Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
I would say, "Must read" for all Americans (maybe everyone), but it would be hollow words, since only a few will read it (hopefully the people who need to). It's a difficult book. For one thing, it's 1,200 pages, and there is a lot of minutiae, and the footnotes are aggravating. Chapter 27, "The New Order", is gut-wrenching, probably like a visit to a holocaust museum (which I've never been brave enough to do). On the other hand, if 1,200 pages doesn't scare you, and you are really interested in how one person can take over a (mostly) democratic country and drive it (and much of the entire world) straight to hell, this is the book for you. On the other hand, this book is intensely impersonal. I realized this when, by coincidence, I listened to a holocaust survivor story on The Moth the day after I finished this book. So if you're interested in how Nazi horror felt to those affected (or how ordinary Germans felt about it), this is not the book for you, but there are many historical fiction books and films to fill that need (and at least one The Moth story teller).
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
I will agree with another review that I read that the first half of the book moves fairly slow but once you get past the first half it picks up quite a bit and it's very interesting. This is about the time WWII starts in earnest.
My biggest irritation with the book was there were times when the author seem to be a opinionizing or editorializing the character people. Don't get me wrong what the Nazi did was evil. There were times when he would say things like such and such great were thugs or something like that. I would prefer him to clarify what he meant by that, like they were criminals or illiterate farmers or whatever he meant by thugs. At one point he describes Goebbels as stupid and witty and talented all in one sentence. The stupid reference again seemed like an opinion of how he felt about Goebbels instead of a fact. Since Goebbels was not stupid.
At times the book seemed a little muddy in organization. When I was expecting something to be chronological he would jump back-and-forth and I can't hold dates very well in my mind so could be confusing. I think that was mostly because of the overwhelming number of facts and details didn't really support jumping back-and-forth.
My biggest irritation with the book was there were times when the author seem to be a opinionizing or editorializing the character people. Don't get me wrong what the Nazi did was evil. There were times when he would say things like such and such great were thugs or something like that. I would prefer him to clarify what he meant by that, like they were criminals or illiterate farmers or whatever he meant by thugs. At one point he describes Goebbels as stupid and witty and talented all in one sentence. The stupid reference again seemed like an opinion of how he felt about Goebbels instead of a fact. Since Goebbels was not stupid.
At times the book seemed a little muddy in organization. When I was expecting something to be chronological he would jump back-and-forth and I can't hold dates very well in my mind so could be confusing. I think that was mostly because of the overwhelming number of facts and details didn't really support jumping back-and-forth.
dark
informative
slow-paced
It took a while to finish, but I did it. I started this book because I thought it would be interesting to see how the US could turn out if the cult of one were to take over again. And in the course of my reading, they won another election. Suddenly this book became a terrifying road map of how desperately close we are to reliving this kind of horror.
slow-paced
5 weeks it took to get through this monumental work. This is one of the most important works of the 20th century about the defining years of that century. My mind is filled with many different emotions and I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster of evil. Some viewpoints are outdated after 75 years but this story is one everybody should now about. Glad I finally decided to take it off the shelf.
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced