Kasebier Takes Berlin, Tergit, Gabriele

In Berlin, 1930, the name K sebier is on everyones lips. A literal combination of the German words for cheese and beer, its an unglamorous name for an unglamorous man--a small-time crooner who performs nightly on a shabby stage for laborers, secretaries, and shopkeepers. Until the press shows up.

In the blink of an eye, this everyman is made a star: a star who can sing songs for a troubled time. Margot Weissmann, the arts patron, hosts champagne breakfasts for K sebier; Muschler the banker builds a theater in his honor; Willi Fr chter, a parvenu writer, makes a mint off K sebier-themed business ventures and books. All the while, the journalists who catapulted K sebier to fame watch the monstrous media machine churn in amazement--and are aghast at the demons they have unleashed.