The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the economy, but the kind of man that the country turns out.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson.

What would Emerson have said had he heard Donald Trump declare on 21 August 2019, “I am the chosen One” along with a glance toward the sky?

“I am the chosen One,” said Donald Trump. “The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the economy, but the kind of man that the country turns out,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. www.walled-in-berlin.com

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.