Book Description
Before the Nazies could destroy the files, famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer sifted through the massive self-documentation of the Third Reich, to create a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind--now in a special 30th anniversary edition.
"One of the most important works of history of our time."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Customer Reviews:
Requiem for America.......2007-10-01
It is a pity this book isn't required reading for all Americans; George Bush. Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleeza Rice would have NEVER come within a million miles of the Oval Office.
And there would have been NO GOP after Watergate; that would have been the end. Instead, the GOP morphed into the AmeriNazi Christianist Party, with Reagan playing a senile Hindenburg to Poppy Bush behind the scenes and a budding Karl Rove chomping at the bit to become his nation's Goebbels. Indeed. Only the scapgoat targets change; not the tactics. Yesterday the Jews, today all of Islam who will rise up to the last man, woman, and child to fight the new Nazi scourge to the death to the point of genocide, and all "those who are not with us, are with the terrorists." See you in the Haliburton camps.
No matter though; what this book teaches is that Nazi Amerika will soon go the way of all Nazi Empires. The Fourth Reich will soon be no more as Bush, the Uniter, unites the entire world against him and it.
Scarry!.......2007-09-20
I've been meaning to read this for years (and years). - Not totally easy to read, but VERY interesting and relates to present-day events easily. Buy it (or check it out of the library), read it, and TELL YOUR FRIENDS.
Expansive and detailed.......2007-09-13
Though it took me just about as many years to finish this massive tome as it took for the actual Nazi regime to play out, I would still rank this as one of my favorite history books. And even though it is very long and detailed, it is actually written in way that is fairly well-paced and at times even highly dramatic. I doubt there will ever be as definitive a work on the whole Nazi regime as what is presented here.
Amazing read.......2007-08-23
This book is an amazing read. It is pretty thick and extremely detailed but the insight it provides is unparalleled. The primary source documents cited throughout are fascinating.
Extremely educational .......2007-08-17
William L. Shirer's novel is so well written that I cannot put it into the right words. I want to say that it felt like I was there, his descriptions of people and places were very, very heavy. That is the least of my concerns because this is a novel that goes so much farther into the history of Nazi Germany than perhaps any other I have ever read.
Shirer's book starts with exhaustive research that takes you into the childhood of Adolf Hitler. While known the world over as a monster, it was still important for me to see what this man's days were like before his deadly actions. Srategies, Socialism, tactics, politics, betrayal and so many other things are brought out and although some historical figureheads better versed on the subject than me may know some of this, I found a lot of it to be somewhat of a lost history that tends to take a back seat to WWII in general.
Book Description
Ernst Hanfstaengl (Putzi) was court jester, pianist, and foreign press chief for Hitler during his political climb, and later played a lead role in Roosevelt’s top-secret project to use disinformation against the Nazis. An urbane Harvard-educated German, Putzi was living in Germany in 1922 when he first heard Hitler speak in Munich. Introducing himself after the speech, Putzi began one of the strangest relationships in twentieth-century politics. As he tried to introduce Hitler to Munich high-society and polish his image in the eyes of the world, Hanfstaengl helped finance Mein Kampf, claimed to have devised the chant of “Sieg Heil,” and attempted to set Hitler up with the American ambassador’s beautiful young daughter. But he fell out of Hitler’s graces, fled to Britain where he was interned, and then transferred to America. There, he worked for his old friend from the Harvard Club, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The star of Roosevelt's "S-Project," Putzi provided information on four hundred leading Nazis, analyses of Hitler’s speeches, and a sixty-eight-page psychological portrait of Hitler. Through newly declassified documents, photographs, interviews with members of Hanfstaengl’s family, and original writing by Hanfstaengl, Peter Conradi recounts the remarkable life of history’s personal link between Hitler and FDR.
Customer Reviews:
Ouch.......2006-01-09
Readers of Djuna Barnes should pick up this important biography right away, for those of us who admire the brilliant, bisexual US modernist will discover, in Putzi Hanfstaengl, one of the central figures in Barnes' life and an original of NIGHTWOOD. When the two of them met, shortly before World War I in a very different New York City, aristocratic, thrill-seeking Harvard grad Ernst Hanfstaengl was like no one else Barnes had ever met, and even though she was already identifying herself pretty much as a lover of women, she managed still to bring him under her erotic spell. Author Conradi relays Andrew Field's story (from his authoritative Barnes biography) that he was so attracted to her that, while slow dancing with her, he suffered an embarrassing and infinitely painful little "sex accident." To put it in layman's terms, his erection exploded. Now, that's erotic enslavement!
