Hitler

A Biography

De: Ian Kershaw

Narrado por: Alan Robertson

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.

Pronunciation of German names very bad

Overall, the book is breathtakingly chilling and hard to put down. Fascinating details about this satanic character. The reading is excellent, except for the pronunciation of German names. Even I, whose native tongue is German , had often a hard time understanding what was being referred to.

Excellent book

Well narrated, good content! Actually, it seems to be the best Hitler's biography available. Worthy!

Hitler - A bohemian path to power, in insane times, the insane can win out

Kershaw is a meticulous historian. His level of research is stunning- although not produced in this volume but in his two volume biography of Hitler. He has an ease with detail which he uses to support his overall thesis- which is that Hitler a poorly educated bohemian dilettante was able to grasp what large segments of the German people wanted and deliver it to them. Kershaw does not esculpate the German people and proves that Hitler enjoyed significant support for his virulent plan for National Salvation. While the German people didn’t want to know the details of Hitler’s plans, they approved of his government, as long as it succeeded, and essentially were happy not to know the details.

A rise and fall like no other in modern times

This narrative was astonishing in its scope and detail, like no other devolvement into the character and motivation of Germany’s leader, or Fuhrer, during 1929 to 1945 which I have ever encountered, although the new Netflix biography, and history is done extremely well, and includes translations of Hitler’s speeches, which, when the seen beside this novel, go to show how the mass of a people can be led to believe that they can rise again, and be strong after being cut down, in their case, after the treaty of 1918, and by one totally committed, to the death (in the case of WWII, 50 millions dead), to the cause of defending his country and leading it to victory against his and, ultimately their, common enemy as he, and eventually they, defined it.

Most reviews are right

I again have heard read this history in other places by other authors. I was pleased this author quoted shirer as he is surely the authority on this period since he lived through it. I was also pleased that this author focused on the anti-Semitic genocidal practices and underpinning philosophy of these psychotic criminals and their admirers. This is why they behaved so badly as human beings - such a strange and faulty view of life - and it’s good this truth is being transmitted forward to new generations. Dull in some parts: enlivening in others this is a good listen and a fine education.