Zoo Station: Adventures in East and West Berlin

This rambling exploration of life on both sides of the cold war's most tangible line of demarcation is an intensely personal account by a former Central American correspondent for the Observer. Walker's friendships with the people he writes about provides an immediacy and an understanding that might otherwise be lacking. Unfortunately, Walker's private and decidedly pro-Communist political leanings are also given free rein, resulting in unabashed attacks on the West and embarrassing apologetics for and homilies on the East. He vividly portrays the seedier side of West Berlinthe only side he deals withwithout elaboration, but a reference to long food lines in East Berlin prompts him to explain that the queues allow a more equitable distribution of scarce resources. When he remarks to a friend that ""what the west calls Soviet imperialism is not really comparable to US imperialism,'' it is clear which he considers the real evil. (May)