Conradi's best guess is that Putzi and Djuna dissolved their engagement because she would not become German enough for him, but he outlines the various possibilities.
She is said to have contemplated killing herself by leaping from her window when he left her to return to Germamy at the outbreak of World War I.
There he married the unsatisfactory, hapless Helene, whom he led a merry chase till she finally divorced him to find happiness with another.
The main story of the book, Hitler's friendship with Putzi and his eventual downfall at the hands of the Allies, is competently told. How much of it shall we believe? Whatever, it is a story more thrilling than any fiction, except perhaps the EYE OF THE NEEDLE and SHINING THROUGH. The Thomas Mann of BUDDENBROOKS might have written the early part of Putzi's life, but the last half of it could only have been dreamed up by a combination of Ian Fleming and John Cheever.
important story.......2005-06-29
Besides giving us some interesting details of the relationship between "Putzi" Hanfstaengel and Hitler, Conradi describes how FDR's personal secret service, run by the mysterious John Franklin Carter, was able to smuggle the Nazi Hanfstaengel into the US and hide him near Washington without even the FBI's knowledge. As one who knew Carter well, I am pleased that this small but important piece of US and WW II history is finally being told.
Inside Adolf.......2004-09-12
At first, you think the title is a Woody Allen joke (see his famous "Schmeed Memoirs", a faux reminiscence by Hitler's barber in "Getting Even".)
But "Hitler's Piano Player" is the real thing--the story of an upper class German who became the ultimate 6th degree of separation, the common link among Adolf Hitler, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Robert Benchley, and others. Born into a wealthy family, "Putzi" went to Harvard, ran a tony art dealership in NYC, returned to Germany in the early 20s, where he met Hitler, and became his confidant, friend, source of loans, piano player, and ultimately, his foreign press secretary. After threatened with assassination, Putzi fled to Switzerland and then, ultimately, to the U.S., where he aided the OSS and wrote lengthy and gossipy dossiers on all the major players in the 3rd Reich. (FDR, who apparently read these reports with relish, called them his "Hitler Bedtime Story".)
This is a bird's eye view of Germany and Hitler in the 20s and 30s--a bizarre home movie that almost humanizes Hitler and at the same time, gives hint to the sources of madness that soon savagely expressed itself.
An unexpected personal view of Hitler before he was the Fuhrer. Well written, compelling, a one-of-a-kind story.
Customer Reviews:
The hobo philosopher.......2007-09-05
After reading both of Mr. Pool's books on this subject, I felt that these books should be required reading for every World War II veteran - possibly all veterans. And now I would expand that recommendation to all who have ever fought in any war and to those who may be forced to do so in the future.
Reading such books will help to get through a lot of the "who harr" and hoopla of what most everybody "thinks" war is all about. "Where's the Money and Follow the Money" are always good questions - and invariably eye-opening.
Conclusions:
Fear of Communism or anti-Communism was the chief motivational concept behind the rise of Nazism and Adolf Hitler. From the man in the street to the captains of industry and the nobles and aristocrats the hatred, fear, and spirit of anti-Communism was common.
Patriotism and nationalism were the second strongest motivational characteristics of Hitler contributors inside Germany.
Industrialists, aristocrats, white Russian refugees and wealthy advocates of the capitalist system all around the world found cause in Hitler's anti-Communism.
The secret Thule Society is for me a new discovery. I had never before read of this group.
The Aryan and the anti-Jewish attitudes seem to be a whole other study. This book would suggest to me that anti-Communism was a bigger motivation for the monetary support of Nazism or Hitlerism.
prejudice.......2003-12-30
The book obviously is written from the point of view that Jews were not to blame for anything.
A significant part of the book is dedicated to Henry Ford Sr.'s warnings about the jewishation of the USA.
I've read Ford's book, a summary of his articles.
The book does not incite against Jews, it just explains increasing Jewish influence in the USA since 1880.
A book as `From prejudice to destruction', Jacob Katz, 1980, Cambridge MA (Katz is an Israeli lecturer), explains why Jews after they had become full citizens in Germany, and even after they no longer were religious, still remained Jews, a distinct social group.
`Christianity and the Holocaust of the Hungarian Jewry', Moshe Y Herclz, 1993 New York University press, describes how in Hungary Jews monopolised the press.
