More than most modern cities, Berlin has had to reinvent itself, drastically and with startling frequency. It has changed from the cold, harsh capital of Prussia to the arrogant world city of the German Empire; from the depraved Babylon of the Weimar Republic to the last bastion of Nazism; from the Siamese city of the Cold War to the new high-tech capital of a united Germany. David Clay Large's Berlin seeks to recreate this extraordinary diversity and vigour - both the built fabric (its buildings, districts, monuments and streets) and the wealth of astonishing personalities who have loved or hated, created or destroyed this terrifying, exhilarating metropolis.