• The Third Reich in Power

  • By: Richard J. Evans
  • Narrated by: Sean Pratt
  • Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,211 ratings)

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The Third Reich in Power  By  cover art

The Third Reich in Power

By: Richard J. Evans
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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Publisher's summary

The definitive account of Germany's malign transformation under Hitler's total rule and the implacable march to war. This magnificent second volume of Richard J. Evans's three-volume history of Nazi Germany was hailed by Benjamin Schwartz of The Atlantic Monthly as "the definitive English-language account... gripping and precise." It chronicles the incredible story of Germany's radical reshaping under Nazi rule. As those who were deemed unworthy to be counted among the German people were dealt with in increasingly brutal terms, Hitler's drive to prepare Germany for the war that he saw as its destiny reached its fateful hour in September 1939.

The Third Reich in Power is the fullest and most authoritative account yet written of how, in six years, Germany was brought to the edge of that terrible abyss.

©2006 Richard J. Evans (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

“[Evans’s] three-volume history... is shaping up to be a masterpiece. Fluidly narrated, tightly organized and comprehensive." (William Grimes, The New York Times)

What listeners say about The Third Reich in Power

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, annoying narrator

This is a thorough and well-organized history of post Weimar Republic Germany before the actual outbreak of war. My only gripe would be the narrator, who often pauses mid-sentence (not at a comma) and reminds one of a high school student. He mispronounces even some common words. To top it off, he narrates with a sarcastic tone which makes his mediocre reading ability even more annoying. BTW, you won't notice these things in your "sample listening." It will take you about an hour of listening for him to really begin getting on your nerves.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good but annoying

I agree with the other reviewer regarding the reader. This book needs a second edition update - not read by Sean Pratt. If you can get past the herky-jerky narration then it's worthwhile but I'm off to my local Library for the other two volumes.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A catalog of horrors

The second book in Richard Evans' trilogy of Nazi Germany.

As if the horrors detailed in the first volume were not enough, Mr Evans details the gradual erosion of the individual rights of all Germans and the complete indifference showed by most to that loss of freedom and especially to the loss of liberty and dignity of the persecuted minorities. An outstanding book that should be read by all.

As with the first volume, my only complaint is the flat and uninspired reading of Sean Pratt. But even that is not enough to cause this wonderful book to lose a star. As after reading the first volume, I will purchase the next as soon as I can gather the courage to listen to another, more brutal, list of horrors.

One can only wonder what those responsible for not stopping the Nazis when they had the power told themselves after the fact. Did Chamberlain ever have to deal with what he helped create? Or Baldwin? Or others in the British and French governments who could have stopped the Nazi horror in its cradle? Did those people who continually ignored Churchill's warnings ever have to face up to what they helped create?

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great historical work, well-narrated

I am working my way through listening to the whole Evans' trilogy. It is good historical scholarship and a well-written narrative history of the Third Reich. As an audio-book, the narrator is generally pretty good - I have no problems listening to his narration and I have found the first two volumes (yet to listen to the third) excellent.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Gets very bogged down in the details

The first book is worth listening to, especially if you've already read Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." It gives a different view that Shirer's--more detailes in some forms, less detailed in others.

This book ("The Third Reich in Power") is terminally boring, especially in the middle two sections. Listening to hour after hour of the administrative pettiness of the Nazis may be very interesting to a sociologist, but the vast majority of history buffs can probably skip it. The fourth part, getting into the foreign policy during the 30s, finally gets interesting again.


Also, as has been said before, the reader is simply AWFUL. It sounds as if this is the first time he's seen the material, he inserts random pauses, mispronunciations, etc. Just awful.

