{"product_id":"the-stasi-poetry-circle-by-philip-oltermann-9780571331208","title":"The Stasi Poetry Circle","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Engrossing.’\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Remarkable.’\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Magnificent.’\u003c\/strong\u003e - Phillipe Sands\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘Gripping.’\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A history so outlandish and unlikely that you feel it must be true . . . [A] grippingly well-written book.’\u003c\/strong\u003e - Anthony Quinn, \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Week\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1982, East Germany's fearsome secret police - convinced that writers were embedding subversive messages in their work - decided to train their own writers, weaponising poetry in the struggle against the class enemy. Once a month, a group of soldiers and border guards gathered in a heavily guarded military compound in East Berlin for meetings to learn how to write lyrical verse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJournalist Philip Oltermann spent five years rifling through Stasi files, digging out lost volumes of poetry and tracking down surviving members of this Red poet's society, to illustrate the little-known story in which spies turned poets and poets became spies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072847134956,"sku":"9780571331208","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/10988193482391.jpg?v=1765132452","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/the-stasi-poetry-circle-by-philip-oltermann-9780571331208","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}