Hitler by Ian Kershaw
$7.99
Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 44 hrs and 7 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
Publisher's Summary
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 and 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 Ian Kershaw (P)2015 Audible, Ltd
Jill Brown
Splendid, sobering, scholarly account
This is an abridged version of Ian Kershaw’s scholarly biographies of Hitler and so contains faultless research and analysis. It is complete and comprehensive in its telling of Hitler’s upbringing and youth, his experiences in the First World War and his astonishing rise to power. Kershaw’s writing is disciplined and contained, but the shock of what he reveals is horrifying. Compelling, disturbing and revealing. It will change your world view.
7 people found this helpful
Tom
How To Conquer Europe and Alienate People
Would you consider the audio edition of Hitler to be better than the print version?
A printed version of book such as this would undoubtedly be accompanied by photos, maps etc that provide a visual element to the story. Having said that, it’s easy enough to Google such an image if desire as it’s not like his story is small.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Hitler?
Certainly the end. It was well written and well read. It was also very enthralling listening to plans and thoughts being fleshed out with the beauty of hindsight on my side.
Have you listened to any of Damian Lynch’s other performances? How does this one compare?
I don’t think I have.
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Hitler: Putting the Man in Maniac.
Any additional comments?
Overall, this was quite an enthralling book. The level of detail is extraordinary however could possibly be culled a fraction (a scary thought when the author admit he already culled 100000 words before publication). I also found I got lost as to when in time we were during the early years. But I’ve come out the other side with what I feel is a pretty intimate idea of who the man was and how on earth he convince a country to go to war.
5 people found this helpful