One of a number of retrospective views on the events of 1989 published on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this compilation sets itself apart by looking at 1989 from a global perspective (the book includes contributions by experts on specific regions). See Engel’s chronological narrative (which tries to present a synthesis of varied global events), James Sheenan’s text on Germany and Europe, and particularly Chen Jian’s essay on China, which is one of the best accounts of developments in that country available in English.