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bswitch 's review for:
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
by William L. Shirer
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" should be required reading for every adult in the western world.
I grew up in the US education system, and attended high school in the first years of the 2000's. I loved Social Studies - American history is incredibly interesting to me. Part of American history is obviously an overview of WWII. While I loved my teachers, specifically the one who taught WWII, the overview we received was fairly simple. We learned dates of events (all of which were promptly forgotten), names of the biggest actors on both sides of the conflict, explanation of the atrocities (at least generally), and just got a basic idea of what happened. We knew that Hitler was a monster. We knew he massacred millions of Jews, and other people groups. All our history was told with an American "victor's" point of view. We focused on the human interest stories (Anne Frank and the like). WWII was brought home to be that greatest challenge ever faced; that our grandparents were the greatest warriors of the last few centuries; the greatest people of a lifetime.
"Rise and Fall", I assumed, was going to be a history of the War - a rehash of what I'd already been taught in High School. Pleasantly, this was not at all the case. This book touched on human interest stories, but didn't focus on them; it told the story of the winners and losers, but did so by recounting facts instead of spinning the story unnecessarily. It humanized the Nazis and their leaders (I'll come back to this point). It brutally recounted the atrocities, and did so in grizzly detail. Very simply, though, this book was exactly what it described itself as - it told the story of the Rise and the Fall of Hitler's Germany.
Unlike my education, which focused on the start of the War, the continuance of the conflict, the conclusion and the aftermath, this book shifted the focus. It started with a brief personal history of Adolf's childhood, his youth, the events that shaped him, his political ambition, his ascension to power, his rise to ultimate power, and his eventual and psychotic downfall, concluding in his death. The "aftermath" period discussed in this book barely covered the week following Hitler's death (by which point the Reich had completely dissolved and all in power had either been killed or captured). Nuremberg and the events of the trial are mentioned throughout the book, but there is no comprehensive section at the conclusion of the book - events are discussed when it makes narrative sense to discuss them.
I mentioned that "Rise and Fall" humanized Nazis. In recent parlance, "humanize" has a more endearing quality. I don't mean to say this book makes you feel sympathy for the Nazis, their leadership or their adherents - quite the opposite. This book has more graphically recounted the crimes and actions of these people than any other medium I've encountered. (After a failed assassination attempt is uncovered, the conspirators are largely captured, stripped naked and sentenced to death by hanging. As there were no gallows in Germany - because the Axe was the common execution method - the Nazis hanged these men by nooses of piano wire suspended from the ceiling by meat hooks. My God, I'd neither heard of these methods, nor could I stomach the thought of such a brutal death.)
What I mean by "humanize" is that this book truly showed that these were human beings that carried out these actions. High School taught me "Hitler was a monster". This book described just how much of a man he was - how illness and psychosis slowly, but steadily, took their hold on this body and his actions; how he had serious doubts in his own military abilities, and how these doubts lead to some absolutely disastrous decisions which helped self-sabotage his goals; how his arrogance and ignorance and ambition all worked together to delude himself, his followers, and the people of Germany for years, and how his sheer personality was enough to command others, both with weak wills and those with strength, ambition and drive themselves, to carry out abhorrent actions against humanity.
It also showed that it was their humanity that destroyed the Nazi party in the end. Feeling betrayed by Rommel, Goring, and others; paranoid that so many others were against him; took to lying to everyone, assuming they were all lying to him. Monsters don't feel such emotions. Neither Hitler, nor anyone in the Nazi party, were monsters. That is giving them far too much credit - giving them the legendary status they so craved in life. They were simple, stupid, failures of humanity. They commanded and demanded respect, did so with the threat of imprisonment, torture and death (and so, never truly had respect but from those most deluded and brainwashed), and ultimately carried out the most horrific actions of the last many hundred years. But they were simple humans.