David Sinclair, `Hall of Mirrors', London, 2001 describes how Roosevelt's behavior in 1918 Versailles was influenced by New York bankers, who needed German reparations payments to France and Britain, so that these countries could pay back the WW I loans.
Last but not least, the Malaysian president in his statement to the conference of the Arab League a few months ago said about the same as Henry Ford Sr. published: 'Jews rule the world, by proxy'.
But with the obvious pro Jewish prejudice in mind it's not a bad book; that Hitler was in close contact with Ford can be read in: `Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, Herausgegeben von Wolf Rüdiger Hess, Einführung und Kommentaren von Dirk Bavendamm, München 1987.
Several letters to and from Ford are mentioned, also about matters that needed personal contact.
An untruthful and unscholarly book.......2002-09-18
This book was comprised mainly from speculation and from rumors without true evidence to support the claims that were made. The author has admitted to not researching nor fully reviewing the sources and archives listed in his works cited. If you want to read a truthful, honarable scholarly work pertaining to the subject of Hitler and his financiers (or lack there of), you should take you time and read Henry Ashby Turner's "German Big Business and The Rise of Hitler." Don' waste your time on this "get rich quick" book.
Revealing work........2002-08-29
Pool is able to give us a compelling report about who really financed the Nazi-party and why Hitler had friends in high places, and that despite the fact that many first hand historical documents disappeared.
First, there was the fear for communism (Fritz Thyssen, Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch, Norman Montagu of the Bank of England ...). These people supported Hitler's party to win the working class and the ruined lower middle class away from communism.
Secondly, his anti-semitism (Henry Ford). Third, his racist/nationalist stance (the secret Thule society: a group of lawyers, judges, professors, policemen, aristocrats, scientists and businessmen). Fourth, friendly régimes (Mussolini).
And last but not least, the donations of his party members and his daily newspaper (a milk cow).
Pool gives us a penetrating picture of the political/economical situation in Germany after the First World War: the unbearable Versailles Treaty, the poverty, the unemployment, the hopeless division of the political parties and the plotting of von Papen and his backers, who supported Hitler when his party was losing support, for fear that his followers would jump over to the communists. Von Papen thought that after the elections, he would easily get rid of Hitler, a terrible mistake.
Pool convinced me of the ease with which money can subvert the democratic process.
One of the more controversial statements in this book is the reason of the abdication of King Edward VIII of England: not because of Mrs. Simpson, but because of his pro-Nazi attitude. This statement needed more underpinning.
A must-read for anyone interested in Nazi history........2002-02-17
Who Financed Hitler is well written and interesting to read. It brings out many facts not normally found in books about Hitler and Nazism. For instance, it explains that the Reichstag fire led to the passing of the Enabling Act which made Hitler a dictator.
Hitler blamed the fire on a plot by communists and had all 100 communist members of the Reichstag arrested. While they were in jail he had the Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag, which met elsewhere because of the damage to the Reichstag building. Without the 100 communist members present, Hitler had enough votes to get the Enabling Act passed.
Most texts on Nazism mention the Reichstag fire, and either leave it at that or just mention that the communist members of the Reichstag were arrested. They do not point out that with the communist members in jail, Hitler had enough votes to have the Enabling Act passed.
The book brings out many other facts about Hitler and Nazism that I have not seen elsewhere. The author, James Pool, is to be congratulated for doing much original research on the Nazi era.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and insightful.......2006-05-26
Len Deighton is one of my favorite fiction writers; he is particularly at home writing novels about Germany in World War Two. Thus, when I came across a scholarly work by him on the same subject, I snapped it up and read it with great interest.
This is a very interesting book. It appears to be well-researched, although some reviewers have been critical of numerous details in the book. I am not in a position to judge how valid these criticisms are.
That aside, there is no doubt that this book takes a hard look at its subject: the Blitzkrieg method of warfare. I came away from the book with the conclusion that Blitzkrieg, at least in the 1940s, really only works when one side has a far greater degree of preparedness for war. In France, perhaps the purest example of the Blitzkrieg, the French were bereft of elan or enthusiasm for the war, and its Army was infected with defeatism, bad tactical doctrine (strictly defensive, with no thought of attack), and bad leadership (the elderly General Gamelin, the Commander-in-Chief, was holed up at a luxurious chateau that did not even have radio or landline contact with the rest of the Army!). The German Blitz succeeded because the Germans took chances such as wildly extending their flanks and supply lines--these chances worked against an enemy who was slow to react and burdened with bad tactics, intelligence, and leadership. In short-they worked against the French. It took the Russians, and later the Anglo-Americans, to show the Germans how to fight tank battles.
