Hitler's People

The Faces of the Third Reich

De: Richard J. Evans

Narrado por: Leighton Pugh

Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews and Air Mail

“A fascinating and instructive book . . . elegantly written and perceptive.” —Wall Street Journal

“Kaleidoscopic . . . A fascinating exploration of individual agency that never loses sight of the larger context . . . Just the kind of probing, nuanced and unsparing study to help us think things through.” —The New York Times

Through a connected set of biographical portraits of key Nazi figures that follows power as it radiated from Hitler to the inner and outer circles of the regime’s leadership, one of our greatest historians answers the enduring question: How does a society come to carry out a program of unspeakable evil?

Richard J. Evans, author of the acclaimed Third Reich trilogy and more than a dozen other volumes on modern Europe, is our preeminent scholar of Nazi Ger­many. Having spent half a century searching for the truths behind one of the most horrifying episodes in human history, in Hitler’s People he brings us back to the original site of the Nazi movement—namely, the lives of its most important and representative members.

Working in concentric circles out from Hitler and his closest allies, Hitler’s People forms a typological framework of German society under Nazi rule from the top down. With a novelist’s eye for detail, Evans explains the Third Reich through the personal characteristics and professional ambitions of its members, from its most notorious deputies—such as Goebbels, the regime’s propagandist, and Himmler, the Holocaust’s chief architect—to the crucial enforcers and instruments of the Nazi agenda that history has largely forgotten, such as the schoolteacher Julius Streicher or the actress and film director Leni Riefenstahl. Drawing on a wealth of recently unearthed historical sources, Hitler’s People lays bare the characters whose choices caused the deaths of millions.

Nearly a century after Hitler’s rise, the leading nations of the west are once again being torn apart by an untamed will to power. By telling the stories of these infamous individuals as human lives, Evans asks us to grapple with the compli­cated nature of agency and complicity, showing us that the distinctions between individual and collective responsibility—and even between pathological evil and rational choice—are never easily drawn.

Excellent presentation.

A bit of a slow beginning, but if you stay with it, you will be most pleased. Best scholarly piece on the subject I have ever experienced. Well done!!

Good overall review of the major players in the Nazi regime

First of all I perceived this book as a collection of separate essays on the Nazi players. Each chapter is not connected to any of the other chapters. It also doesn’t bring much new material into the background of these major Nazi members. Where I found the most interest was in the minor Nazis that were presented in the last few chapters. These chapters were not only well written but also added incite to the mind of more everyday people that were sucked into the Nazi culture. Worth the listen.

An Interesting and Insightful Approach

I really found this book offering new perspectives on the HOW did Naziism take root and survive for its 12 year dictatorship. I knew many of those whose lives were summarized in this book but even for those, Evans added additional perspective. And of course some were new to me. For anyone that views the terrors of Nazi Germany as perhaps an historical echo we are currently at risk of repeating, this book will be of interest. The rise of authoritarian governments around the world seems so at odds from the optimism at the turn of this century and Evans helps illuminate our world, as any great historian can. I highly recommend this book.

that it gave a general overview of each person

I wish it went deeper into the crimes of the people who were guilty of murder.

Great book. Feels a bit like a text book at times

Love the author and the writing style but the story by nature of the way it’s organized can feel a little like a textbook with a lack of coherence. Still a very very worthy read.