Bringing current politics into this review, there was lots of talk around the US election of 2016 that either Hillary or Trump were "Hitler". Both sides of the aisle so detested the other's candidate that they claimed them to be similar to this evil, sick man. When Trump won (and, in large part due to the actual political similarities of nationalism, supremism, and the emboldening of modern neo-nazis, white supremacists, racists, etc. that lauded his victory), there were many more people saying that Trump would bring about a new Nazi, or pseudo-Nazi, regime. This book, if nothing else for the modern reader, seems to put that theory to rest.
Hitler himself is portrayed, based on historical documents and personal eye-witness accounts, to have been politically a supremely motivated, driven, visionary. He knew precisely what personal goals for power he had, knew precisely what was required to achieve these goals, and had the drive, vision, and ability to act on all this. Politically, strategically, and intellectually - no matter how awful the results - he was incredibly strong, and in a league of his own. If anyone in this current time period has concerns about actions the Trump administration is taking, understand that he may be doing horrible things, but thus-far nothing has come close to the level of barbarism that the Nazi regime showed, and the man himself does not show any of the same characteristics that Hitler did. Trump stumbled into office, without any real desire for the office, vision for what he would do, or charisma to command the respect and admiration of the population. It seems clear that Trump got into the race specifically to boost ratings for himself and his TV show, that he expected it to be a short-lived campaign, but a profitable one. Now that he's won, politically he is drowning and is just trying to make as much money as possible, and to prop up his companies as much as he can while he has this added political power at the negotiating table.
I began reading "Rise and Fall" for two reasons. 1) I was interested in learning more about WWII, and 2) I was very concerned about current events, and this seemed to be an appropriate book to read given the current political climate. I'm so glad I did, because it confirmed to me that I was being hyperbolic and was overly-worried about something I didn't need (yet) to be. Understanding the inner workings of a person like Hitler is so comforting when you understand that, angry and disillusioned as Trump or politicians may be, none of these people are on the same level of calculated evil that Hitler was. Comforting is a very odd descriptor for this book, but in this odd context, that's exactly the word to describe it.
Current politics aside, this book was simply amazing. I chose to read this by audio book form. The file was 57 hours and 13 minutes long, broken up into about 7 different, smaller downloads. I chose the audio book because the book was long, and it would have taken me far longer than 60 hours to manually read it (with all the German names, places, etc., certain paragraphs would have been so dense as to make it difficult to work through). The book, for it's length and content, was surprisingly riveting! I've not yet read a history book that was as interesting as this one - and I use that word specifically. This was interesting - the writing was so well done that it kept me glued to my device, and on the edge of my seat. I learned more about WWII from this audio book simply because it made me invested in the content. They say fact is stranger than fiction - truly, this is the case in "Rise and Fall". The descriptions of certain events are of better quality than some fictional stories I've read.
This is by far the longest review I've ever written for a book, and with good reason. "Rise and Fall" is an epic work, which recounts one of the darkest periods of modern humanity. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it - I would echo that those who think they know how events happened, but don't have the full story from both sides, are likely to repeat it as well (and have a greater probability of repeating history from the other side). American students are taught that the US is the greatest nation on earth, and we often are shown WWII as an example of this. If we don't understand the motivations, actions, and consequences that the Nazis undertook; if we only tell history from the American perspective, instead of a simply factual, what actually happened, on-both-sides perspective, I fear that we will be the villains next time. The education I received by reading this book was not better, necessarily, than that which I received in school, but this helps to fill out my education. While learning about the terror Anne Frank experienced is important, and while understanding how the Allied forces overcame the Axis is critical, understanding ALL the aspects that brought the war to fruition, and those aspects and actions that brought humanity to this ultimate, terrible conclusion are even more important.
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" should be required reading for every adult. The lessons it teaches, the history it recounts, and the clarification that this was carried out, not by mythical beasts and monsters, but by evil human beings, are critical to our survival as a species. May we never have a dark time like this ever again. May we rise above petty politics, ambition without restraint, and hatred without reason. May we live like that Greatest Generation - fighting for a better future at any cost; a better future for all humanity, not just "our side". There is no master race, there is no greatest nation. We are all human beings, we all live on the Earth, we are all family.