Deighton also makes a convincing case that the Wehrmacht, although inferior to the French as regards equipment, carried the day due in part to inspired tactical leadership by Guderian and other German commanders (Rommel was one) and much sounder tactical doctrine. No surprise here.
Overall, an interesting look at the early portion of World War Two on the Western front.
Very sloppy research.......2006-04-19
The chapter on the opening campaign of WWII in September 1939, had me asking whether I was reading one of Deighton's works of fiction.In just 2-3 pages he made several ridiculous statements that defy logic. He repeats the fairy tale that Poland's airforce was destroyed on the ground. This is a mistake many authors who churn out books without regard to check facts make. All Polish air force planes were moved to secret war time fields on Aug 30, 31 ,1939. A second unforgiveable error was the repetition of the Nazi slander that Polish cavalry attacked tanks. My father was in the Polish cavalry and he told me this assertion was Nazis propaganda designed to make the Poles appear to be of low intelligence and thus less human.If Deighton were not lazy and would've consulted various works in English on the Polish Campaign of 1939,he would have stumbled on the truth. A third false assertion was that the reason the Polish army was caught in the middle of mobilization, was because they did not believe the Nazis would actually attack. The Poles were caught in the middle of mobilization because the British and the spineless French,made them delay mobilization in the hope they would "provoke" Hitler.
British writers tend to portray other nation's militaries as incompetent to hide the fact the British Army in WWII was second rate.I have news for Deighton ,the Polish soldiers up to the noncoms outfought the Germans in the 1939 campaign. I can prove this statiscally. There are several books which use statiscal models to give the average soldier of each opposing army a rating based on how many casualties were inflicted on the opposing army.
"Sir" John Keegan doesn't like these models because they show the British inflicted .65 casualties on the Germans for every casualty the British suffered in selected battles.
Really good.......2003-03-02
This is a well-written, well-researched, "quick read," chock full of interesting details, many of which I was unaware of, despite 40 years of reading World War II history. Deighton, author of many engrossing spy novels, uses his considerable story-telling technique to carry the reader along in a story in which its history is well-known, and the end familiar to all. Nevertheless, the book will hold your interest and add greatly to your knowledge of the subject. Imagine the satisfaction you will receive at cocktail parties when you put that smug know-it-all in his place when you correct him and state that the Wehrmacht was actually INCREASING the use of horse-drawn artillery, rather than motorized carriers. You can just sense that comely blonde off to the side of the room begin looking at you with growing interest!
The Book Moves as Fast as the Battles it Covers.......2002-04-07
I found this book very enjoyable. It was full of interesting facts and moved as smoothly as the fiction the author writes. It starts with a good overview into what took place in Germany to lead them up to the 1939 attacks. It provided an easy to grasp view of the tactics that the German armor forces used to such devastating effect. I also think this work shows the benefit of training and strong leadership, many times the Germans did not have the type of numbers that are generally thought of as needed to attack fixed forces. The additional drawings and diagrams make the test easy easier to understand. This book moves as fast as the battle it describes, it is well worth the purchase price.
Clear-eyed precis of the rise of Hitler.......2002-01-03
This book is the clearest precis of Hitler's rise that I have yet to read. From the end of WWI to the co-opting of the Center Party in Germany to the fall of France, this has it all. It is eminently readable, lucid and cogent.
Book Description
Through newly declassified documents, interviews with surviving members of the Hanfstaengl family, and original writings by Putzi, historian and author Peter Conradi weaves Putzi’s captivating tale.
It was at a Munich Beer Hall in 1922 that this German man first saw Hitler speak, introduced himself and made his way in 20th-century history. Acting as haughty court jester, soothing pianist, and savvy foreign press chief for Hitler, Putzi became a close ally of the Fuehrer. Yet, once Putzi fell out of Hitler’s graces, he escaped Germany, was interned in Britain, transferred to Canada and finally to America. Here, in an unusual turn of allegiance, Putzi began working with FDR, an acquaintance from New York’s Harvard Club, and became the star of Roosevelt’s “S-Project.” He provided the White House with biographical information on hundreds of leading Nazis, analyses of Hitler’s speeches, and a 68-page psychological portrait of Hitler —describing his education, diet and even his sex life.
