In telling the untold story behind the fall of the Berlin Wall, Michael Meyer will also describe EWI’s role in the momentous events of 1989. His account of the revolutions in 1989 rewrites our conventional understanding of how the Cold War came to an end and holds important lessons for America’s current geopolitical challenges. He provides a refutation of American political mythology and a misunderstanding of history that seduced the United States into many of the intractable conflicts it faces today.

Michael Meyer was Newsweek’s bureau chief for Germany, Central Europe and the Balkans between 1988 and 1992, and wrote more than a dozen cover stories on the breakup of communist Europe and German unification. He is the winner of two Overseas Press Club Awards and has appeared regularly as a commentator for MSNBC, CNN, FOX, C-SPAN, NPR and other broadcast networks. Meyer is a member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations and is currently Director of Communications in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.