Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE 'Mohr digs into the subject of East German punk like nobody before' Rolling Stone Germany Tim Mohr brings us the secret history of punks in East Germany. Burning Down the Haus is a reclamation and an exaltation of youth culture and youthful idealism as not only an instigator for discourse, but as an actual catalyst for political upheaval - and radical, fierce, irrepressible change. The first punk in East Germany named herself Major. She was sixteen when she was put on a surveillance watch list by the Stasi. Punks like Major were interrogated and arrested and beaten and forced into hard labor. They were unable to get jobs, let alone hold jobs, and were ultimately plunged into a cycle of arrest and anarchy. But they created enclaves for themselves outside of society, self-sustaining communities that continued to project their disrespect for a world of bleak conformity. The punk scene in east Germany was not a music sub-culture as we know it in the west, but a dangerous political statement that required bravery and sacrifice. 'Burning Down the Haus is not just an immersion into the punk rock scene of East Berlin, it's the story of the cultural and political battles that have shaped the world we live in today' DW Gibson, author of The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century

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9780349701301

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Mohr digs into the subject of East German punk like nobody before * Rolling Stone (Germany) * Burning Down the Haus fastidiously traces the self-discovery of punks in the socialist dictatorship of East Germany, and the violence and repression they endured on the way to freedom * NPR * Gripping * Billboard * [A] riveting and inspiring history of punk's hard-fought struggle in East Germany * New York Times Book Review * A thrilling and essential social history that details the rebellious youth movement that helped change the world * Rolling Stone * Original and inspiring . . . Mohr has written an important work of Cold War cultural history * Wall Street Journal * Wildly entertaining . . . A thrilling tale . . . A joy in the way it brings back punk's fury and high stakes * Vogue *

Author Information

Tim Mohr has co-written best-selling memoirs by Duff McKagan of Guns 'n' Roses, Paul Stanley of KISS, and Gil Scott-Heron. He is also an award-winning translator of German novels, including Why We Took the Car and Sand by Wolfgang Herrndorf, Wetlands by Charlotte Roche and The Hottest Dishes of the Tartary Cuisine by Alina Bronsky. While a staff editor at Playboy magazine, he worked with Hunter S. Thompson and Matt Taibbi, among others. His writing has appeared in many publications, including the New York Times Book Review, Inked and Daily Beast. Prior to starting his writing career, Tim spent the 1990s as a DJ in Berlin.

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