Filled with revelations about Hitler’s personal life and descriptions of American psychological warfare, Hitler’s Piano Player is a gripping book about a man torn apart by the most antagonistic of loyalties and history’s missing personal link between Hitler and FDR.
Customer Reviews:
In Depth review of Hitlers Private Life.......2006-08-27
Very few books that I have read about Hitler go into this level of detail.
He was an uneducated loner, born in Austria. He was desperate to be a part of Germany and ran to fight for Germany in the first world war. He was brave under fire. He couldn't get over Germany's defeat and blamed the Social Democratic Liberals, the Unions, the Marxists and of course the Jews. He hated organised labour and never held a job.
When he was homeless and living in a men's shelter in Vienna, he wore a long raincoat and looked like the dirt poor Jewish immigrants roaming the streets of Vienna. Strangely his closest friends in the men's shelter were Jewish fellows who helped him out. While the other men in the men's shelter were out in the streets doing mundane jobs to bring in a few extra pennies, Hitler stayed indoors at the mens shelter and read up to 3 newspapers everyday, studying them in depth.
When his "Movement" (ie National Socialism) started to take off in 1929, he was an insomniac and worked right through the night. He loved eating candy and never drank, smoked or socialised much with woman. He was a small little nothing who couldn't look anyone in the eyes, until you spoke to him about race or politics. Then the man was transformed, became loud, aggressive and obnoxious. He loved to lecture people about race and National Socialism.
The book is long (700 + pages)...it goes into immense detail regarding Napoleon Bonaparte, the depression, the collapse of the German government and why the Germans of that era loved marching and military-like functions.
Strangely, prior to becoming chancellor of Germany, Hitler was terrified of the German police and of getting deported, because he was an Austrian foreigner. After the Putsch, he kept a low profile to avoid getting arrested again. As his fame grew and more and more of the ultra rich (especially in big industry like mining), financed him, he started getting into the habit of having his chaffeur drive him around Berlin aimlessly. People would get excited when they saw him and he loved the attention.
The book maintains that it was the war that transformed Hitler from a homeless nobody into a mesmerizing and charasmatic speaker. He was supposedly a political genius. He had a very low regard for all other people (from his experiences gathered in his homeless years). He loathed the German intellectuals and peasantry whether they had blonde hair and blue eyes or not. He saw no value in the life of individual people but only cared about the group value in the survival of the German volk.
It was a tough book to read. But there are not too many books written by people who actual saw Hitler rise from a nothing and a nobody to a dictator. The book was written PRIOR to the world becoming aware of the holocaust. So except for the numerous speaches of Hitler where he constantly says that "The Jew is to blame for EVERYTHING", there is not much reference to the cataclysm that occurred when this animal came to power.
All history should be written about like this.......2004-04-28
Adolf Hitler has been the subject of scrutiny from every angle, so why bother reading another book about him? Because Heiden's book is not just an intellectual dissection of Hitler, it comes from the perspective of a man who heard Hitler speak and witnessed his rise to power firsthand.
This is no dry "names and dates" account -- Heiden boldly interjects his opinion of the character of the prominent players, and the motives behind their actions. And Hitler is neither deified nor demonized. He is portrayed from the first as a man.
Heiden is not impartial, but his partiality never comes across as vindictive or hateful. His book has the perfect balance of familiarity when helpful, and objectivity when necessary.
This book is required reading for anyone who wants a complete picture of the National Socialist movement prior to the onset of the war.
It Was The Economy, Stupid!.......2000-04-29
While even many of his followers believed Hitler to be a "joke" not a threat, and few people really believed his propaganda, he was able to pull the nation out of the post-WWI depression and achieve complete power over Germany! The welfare state became his power base -- and it's all explained in this magnificent book written while it was happening. Every United States Voter should read this book, especially in the dawning 21st Century.
Best description of how Hitler rose to power in print.......2000-03-31
Der Fuehrer, by Konrad Heiden, published in 1944 by Houghton-Mifflin, is one of the best, if not the absolute best book I have read on Hitlers rise to power. From chapter one, "The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion", the only history of this nefarious document's origin that I have found, Heiden gives the most detailed background history of Germany and the surrounding nations. His ability to take you from the end of WWI into the turmoil and chaos of post-war Europe is unparalleled. Being German and having lived through that time, he is able to impart an understanding and a grasp of the forces pulling the German people into this malestrom of uncertainty, desperation and chaos that brought the German people to such a level of anxiety that they could readily embrace such a figure as Hitler. For anyone interested in how one of the high cultures in Europe could degenerate into madness in such a short time, this is a "must read".
