Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
Very thorough, yet well written. This is still impactful 60 years later for a reason.
It's a big one but the most exhaustive nazi history book I have ever read. You might as well have read through the Nuremberg files.
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Andre gong eg høyrer denne som ljodbok, og den er altså berre heilt sjukt god.
Started reading this massive tome after Trump got elected – and now that two far-right parties are joining the government in the Netherlands, it felt like an opportune moment to finish this. A truly riveting read.
Incredibly comprehensive history.
In intro and towards the end, Shirer makes an argument trying to connect Nazi Germany to the history of the German people - I can't remember the full argument but it was based in opinion and not well supported.
The discussion of queer people uses derogatory language common in the time and an argument is made that some Nazis were evil and it wasn't surprising because they were sexual deviants (gay). It can be a little jarring and clearly not appropriate, but it's true to the author's prejudices and common-place bigotry of the day.
In intro and towards the end, Shirer makes an argument trying to connect Nazi Germany to the history of the German people - I can't remember the full argument but it was based in opinion and not well supported.
The discussion of queer people uses derogatory language common in the time and an argument is made that some Nazis were evil and it wasn't surprising because they were sexual deviants (gay). It can be a little jarring and clearly not appropriate, but it's true to the author's prejudices and common-place bigotry of the day.
challenging
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
For a sprawling, comprehensive history of Nazi Germany, this is the gold standard. You really get a sense of the country's descent into madness, and a compelling case for how the rest of Europe sleepwalked its way into World War II by refusing to confront the reality of what was happening. It also really communicates the sheer scale of the destruction and horror of the war. Chamberlain the appeaser comes off very bad, of course. The book really undercuts the whole lazy "but at least the USSR fought on the right side of WWII" narrative.
Oddly, for a book that is so damn long, I actually felt like there were big parts that were under-explained. This is much more of a play-by-play account of what happened, and a lot of the analysis is rather thin. I didn't end up feeling like I every really got a satisfying explanation of why Germany in particular fell into Hitler's death cult or genocidal antisemitism, for instance. There were also odd gaps in the narrative -- we first hear anything about Japan only after Germany has already entered into an alliance with them, for instance. I could have gone for more of that and less of the excruciatingly detailed account of every failed Germany attempt to overthrow or assassinate Hitler.
Minor point, but the book is also an interesting view into the social assumptions of a very different age. Shirer blames a lot of Nazi sadism on the presence of gay people within the party's ranks. This passage was the most ridiculous, but they're peppered throughout: "The brown-shirted SA never became more than a motley mob of brawlers. Many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, were notorious homosexual sexual perverts. The man who led the Munich SA was not only a homosexual, but a convicted murderer. These two, and dozens of others, quarreled and feuded as only men of unnatural sexual inclinations, with their peculiar jealousies, can."
Oddly, for a book that is so damn long, I actually felt like there were big parts that were under-explained. This is much more of a play-by-play account of what happened, and a lot of the analysis is rather thin. I didn't end up feeling like I every really got a satisfying explanation of why Germany in particular fell into Hitler's death cult or genocidal antisemitism, for instance. There were also odd gaps in the narrative -- we first hear anything about Japan only after Germany has already entered into an alliance with them, for instance. I could have gone for more of that and less of the excruciatingly detailed account of every failed Germany attempt to overthrow or assassinate Hitler.
Minor point, but the book is also an interesting view into the social assumptions of a very different age. Shirer blames a lot of Nazi sadism on the presence of gay people within the party's ranks. This passage was the most ridiculous, but they're peppered throughout: "The brown-shirted SA never became more than a motley mob of brawlers. Many of its top leaders, beginning with its chief, were notorious homosexual sexual perverts. The man who led the Munich SA was not only a homosexual, but a convicted murderer. These two, and dozens of others, quarreled and feuded as only men of unnatural sexual inclinations, with their peculiar jealousies, can."
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Can be a really tough read at times. But it’s incredible insight into the mindset, the process, and the failure. You can’t help but celebrate the downfall, something to look forward to in an otherwise cruel setting.