You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
2.98 AVERAGE
2.98 AVERAGE
Would've given two starts but gave an extra for the amount of research that went into it. Agree with previous reviewer that the book reads more as a history of Hitler's pals than of his girlfriend.
I had hoped to learn more of Eva Braun by reading this biography. Granting that I did learn more of her life than what I knew prior to reading this book, which was limited to the fact that she died with Hitler, I learned little else. Sadly, primary sources seem to be lacking and what can be learned from her contemporaries is colored by their desire to distance themselves from the atrocities committed by Hitler and his followers. Most of the book is spent talking about other members of the "inner circle" than about Eva. It seems there can be no insight into why a young woman, twenty-three years younger than Hitler, would choose to tie her fate to his. I guess I will continue to wonder...
slow-paced
It’s really note about her, I don’t know if this is because of the sources aren’t available or if she was just dull
I did not enjoy the way in which this book was written at all. It was essentially a stream of consciousness with no clear direction. It went off on so many tangents that I doubt that the actual subject of the book, Eva Braun, took up more than about 15% of the entire book.
German historian Heike B. Görtemaker faced a difficult task writing Eva Braun: Life with Hitler . There is little available by which to evaluate Braun. Any correspondence she had with Hitler has been destroyed or disappeared. The only extant diary consists of 10 entries in the first half of 1935. There are few contemporary descriptions of her. As a result, Görtemaker tries to piece together a picture of Braun through others.
Although Görtemaker relies on and cites a wealth of sources, some of her "primary" ones come from acquaintances such as Albert Speer or Herman Göring's wife, Emmy. Their comments come from statements given Allied forces after the war or post-war memoirs. In many cases, though, she discounts these sources as being influenced by efforts to distance the individuals from Hitler and his regime. This leads Görtemaker to explore the story of Hitler and to look at the lives of a variety of people near or around him during the same periods Braun was.
While that is an ingenious approach, it doesn't really produce the intended result. The reader spends as much or more time reading about others and what they thought than about Braun. Ultimately, whatever conclusions the reader or Görtemaker might draw as to Braun's views, ideas and the like can't rise above the level of speculation. Although it may be predicated on decent analysis, it is still speculation. In the end, we don't really learn much about Braun and her life with Hitler.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
Although Görtemaker relies on and cites a wealth of sources, some of her "primary" ones come from acquaintances such as Albert Speer or Herman Göring's wife, Emmy. Their comments come from statements given Allied forces after the war or post-war memoirs. In many cases, though, she discounts these sources as being influenced by efforts to distance the individuals from Hitler and his regime. This leads Görtemaker to explore the story of Hitler and to look at the lives of a variety of people near or around him during the same periods Braun was.
While that is an ingenious approach, it doesn't really produce the intended result. The reader spends as much or more time reading about others and what they thought than about Braun. Ultimately, whatever conclusions the reader or Görtemaker might draw as to Braun's views, ideas and the like can't rise above the level of speculation. Although it may be predicated on decent analysis, it is still speculation. In the end, we don't really learn much about Braun and her life with Hitler.
(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie.)
Heike B. Gortemaker prefaces her book by stating that there is little surviving authenticated evidence about Eva Braun, who she was, or her true relationship with Adolf Hitler.
Knowing this, why Gortemaker chose to name the book after a character who is mentioned less than a quarter of the total length of text is surprising. The book is very well researched and there is no denying the historian is familiar with everyone surrounding her stated subject. Sadly, in the area of Braun, the book is lacking.
For me, the disappointment of the book lies not only in the misleading title, but in Gortemaker's almost juvenile glee in proving every previous biographer (and indeed, every person who KNEW Eva Braun) wrong about what they THOUGHT they knew about Evan Braun. At times I almost believed that Gortemaker could state that Hitler was really a black man from Chile, and I would almost be convinced to believe her since everyone before her has, in her estimation and backed by over one hundred pages of references, been a walking record of lies.
There was a wonderful outline to the book and the flow and language with which it was translated was very good. I would have awarded the book with more stars if I had really learned more about Eva Braun than wikipedia could probably tell me.
Knowing this, why Gortemaker chose to name the book after a character who is mentioned less than a quarter of the total length of text is surprising. The book is very well researched and there is no denying the historian is familiar with everyone surrounding her stated subject. Sadly, in the area of Braun, the book is lacking.
For me, the disappointment of the book lies not only in the misleading title, but in Gortemaker's almost juvenile glee in proving every previous biographer (and indeed, every person who KNEW Eva Braun) wrong about what they THOUGHT they knew about Evan Braun. At times I almost believed that Gortemaker could state that Hitler was really a black man from Chile, and I would almost be convinced to believe her since everyone before her has, in her estimation and backed by over one hundred pages of references, been a walking record of lies.
There was a wonderful outline to the book and the flow and language with which it was translated was very good. I would have awarded the book with more stars if I had really learned more about Eva Braun than wikipedia could probably tell me.
The point I think this scholar is trying to make is that following the epic failure of Hitler, members of his inner circle out right lied to their interrogators about what they knew, when they knew it, and who else also knew it. This is not a history book or biography that offers insight but rather a very well researched look at how those interrogations have been repeated as fact - things like Hitler never discussed politics when women were present - but are in fact outright lies based on quoted correspondence and other sources the author cites. I think this work is intended to debunk myth and misinformation that has come from people trying to save themselves from execution or imprisonment. Eva Braun is the focus of the work since her very relationship with Hitler and their marriage have been the subject of much misinformation and myth making, interesting and informative but scholarly and dense with quotes and citations. Goodreads needs to develop a rating system for half stars.
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
The information is communicated well, but there is a lot of it. This is not the most objective and factual book out there, considering there is so little concrete information. At times it feels a bit speculative, but it also seems like that is difficult to avoid when talking about Eva Braun.