Product Description
Biography.
Book Description
At daybreak on September 1, 1939, the German army poured across the Polish border while German bombers rained destruction from the skies, WW II had begun--"Hitler's war," as the British say.
As an American correspondent in Berlin, William Shirer had met Hitler, listened to his fiery speeches, and observed him firsthand. THE RISE AND FALL OF ADOLF HITLER is based on what Shirer saw and on his later research of the massive files captured by the Allies.
"Hitler's conquest was classic. He double-crossed his friends, massacred millions, plunged the world into its bloodiest war...and buried his own nation in the process. In Hitler, tryanny found nearly perfect exposition." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)
Customer Reviews:
The best account of a major political event.......2004-08-24
William Shirer was a witness to one of the most incredible political events in the history of the world. A former vagabond, who never rose above the rank of corporal in the Great War, Adolph Hitler managed to achieve absolute power in Germany. Using a program based on the systematic destruction of others, he came very close to controlling all of Europe and northern Africa. Shirer was a journalist rather than a historian, so his writing is more in the style of a reporter than that of an academic. Therefore, his accounts are more in the style of a witness rather than an explainer.
This book is very well written and an excellent introduction for young people to the events leading to the Second World War. I consider it the best popular description of the circumstances of Hitler's rise to power and how he managed to win so many nearly bloodless victories before the war. Quite properly, the first two-thirds of the book deals with events before the start of the war in September 1939. It is one of the best books in the scholastic book series for young people.
An Excellent Introduction for Kids to History, and Evil.......2003-02-21
I read this little book when I was in fourth or fifth grade, was knocked out, and have been hooked on history ever since. Shirer condenses his massive "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" for younger readers. It's a gripping introduction to a subject you could spend your whole reading life exploring. It has the "fascination of abomination"; a first, cautionary introduction for kids to the scary things that happen in the adult world. If you want your children to grow up to be interested in politics, history, law, etc., this is a good book to give them.
Short, Concise, Informative.......2003-02-10
William Shirer, perhaps most famous for his comprehensive history, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, or his live radio broadcasts from Berlin during the early days of World War II, has also written a thin little book titled, The Rise and Fall of Adlof Hitler. Although the work is geared towards a younger audience, the quality of writing, and information contained are quality fare for an older audience as well.
Shirer, begins his work with a young disgruntled Hitler, arguing with his father over his chosen profession, that of an artist. Shirer then chronicles Hitler's days as a vagabond, moving from one odd job to another across Austria and Germany. In these early years, we see Hitler not as a maniacal demagogue, but as an eccentric wanderer, searching for nothing in particular. However, World War I brought the demagogue forth.
After serving for four years in the Germany military, Hitler, disgruntled with the Treaty of Versailles and the weakness of the German nation decides to enter into political life. It is in a small beer hall that Hitler creates the new found Nazi party and enlists the help of such infamous men as Goering, Himmler, and Hess. Do to Hitler's exceptional charisma, the Nazi party begins to grow.
Following the now infamous "Beer Hall Putsch," Hitler is imprisoned and begins work on his seminal book, Mein Kampf. Following his release, the book sells millions of copies and Hitler is thrust upon the national stage. From here, Shirer illustrates Hitler's rise of Chancellor, and ultimately dictator of Germany. He discusses the serious of invasions and coups conducted under Hitler throughout Europe and subsequent intervention of the Allied Powers.
Finally, Shirer chronicles the decline of Hitler, and his subsequent decent in to madness. His paranoia, greed, and ultimate refusal of accept anything other than total victory led to not only the demise of Adlof Hitler, but also to the German nation.
Shirer did an excellent job chronicling the life of Adlof Hitler in a short and concise book. This would severe as an excellent text for a high school history course, or for any reader who wants to learn more about Hitler, but has very little time
A chilling tale of Adolf Hitler.......1999-04-05
This book tells so much about Adolf Hitler. How he lived his life and what it was like. William L. Shirer writes this in a first person perspective. He actually witnessed these things happening and lives to tell about them.
