The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

A History of Nazi Germany

By: William L. Shirer

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 57 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the twentieth century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.

Now, years after the end of World War II, it may seem incredible that our most valued institutions, and way of life, were threatened by the menace that Hitler and the Third Reich represented. Shirer’s description of events and the cast of characters who played such pivotal roles in defining the course Europe was to take is unforgettable.

Benefiting from his many years as a reporter, and thus a personal observer of the rise of Nazi Germany, and availing himself of some of the 485 tons of documents from the German Foreign Office, as well as countless other diaries, phone transcriptions, and other written records meticulously kept at every level by the Germans, Shirer has put together a brutally objective account of how Hitler wrested political control of Germany, and planned and executed his six-year quest to dominate the world, only to see Germany go down in flames.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a vast, richly rewarding experience for anyone who wants to come to grips with the mysterious question of how this menace to civilization ever came into being, much less was sustained for as long as it was. The answer, unfortunately, is that most of Germany, for a whole host of reasons, embraced Nazism and the fanaticism that Hitler engendered.

©1990 William L. Shirer (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“One of the most important works of history of our time.” ( The New York Times)

”A splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

Superb work. A classic of historical non-fiction

Shirer has the benefit of actually being present to witness the rise and fall of the Third Reich. His narrative voice held my interest throughout this relatively long book. Grover Gardner is one of the best narrators I have heard. His work here and on Shelby Foote's series on the Civil War is outstanding

My eyes are open

The saying "those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it" is accurate. I bought this title on sale with the thought that it would be good medicine to innoculate me against blindly following a dictatorial program and be swept up into madness. This book has done it's work. So many good people could have stopped Hitler and the Nazi's - but they waited until it was too late. The result was the descimation and destruction of many innocent human lives. The content is fascinating. The narrator is excellent. The audiobook is a masterpiece.

Excellent information.

Would you listen to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich again? Why?

I will listen to again.

What did you like best about this story?

More info than I ever knew

Any additional comments?

I thought I knew a lot about WW2 Nazi Germany. I didnt know as much as I thought. This is one of the best reference books on the subject.

Simply phenomenal

Simply phenomenal.
Took a long time due to its size, but ultimately a superb account of history told in a rivetting fashion.
Recommend listening at 1.35 speed.

One of the greatest books written on WWII

I thought that I knew about WWII. This book showed me how wrong I was. I was extremely impressed with the author's inclusion of his personal experiences and how he wove them into the more general happenings during the period. I was pleased with the extent of the details provided. The author was able to present all this information without the book becoming boring.

Now on to the narrator. A very pleasing voice. Excellent pronunciation of many foreign words and titles. He is able to include emotional content and not drone on like a robot. one of the best that I have had the pleasure of listening to.

I must end by saying that this is overall the best book I have yet to come across. A real treasure.

I... I love it

I fully understand why this is considered to be THE definitive book on Nazi German. Despite being published over 80 years ago, the information provided remains almost universally accepted.

However, this is also, by far, the biggest issue with this book. Trying to fact-check anything can feel impossible. You can find a dozen articles that corroborate something in this book, but a closer look at the citations will reveal that every writer pulled their information almost exclusively 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.

To provide a small example, there was an event known as the Blomberg-Fritch affair (used to seize military control) where both the War Minister (Blomberg) and Commander in Chief (Fritch) just so happened to fall from power due to unrelated sex scandals. At the same time. Coincidentally. Shirer not only shows that the charge against Fritch (homosexuality) was false, but retraces the accusation to its source and explains how the Nazi Leadership added their own fabricated evidence to consolidate their own power.

His explanation of Blomberg, however, feels somewhat... off. Blomberg married a woman named Erna Gruhn after checking with the top Nazis if she was an acceptable bride. Right after the marriage, the Nazi leadership suddenly and unexpectedly found a criminal file on Gruhn that revealed she was a sordid prostitute, posed for nude photos, etc. This, Shirer takes completely at face value (with some necessary pearl-clutching, of course).

I originally planned to point out this inconsistency as a reminder that Shirer was a middle aged man who wrote this book in the late '50s and sometimes brought in some unconscious biases. The problem, however, is that almost every mention of Erna Gruhn I found repeated the exact same story. When I looked at the sources used, they almost always had either this book listed, or some book written more recently... which used this book as a main source (I do remember listening to a book called 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳 which was 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 more skeptical about the credibility of the file that the Nazis "found").

Ultimately, I don't know what happened. I can't tell whether there's a genuine historical consensus about Erna Gruhn's past or a lot of writers simply repeating what Shirer reported. And that's frustrating.

I don't think that the above frustration devalues this book. To the contrary, recognizing where something you hear might have its roots can be very useful. It's also not the books fault, as it'd be ludicrous to expect an >300,000 word book written 80 years ago to be precisely right about every single detail.

Anyway, I really love this book. In an era where Hitler and the Nazis have become abstract concepts, it's oddly delightful to hear an account from somebody who just genuinely, personally, despised them. It was incredibly funny when the book, which had a professional tone and a level of scholarly detachment, would make a casual offhand remark that was actually an incredibly petty insult (Hitler had no artistic talent and his paintings sucked, Ribbentrop only held such a high position because he was way too stupid to ever threaten Hitler's power, Himmler had no fashion sense and his clothes were so gaudy they were physically revolting, all good stuff). Shirer managed to mock the Nazis for the little things without ever detracting from the atrocities they committed.

Awesome

What made the experience of listening to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich the most enjoyable?

Hard to call the history of Hitler Awesome but this is the delivers so much information to the manipulation and happenstance of Hitler. The story is relative to current politics, local and world.

Sad and depressing but also bitterly relevant.

Very long and detailed first person account of the fascists and sociopaths who tried to change the world into what it has become today. Some of Hitler's speeches have shown up very recently in political arena and it's very clear to me now why MAGA people think the way they do...

Educational, Shocking, Fantastic

For those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Incredible, tedious, factual account of every detail of one of the darkest times in history.

Horrifying history

This book is an incredible telling of what is probably the most horrifying period in human history. It is a story whose gruesome details make it hard to listen to, but one that must be heard to appreciate the incredible evil that once existed, but even worse, was tolerated by so many. Excellent writing by William L. Shirer, and terrific narration by Grover Gardner. It’s books like this that make Audible worth every penny!