos-filled East German government building culminates in a massive piece of performance art. Berlin today struggles with racial politics and the same gentrification challenges that confront many major cities, as Schneider explores in insightful essays on the Turkish district of Neukölln and the increasingly South German streets of Prenzlauer Berg. But it is also a city that, for now at least, continues to be a magnet for the young, creative, and poor, to whom it offers cavernous apartments and an unparalleled club scene (which the author dutifully explores, having gotten from his grown children a few tips on where to go and how best to enjoy himself). In the end, Schneider seems to suggest, liveliness is far more important than beauty. --Brendan Driscoll “Wonderful.” ― Simon Kuper, Financial Times “[Schneider] is right in saying that in recent decades no other city ‘has changed as much--and for the better--as Berlin,' lauding the sense of openness that has drawn immigrants, revived the shattered Jewish population and made the city a magnet for a creative class that is also luring cutting-edge businesses.” ― Ian Johnson, The New York Times “Illuminating . . . Berlin Now is at its best when Schneider illustrates his findings or perspectives with secondary points of view . . . Often though, Schneider's impressions are so strong they don't need any added color. His recollection of arriving in West Berlin for the first time in 1962 stands out due to its fusion of topographical detail . . . and personal opinion, especially regarding the city's bad food and the natives' brusque manner. Just as good is his fish-out-of-water account of his visit to Berghain, a nightclub decreed the best in the world by The New York Times . Schneider, in his seventies, is no techno-loving hipster, but in order to cover all bases of contemporary Berlin he ventures out to sample its legendary nightlife, albeit with earplugs. Schneider is thus an authority on Berlin, not simply by virtue of his being a resident but because he fully immerses himself in the place . . . Page after page yields surprising nuggets of wisdom . . . Thanks to Sophie Schlondorff's expert translation, Schneider's wry descriptions and private reflections ring true, and he emerges as both an informative and personable guide, and, most crucially, one brimming with enthusiasm for his subject . . . his final picture is a detailed and absorbing portrait of an unfinished city that has all the dynamism of a complete one.” ― Malcolm Forbes, The New Criterion “Berlin Now is stuffed with glorious anecdotes about the rows over architecture, infrastructure, sexuality and morality in a city forced to weld itself together since 1989.” ― Peter Millar, The New Statesman “Schneider deserves plaudits for this engrossing book, which at