I grew up in the US education system, and attended high school in the first years of the 2000's. I loved Social Studies - American history is incredibly interesting to me. Part of American history is obviously an overview of WWII. While I loved my teachers, specifically the one who taught WWII, the overview we received was fairly simple. We learned dates of events (all of which were promptly forgotten), names of the biggest actors on both sides of the conflict, explanation of the atrocities (at least generally), and just got a basic idea of what happened. We knew that Hitler was a monster. We knew he massacred millions of Jews, and other people groups. All our history was told with an American "victor's" point of view. We focused on the human interest stories (Anne Frank and the like). WWII was brought home to be that greatest challenge ever faced; that our grandparents were the greatest warriors of the last few centuries; the greatest people of a lifetime.
"Rise and Fall", I assumed, was going to be a history of the War - a rehash of what I'd already been taught in High School. Pleasantly, this was not at all the case. This book touched on human interest stories, but didn't focus on them; it told the story of the winners and losers, but did so by recounting facts instead of spinning the story unnecessarily. It humanized the Nazis and their leaders (I'll come back to this point). It brutally recounted the atrocities, and did so in grizzly detail. Very simply, though, this book was exactly what it described itself as - it told the story of the Rise and the Fall of Hitler's Germany.
Unlike my education, which focused on the start of the War, the continuance of the conflict, the conclusion and the aftermath, this book shifted the focus. It started with a brief personal history of Adolf's childhood, his youth, the events that shaped him, his political ambition, his ascension to power, his rise to ultimate power, and his eventual and psychotic downfall, concluding in his death. The "aftermath" period discussed in this book barely covered the week following Hitler's death (by which point the Reich had completely dissolved and all in power had either been killed or captured). Nuremberg and the events of the trial are mentioned throughout the book, but there is no comprehensive section at the conclusion of the book - events are discussed when it makes narrative sense to discuss them.
I mentioned that "Rise and Fall" humanized Nazis. In recent parlance, "humanize" has a more endearing quality. I don't mean to say this book makes you feel sympathy for the Nazis, their leadership or their adherents - quite the opposite. This book has more graphically recounted the crimes and actions of these people than any other medium I've encountered. (After a failed assassination attempt is uncovered, the conspirators are largely captured, stripped naked and sentenced to death by hanging. As there were no gallows in Germany - because the Axe was the common execution method - the Nazis hanged these men by nooses of piano wire suspended from the ceiling by meat hooks. My God, I'd neither heard of these methods, nor could I stomach the thought of such a brutal death.)
What I mean by "humanize" is that this book truly showed that these were human beings that carried out these actions. High School taught me "Hitler was a monster". This book described just how much of a man he was - how illness and psychosis slowly, but steadily, took their hold on this body and his actions; how he had serious doubts in his own military abilities, and how these doubts lead to some absolutely disastrous decisions which helped self-sabotage his goals; how his arrogance and ignorance and ambition all worked together to delude himself, his followers, and the people of Germany for years, and how his sheer personality was enough to command others, both with weak wills and those with strength, ambition and drive themselves, to carry out abhorrent actions against humanity.
It also showed that it was their humanity that destroyed the Nazi party in the end. Feeling betrayed by Rommel, Goring, and others; paranoid that so many others were against him; took to lying to everyone, assuming they were all lying to him. Monsters don't feel such emotions. Neither Hitler, nor anyone in the Nazi party, were monsters. That is giving them far too much credit - giving them the legendary status they so craved in life. They were simple, stupid, failures of humanity. They commanded and demanded respect, did so with the threat of imprisonment, torture and death (and so, never truly had respect but from those most deluded and brainwashed), and ultimately carried out the most horrific actions of the last many hundred years. But they were simple humans.