Book Description
Konrad Heiden's penetrating, firsthand portrayal of Hitler's developing career and the Nazi's consolidation of power remains as incisive and compelling as it was when first published at the height of the Second World War. As a German citizen, Heiden watched Hitler grow from a small-time demagogue and failed revolutionary to a dangerously influential politician and finally dictator in total control of his party and eventually Germany. Starting with Hitler's unpromising youth and first political missteps, Heiden concludes with a gripping account of the "blood purge" of June 1934, in which Hitler executed his potential rivals in the Nazi Party and confirmed his monstrous vision for Germany.
This striking narrative of the great German dictator's rise also illuminates the national character of the German people - those people who committed the crimes that aided the Fuhrer and those who allowed them to be committed.
"Unique in its abundance of details, and it ranks beside the classics of historical writing" - Christian Science Monitor
"Remorselessly, ruthlessly objective" - New York Times Book Review
"[A] superior piece of writing . . . Essential for all libraries" - Library Journal
"The most complete study in the field" - The New Yorker
Customer Reviews:
Very Informative.......2006-04-10
I have read over 80 books on this subject. I rate this book just under William Shirers book(Rise & Fall of Third Reich)for its completeness--up to Hitlers ascention to power. Most of what is included in the book agrees with other smaller books that are more focused on narrower segents of the period. If you want an overview with plenty of the details but don't want to try your hand at Shirer's 1600 pages then this is a great work at about 600 pages.
Daunting but worth the read........2002-11-24
The Fuhrer, by Konrad Heiden, is an intriguing analysis of Hitler's rise to power that was written by one of his contemporaries. Heiden, a Socialist, who nevertheless is more objective than one would expect, seeks to show the scheming, events, and popular sentiments that led to Hitler's rise to power while at the same time foreshadowing the danger of Hitler's rule. The only departures from objectivity are those places in which Hitler is called "the Antichrist" and is said to be the true follower of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. The conventional belief is that it was "the Jewish enemy" that was carrying them out, in stark contrast to Heiden's views.
Although the book is an analysis of Hitler's rise to power, it is not a comprehensive biography. It starts with events that occured before his birth and ends during the Blood Purge of 1933, in which Hitler the chancellor, orders the systematic murder of his enemies. The book does not even go as far as the start of World War II or the Holocaust, as by then, Hitler had rose to power, and his achievements went downhill from there.
The book is written in ponderous scholarly language and takes effort to read. As a fulltime student, it took me about 20 days to finish the 600 odd pages. It is replete with reported anecdotes and excerpts from Hitler's speeches, correspondences, and correspondences relating to him, enhancing and lengthening the volume. If one can avoid falling asleep and really pay attention to what is being said, one will realize the clarity and relevance of the book.
I bought this book because it was the cheapest biography of Hitler I could find, and I was not disappointed. I recommend this book to all diligent readers who desire a greater understanding of how Hitler became the Fuhrer.
Daunting but worth the read........2002-11-24
The Fuhrer, by Konrad Heiden, is an intriguing analysis of Hitler's rise to power that was written by one of his contemporaries. Heiden, a Socialist, who nevertheless is more objective than one would expect, seeks to show the scheming, events, and popular sentiments that led to Hitler's rise to power while at the same time foreshadowing the danger of Hitler's rule. The only departures from objectivity are those places in which Hitler is called "the Antichrist" and is said to be the true follower of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. The conventional belief is that it was "the Jewish enemy" that was carrying them out, in stark contrast to Heiden's views.
Although the book is an analysis of Hitler's rise to power, it is not a comprehensive biography. It starts with events that occured before his birth and ends during the Blood Purge of 1933, in which Hitler the chancellor, orders the systematic murder of his enemies. The book does not even go as far as the start of World War II or the Holocaust, as by then, Hitler had rose to power, and his achievements went downhill from there.
The book is written in ponderous scholarly language and takes effort to read. As a fulltime student, it took me about 20 days to finish the 600 odd pages. It is replete with reported anecdotes and excerpts from Hitler's speeches, correspondences, and correspondences relating to him, enhancing and lengthening the volume. If one can avoid falling asleep and really pay attention to what is being said, one will realize the clarity and relevance of the book.
I bought this book because it was the cheapest biography of Hitler I could find, and I was not disappointed. I recommend this book to all diligent readers who desire a greater understanding of how Hitler became the Fuhrer.
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General
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Inside the Third Reich
Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography
Mein Kampf
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Modern Library Classics)
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 (Modern Library War)
