{"product_id":"checkpoint-charlie-the-cold-war-the-berlin-wall-and-the-most-dangerous-place-on-earth-compelling-cold-war-history-9781982100032","title":"Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War  The Berlin Wall  and the Most Dangerous Place On Earth (Compelling Cold War History)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA constantly captivatingwell-researched and often moving (The Wall Street Journal) history of Checkpoint Charlie  the famous military gate on the border of East and West Berlin where the United States confronted the USSR during the Cold War.  In the early 1960s  East Germany committed a billion dollars to the creation of the Berlin Wall  an eleven-foot-high barrier that consisted of seventy-nine miles of fencing  300 watchtowers  250 guard dog runs  twenty bunkers  and was operated around the clock by guards who shot to kill. Over the next twenty-eight years  at least five thousand people attempt to smash through it  swim across it  tunnel under it  or fly over it.  In 1989  the East German leadership buckled in the face of a civil revolt that culminated in half a million East Berliners demanding an end to the ban on free movement. The worlds media flocked to capture the moment which  perhaps more than any other  signaled the end of the Cold War. Checkpoint Charlie had been the epicenter of global conflict for nearly three decades.  Now  in capturing the essence of the old Cold War MacGregor may just have helped us to understand a bit more about the new one (The Times  London)the mistrust  oppression  paranoia  and fear that gripped the world throughout this period. Checkpoint Charlie is about the nerve-wracking confrontation between the West and USSR  highlighting such important global figures as Eisenhower  Stalin  JFK  Nikita Khrushchev  Mao Zedung  Nixon  Reagan  and other politicians of the period. He also includes never-before-heard interviews with the men who built and dismantled the Wall; children who crossed it; relatives and friends who lost loved ones trying to escape over it; military policemen and soldiers who guarded the checkpoints; CIA  MI6  and Stasi operatives who oversaw operations across its borders; politicians whose ambitions shaped it; journalists who recorded its story; and many more whose living memories contributed to the full story of Checkpoint Charlie.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45657552224309,"sku":"ByrdShop_1982100036","price":20.68,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781982100032.jpg?v=1782045858","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/checkpoint-charlie-the-cold-war-the-berlin-wall-and-the-most-dangerous-place-on-earth-compelling-cold-war-history-9781982100032","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}