"This book traces the evolution of grassroots social movement in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and reveals the democratically spirited, subversive forms of communication that were practiced behind the Wall before it fell on November 9, 1989. From the political jokes that were shared in private, to the informational events, small group work, underground publications, and weekly "peace prayers" that were sheltered by Evangelical Lutheran churches, to the demonstrations of 1989, to the onslaught of expose work after the fall of the Wall, East Germans resisted and rebelled against the state in a number of humble but rhetorically brilliant ways."--Jacket.