The Coming of the Third Reich

By: Richard J. Evans

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

There is no story in 20th-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evans’s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historian’s art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged.

©2005 Richard J. Evans (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"[A]n impressive achievement.... [Evans'] opus will be one of the major historical works of our time." ( The Atlantic)

An Exceptional Book

Without excess commentary or moralizing or hindsight judgement, Richard Evans relentlessly describes the descent of Germany into chaos and anarchy and the rise of Hitler and his political movement. He takes time along the way to understand each of the major players who through assertion of will or neglect of responsibility allowed the Third Reich to rise and take control of Germany.

The narration is straightforward, clear and interesting. The prose is so well timed and so accurately paced that the style deserves it own accolades. The content is flawless as well, describing the political and economic realities that crushed Germany and made it ripe soil for a tyrannical government.

Like any good work of history, it attempts to simply understand. And this is a great work of history. I'm reading the rest of the series, I can tell you that!

Fascinating and sobering

For me, this book walked that fine line between scholarly and popular efforts. Just the right mix of details and higher level impressions. And I found the conclusions that th author drew were not too biased towards one political view or another. So many books on this period have such a strong foundation in a given ideology that they are annoying to a a moderate like myself. I learned a lot about this important time in history that I didn't know and that will always be relevant - how a minority fringe party was able to openly seize power. How extremism becomes mainstream. I was riveted throughout and found myself sitting in my parking lot at home or driveway at home listening to "just 5 more minutes" But, I did find it intellectually draining to absorb, constantly trying to relate what was being said to my existing knowledge, other historical events, and to current affairs. So I'm going to listen to some lighter books before I return for the second volume.

Good history book... but it's a history book...

This is a great book on the history of how fascism came to power in German, but at the same time it is a history book. It goes into a lot of minutia, so if you want an exciting read or something with more of a narrative than a report of facts and a timeline, then this isn't the book for you.

Fascinating History, questionable narration

I have gone through a few books about this period recently. Exploring the period running up to a disaster is at least as important as studying the disaster. This is an effective study of the period from before the First World War up until the Nazi assumpton of power. I'm no historian but it seems pretty thorough and even handed in its approach and I certainly learned plenty.

The narration is not dreadful but there are definitely faults. I accept that sometimes pronunciation is a personal thing but there are words where the guy not only can't pronounce them but appears not to understand what they mean. "Bowdlerised" is the one that sticks in my mind. Maybe its excusable but in a text that uses the word several times you would expect him to look it up so that he doesn't sound confused every time he says it.

If you are at all interested in this period of history then I would highly recommend this book.

Making Germany Great Again: The Stated Nazi Slogan

The most authoritative book documenting a charismatic leader with fierce egotism bent on achieving political and economic power Nihilism at his core. Manipulation of the mass media with a populist message of restoring an often imaginary past with emphasis on racial values as opposed to civic values. Surrounded by a small group of sycophants, crackpots and thugs who enable and gratify his every whim and caprice. Use of the institutions of a democracy to try to destroy democracy in the pursuit and maintenance of power although his party never obtained more than 44% of the popular vote in a free election. Mass spectacles and ranting speeches were a staple of his campaign and early years in office as well as intimidation and elimination of even the ones closest to him. He frequently visited his retreats to plot policy and invite foreign leaders there to flatter or intimidate them. He was a teetotaler but became intoxicated on his own power and perceived magnificence. Certainly, this can never happen again in a democracy because we have learned our lesson, or have we? At least this first in a series of books by Richard J. Evans teaches us the lesson. I have bought the others on the strength of this book.

Excellent narrative history

Covers the decline of the Wiemar Republic very well, especially as regards the rise of the NAZI movement. It is a little weaker on the short period of stability Wiemar achieved during the middle of the 20s and it is not as heavy on the political leadership in the early years of the republic as in Shirer's classic work, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and several others. But this is well covered in other general histories of the period. In addition, you get a better feel for the milieu of the 20s with this text. The best political coverage centers upon government decisions toward the end of Wiemar; as with Hindenburg's and von Papen's decisions and actions to name Hitler Chancellor. This shortfall is more than made up for by the inclusion of the economic setting of Wiemar and by a greater inclusion of the cultural and social developments. A great deal has been accomplished in many monologues by historians on the social and cultural material of this period and it was time to see it in a broader, well-written general history of the period between the end of the First World War and the collapse of the First German Republic.

The writing is clear and direct, and the author's selection of specific individuals when wishing to stress a point is done excellently. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a broad study of this period. I have not yet listened to the second and third parts of Evans' history on the Third Reich, but I am looking forward to the remaining two volumes.

Looking forward to the next book

I wasn't sure I would listen to this entire book, but I found it very interesting and look forward to the next volume.

Interesting understandable!

This book is ideal for anyone who wants an in-depth but non-academic understanding of the reasons for the development of Hitler's Germany. It is relatively balanced, however it is let down by some fairly small issues. The wish to use English equivalents for German expressions that have come into the vernacular is just stupid! Translating the title of Hitler's famous book for example is weird! Anyway once you get past this, it's pretty good. It's certainly good enough for me to want to read the rest of the series.

Very informative, definitely woth the listen

Reviews are right about the narrator, it probably could have been a 15 hr listen instead of 21 without the pauses lol but after you listen for a while you kind of get used to it. It didnt detract too badly overall given the decently written wealth of information the book contains, I definitely recommend reading it as well as the other 2 volumes in the series

Meticulous

Long and full of details regarding election results, seats in the Reichstag, etc. BUT gives a comprehensive explanation of the Coming of the Third Reich that is eerily paralleled to today's political climate.