Blitzed

Drugs in the Third Reich

De: Norman Ohler, Shaun Whiteside - translator, Claire Bloom - director

Narrado por: Stefan Rudnicki

The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs. On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers. In fact, troops regularly took rations of a form of crystal meth - the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to explain certain German military victories.

Drugs seeped all the way up to the Nazi high command and, especially, to Hitler himself. Over the course of the war, Hitler became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs - including a form of heroin - administered by his personal doctor. While drugs alone cannot explain the Nazis' toxic racial theories or the events of World War II, Ohler's investigation makes an overwhelming case that, if drugs are not taken into account, our understanding of the Third Reich is fundamentally incomplete. Carefully researched and rivetingly listenable, Blitzed throws surprising light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows.

©2017 Norman Ohler (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Just Wow!

I have read tons of books regarding the Third Reich, but this one just blew me away. Other books have alluded to the use of drugs, but this book gave such details, that so much of what I had read before makes so much more sense. I knew that drugs were prevalent, but the specifics listed gave me a much clearer picture of how things were able to proceed with such superhuman (aka drug-induced) speed. The rise and fall can both be attributed to these drugs, and show how something that they thought was a good thing eventually brought them to their knees.

Story and narrator seamlessly create a great listen.

Both the story and the choice in narrator help to create a vivid description of drug use in WW2. Would definitely recommend anyone listen to this if you want to more about the drug use of wartime.

Fascinating and engrossing story

Well written and extremely informative. I would recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in WW2. Sheds a new light on the false prowess of the Nazi machine.

Very informative

Solid book, lots of info I never heard of before, paired with a retelling of the career of Hitler's personal physician who enabled his daily drug habit. Good stuff, quick read.

A Fascinating, Well-Researched History

Being an area of history too overlooked and under-researched, Norman Ohler does not disappoint in this breakdown of both the use of drugs in Hitler's Germany; from the downfall of Hitler himself, to the strung-out neuroses of his army.

Stefan Rudnicki does a very fine job narrating.

Exposing an Overlooked Factor

If you are interested in WWII, Nazi Germany, and how a fascist regime may come to power and become normalized by a population, Blitzed is a must read. Certain drugs and exorbitant dopamine's effect on the brains of an entire population in a time of such resentment was a cornerstone to the foundation of Nazi Germany, yet is a topic seldom mentioned when most are reflecting on this period of time.

Blitzed is well suited to the audiobook format. One may listen to it in its entirety throughout one or two sittings, whilst somebody listening to only a chapter at a time will still have a solid experience.

Read and enjoy!

interesting

I learned a lot, was full of good information. I read some people thought it was too much about Hitler himself but I found that part very interesting. paints a very clear picture of the medicated mind frame of germany as a whole during the 30s and 40s.

Very nicely done

Not an overly emotional account. We already have a lot of those. Author succeeded in his quest to provide credible update of newly available info. He does so tastefully, in an informed manner as one expects from a novelist.

Excellent book!

Relay shows hidden atrocities of big pharmaceutical and the evil dictator all rolled into one! Excellent reader as well.

Awesome Book! Needs to be a Movie!

This was a great book! I really enjoyed it a lot. We never had the satisfaction of seeing Hitler hang for his crimes, but from what this book says, he got what he deserved. Great read! Needs to be a movie, like a dark comedy.