The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

A History of Nazi Germany

By: William L. Shirer

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 57 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the twentieth century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.

Now, years after the end of World War II, it may seem incredible that our most valued institutions, and way of life, were threatened by the menace that Hitler and the Third Reich represented. Shirer’s description of events and the cast of characters who played such pivotal roles in defining the course Europe was to take is unforgettable.

Benefiting from his many years as a reporter, and thus a personal observer of the rise of Nazi Germany, and availing himself of some of the 485 tons of documents from the German Foreign Office, as well as countless other diaries, phone transcriptions, and other written records meticulously kept at every level by the Germans, Shirer has put together a brutally objective account of how Hitler wrested political control of Germany, and planned and executed his six-year quest to dominate the world, only to see Germany go down in flames.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a vast, richly rewarding experience for anyone who wants to come to grips with the mysterious question of how this menace to civilization ever came into being, much less was sustained for as long as it was. The answer, unfortunately, is that most of Germany, for a whole host of reasons, embraced Nazism and the fanaticism that Hitler engendered.

©1990 William L. Shirer (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“One of the most important works of history of our time.” ( The New York Times)

”A splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

A lot to digest

Its fascinating to imagine what was going on in the minds of the Nazis. Not fascinating in a good way but, I think you know what I mean.
This book has so much information it will still take a couple more listens to absorb more.
Grover Gardner is one of the best narrators I've ever heard which helped sway me to get this book.

Very good book

This was long but good. The in-depth reporting and sourcing of the materials is incredible!! To have the documents for the beginning, the diary’s, the actual transcript of the conversations. It’s like you were standing in the room for some of the meetings.

Make me want to search out the source materials and read them for my self.

Magnificent

This audio version of this stunning book is magnificent in every respect — in its content and in its delivery.

Should be Required High School Reading

Book was challenging, informative and eye opening, Highly recommend reading if for any reason to realize History should not go forgotten no matter how ugley. Students should read it so the lessons are not forgotten and hopefully prevent future tragedy like the one described here.

Real history.

Accurately written. Brilliantly rendered. Shirer's magnum opus, no doubt. Gardner is my favorite narrator. Get-it!

Unbelievably well researched!

Enlightening to the last. Incredibly long yet worth every second of your time! The first hand accounts given and documentation are very needed to believe such an outlandish history.

We may not want to believe that it happened or can happen again, but as history shows us over and over again, what we want is rarely what happens.

I would recommend the study of this text to anyone seeking to gain knowledge on any event in conjunction with World War 2.

Detailed and entertaining

Would you listen to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich again? Why?

In parts, not straight through

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

I've studied history for a long time, but the details about the Nazi brutality to Jews, Russians, and all people not "desirable", though well known, was well covered including the complicity of the average German. A most powerful portion of the book.

Showing its age

Any additional comments?

This is an impressive book on a fascinating subject, but flawed in a few important ways. Obviously, because it covers the history of more than a decade, and a momentous one at that, it is forced to gloss over many details despite its length. This made it quite frustrating, therefore, when the author spends chapter after chapter devoted to German conspiracies against Hitler which, by his own argument, failed to do anything useful. The endless repetition of plots that went nowhere quickly grew tiresome, and, since I already knew they failed to kill Hitler, I found the stories of their ineptitude rather beside the point.

More generally, this book suffers from a problem of tone. The author was a journalist in Berlin before the war, and therefore was not a young man even when writing this book in the 60's. His personal anecdotes of meeting many of the people discussed were interesting, but many of his portrayals are colored by these impressions. He shows his age also in his moralizing tone, especially with regard to homosexuality, and his, um, 'old fashioned' terminology with regard to race (nipponese? really?).

Finally, it is important to know going in that the author is a journalist and not a historian, and it shows. His tone is not nearly as objective as I would have liked, and his focus wanders. I went into this book knowing nothing about the author, who is very present in the book, and so expecting a more objective work such as we might see about the napoleonic wars. This is not that book. That is not to say it is a bad book. It does cover this period in much greater depth than any single volume I've ever read, and the author's personal reminiscence is sometimes quite interesting. If you are looking to learn more about the war or Nazi Germany, this book will probably help. Just be aware that it might not be exactly what you were hoping for.

Amazing

One of the most insightful books I have ever listen to. If you only read one book about history in your life it should be this one.

Hardly Objective History

Not to defend Nazism or Hitler and his followers in any way, Shirer’s recounting of those monumental events is marred by his seeming inability to state the exquisitely researched facts without throwing in emotionally charged adjectives at every opportunity to artificially denigrate the characters of this world tragedy. If he had just stuck to those facts, the reader would independently recognize the madness and inhumanity of the Reich. By poking the reader in the eye... well ... ear with the non stop “thug”, “pervert”, “tramp from Vienna”’ etc., it comes across as propaganda where such “embellishments” only serve to make the listener suspicious of the writer’s motives. In this case the objective facts of the matter are all that’s needed to lead the listener to Shirer’s intended conclusions, without having to question his motives.
If you can set that aside and attribute it to the author perhaps needing to do it as part of his own therapy (having lived through the events as an intimate witness), it’s a great listen; well worth the time!