Hitler

A Biography

By: Ian Kershaw

Narrated by: Alan Robertson

Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.

Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his 30-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I. With extraordinary vividness, Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the crucible of a war with immense casualties, the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 1920s, the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right and the Left, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race.

In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources, Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist, a "drummer" sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls, to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch and, ultimately, to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people.

©1998, 2000, 2008 Ian Kershaw (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Simply Wonderful

Would you listen to Hitler again? Why?

There are so many details in this incredible volume and yet it never feels try or devoid of storytelling. Simply a wonderfully done volume.

Great biography, so-so narration

Would you listen to Hitler again? Why?

The book is brilliant and is said to be one of the best Hitler biographies out there.

How could the performance have been better?

Sadly the narrator does not speak German. It is very difficult to keep focus on what is being read when every German name or word in the book - and there are a few, given the subject - is pronounced wrongly. Goebbels is Gurbles, Nazi is notzie, and so on. The narrator does a good job except for the fact that he does not know a word of German. It drives me insane listening to this book.

Any additional comments?

Read it yourself instead.

In depth and detailed

The detail in this book is amazing. I did not expect to learn so much more about WWII which was extremely interesting.

I'm not a "big" book reader

I bought this book in 2020 for a movie script that I wanted to write and never read a book this thick.

So...

I decided to cheat and bought the audio book.

The audible book was far more than I expected and helped me get through the read much easier than expected.

Great job

simply wonderful

one of those books that makes you realize you knew only of the myth and almost nothing of the man. cannot give enough praise. brilliant

One of the most disturbing accounts of history

It has been 30 year since I read mein kampf so I had unfortunately forgotten how difficult to hear this story was. If there is anyway you are interested in this period of history this is a MUST addition to your library! Be prepared however, no matter how much you think you know.....there's more!

Audible Censorship

Audible is blatantly censoring this book, if you have bought it. It is not allowing you to play it and gives you an error. Shame for undermining the authors hard work and countless hours of research

Great! Great! Very Easy to Listen to

I enjoyed learning the early history of the 20th century and specifically about World War II through the Life of Hitler. This book was extremely easy to listen to. I couldn’t put it down once I started listening. I’m deeply saddened to have witnessed the horrible acts of Germany under Hitler’s dictatorship.

Great book, severe playback problems

The book itself is top notch. Extremely well written, well researched, and well read.

Unfortunately the listening experience ruins it. There seems to be some corruption in the audio files as it frequently stops playing and shows “An error occurred.” I don’t have this issue with any of the other ~100 titles in my library. Killing/restarting the app does nothing. Switching to any other title results immediately in normal playback. Switching back to this title immediately brings the problem back. I’ve also deleted the cache and redownloaded the book. The issue persists.

I wish I could listen to this great book.

Make it more about Hitler less about his men

If you could sum up Hitler in three words, what would they be?

Researched, Fluffed, Informative

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Learning about his childhood was very interesting.

What about Alan Robertson’s performance did you like?

It was just ok. The sound editor made his inflections too powerful.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really

Any additional comments?

As a historian I wanted to learn more about Hitler. This book has a lot of good information about him but it does spend an awful amount of time on his subordinates. The book could be half as long if the author didn't have such an emphasis on that. But still pretty good.