Still looking forward to the third book.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

1) Reading is terrible. Especially when you first start it is painful to listen to.
2) Parts of the book are quite good. I actually got very renengaged in the book at the end to the point of thinking about downloading the next volume, however, the middle of the book is awful. You can zone out for hours and feel like you have missed nothing. Its just endless dribble unless you want to hear about the particular effect of the Nazi's on a host of individuals.
3) find the author to be very arrogant. In the beginning of the book he talks (for over an hour) on his goals for the book. I find it amazing that he is so critical of Shirer's book, who has the advantage of actually having lived through the period. In addition, he dismisses evneets/controversies that are in almost every book on the period i have read. For instance he dismisses Hitler's relationship with his cousin as that a lot has been said and written about it but that there is no evidence they ever had a relationship, without quoting ANY evidence or reason for his opinion. He does this for several other issues as well. If you are going to be critical of others, at least give some data for why you feel that way. Then on top of that he argues that he is not here to be judgemental of the nazi regime. Hello? Every sentence is essentially a judgement.
Overall a very poor experience.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Good Introduction

Evan's Third Reich Trilogy is essentially a primer for the uninformed, as he himself admits in the prologue to The Coming of the Third Reich. The series is a topical birds-eye view, addressing various aspects of life, politics, and culture under the Third Reich. This is both the book's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Those interested in narrative history will probably find Evan's approach of jumping from topic to topic frustrating (although the same approach would serve him well in his later survey of 19th-century European history for Penguin). Those that have proceeded beyond the Third Reich trilogy to reading Kershaw, Wachsmann, Longerich, etc. will likewise find the generalizations somewhat frustrating, although this had more to do with the nature of historical surveys than any deliberate mischaracterizations on Evan's part. Simple put, if you want an introduction to life in and under the Third Reich, look no further. If you're already familiar with the topic, you probably won't learn anything new, except perhaps from Evan's fascination with jokes and humour in the Third Reich, which is as insightful as it is delightful.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Leaves me wanting for more

As with the first of this series I found the information to be quite interesting. I have since read Storm of war and No Simple Victory to supplement my knowledge.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

How can it happen?

I selected this book because of being curious how the Nazi's gained power and how such insanity took over. I was not disappointed. This is the first of a trilogy about Nazi Germany written by an English history professor. It's fairly new (2004) and examines many aspects of German politics, society, art, education, science leading up to and post World War I. I knew that the WWI defeat of Germany and the subsequent treatment, followed by the Great Depression were part of what enabled Hitler and his Nazi party to take over. However, Evans also covers general apathy, and how nobody thought this uneducated, unrefined man could take over. Also, others simply went along to avoid being beaten and tortured during the oncoming reign of terror. I immediately got the 2nd volume, and I'm sure the 3rd will follow after that. Very textured book - I kept stopping and looking up various people who were described or quoted.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Peace Through Joy

Peace Through Joy and Other Nazi Propaganda Schemes Exposed

I am grateful to Richard J. Evans for this history. His matter of fact narrative somehow makes this subject come alive. One of the most intriguing aspects of Nazi Germany was how they managed to quell the resistance of the German people. They did it by ruthless totalitarian intimidation. It is a study in human depravity and weakness to stand against injustice. Be careful when reading this for you will begin to see Nazis everywhere when you realize that our government is resorting to many of the same propaganda measures the Nazis used. Hitler artificially reported the unemployment numbers by removing the jobs lost from the reporting; our government foes the same thing. And then there is Hitler’s fanatical hatred of the Jews. Here Evans does the best job at explaining this that I have read. Antisemitism had long been a part of European culture, but it was not officially sanctioned. When Hitler institutionalized and authorized hatred of Jewish people he allowed this evil to have free reign and it quickly became a widespread no holds barred cultural obsession not just a series of disjointed acts of closet racial prejudice. It is shameful to realize that members of the human race can actively act in this genocidal manner. It is also shameful to see the Western leaders fail time and time again to act when at many points they could have stopped this reign of terror from ever being launched.

This is one of the most fascinating periods of human history: one, because it did not happen so very long ago that we cannot relate to the world situation; two, because the characters on opposing sides, such as Hitler and Goering, Stalin and Churchill, are so dominant in their own spheres if influence to seem super human caricatures or comic book villains and heroes; and three, because WWII altered the world in which we live so profoundly that we must delve into the causes of this upheaval. I have read and listened to many volumes of lore on the Second World War and find that I still learn something new in every section of this book by Evans. I have recently listened to THE STORM OF WAR by Andrew Roberts, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH by William L. Shirer. This book covers the topic from an entirely different, and more insightful, angle.

Sean Pratt again does a great job at reading giving clear pronunciation throughout. His voice is pleasant and never becomes a distraction.

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