Bringing current politics into this review, there was lots of talk around the US election of 2016 that either Hillary or Trump were "Hitler". Both sides of the aisle so detested the other's candidate that they claimed them to be similar to this evil, sick man. When Trump won (and, in large part due to the actual political similarities of nationalism, supremism, and the emboldening of modern neo-nazis, white supremacists, racists, etc. that lauded his victory), there were many more people saying that Trump would bring about a new Nazi, or pseudo-Nazi, regime. This book, if nothing else for the modern reader, seems to put that theory to rest.
Hitler himself is portrayed, based on historical documents and personal eye-witness accounts, to have been politically a supremely motivated, driven, visionary. He knew precisely what personal goals for power he had, knew precisely what was required to achieve these goals, and had the drive, vision, and ability to act on all this. Politically, strategically, and intellectually - no matter how awful the results - he was incredibly strong, and in a league of his own. If anyone in this current time period has concerns about actions the Trump administration is taking, understand that he may be doing horrible things, but thus-far nothing has come close to the level of barbarism that the Nazi regime showed, and the man himself does not show any of the same characteristics that Hitler did. Trump stumbled into office, without any real desire for the office, vision for what he would do, or charisma to command the respect and admiration of the population. It seems clear that Trump got into the race specifically to boost ratings for himself and his TV show, that he expected it to be a short-lived campaign, but a profitable one. Now that he's won, politically he is drowning and is just trying to make as much money as possible, and to prop up his companies as much as he can while he has this added political power at the negotiating table.
I began reading "Rise and Fall" for two reasons. 1) I was interested in learning more about WWII, and 2) I was very concerned about current events, and this seemed to be an appropriate book to read given the current political climate. I'm so glad I did, because it confirmed to me that I was being hyperbolic and was overly-worried about something I didn't need (yet) to be. Understanding the inner workings of a person like Hitler is so comforting when you understand that, angry and disillusioned as Trump or politicians may be, none of these people are on the same level of calculated evil that Hitler was. Comforting is a very odd descriptor for this book, but in this odd context, that's exactly the word to describe it.
Current politics aside, this book was simply amazing. I chose to read this by audio book form. The file was 57 hours and 13 minutes long, broken up into about 7 different, smaller downloads. I chose the audio book because the book was long, and it would have taken me far longer than 60 hours to manually read it (with all the German names, places, etc., certain paragraphs would have been so dense as to make it difficult to work through). The book, for it's length and content, was surprisingly riveting! I've not yet read a history book that was as interesting as this one - and I use that word specifically. This was interesting - the writing was so well done that it kept me glued to my device, and on the edge of my seat. I learned more about WWII from this audio book simply because it made me invested in the content. They say fact is stranger than fiction - truly, this is the case in "Rise and Fall". The descriptions of certain events are of better quality than some fictional stories I've read.
This is by far the longest review I've ever written for a book, and with good reason. "Rise and Fall" is an epic work, which recounts one of the darkest periods of modern humanity. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it - I would echo that those who think they know how events happened, but don't have the full story from both sides, are likely to repeat it as well (and have a greater probability of repeating history from the other side). American students are taught that the US is the greatest nation on earth, and we often are shown WWII as an example of this. If we don't understand the motivations, actions, and consequences that the Nazis undertook; if we only tell history from the American perspective, instead of a simply factual, what actually happened, on-both-sides perspective, I fear that we will be the villains next time. The education I received by reading this book was not better, necessarily, than that which I received in school, but this helps to fill out my education. While learning about the terror Anne Frank experienced is important, and while understanding how the Allied forces overcame the Axis is critical, understanding ALL the aspects that brought the war to fruition, and those aspects and actions that brought humanity to this ultimate, terrible conclusion are even more important.
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" should be required reading for every adult. The lessons it teaches, the history it recounts, and the clarification that this was carried out, not by mythical beasts and monsters, but by evil human beings, are critical to our survival as a species. May we never have a dark time like this ever again. May we rise above petty politics, ambition without restraint, and hatred without reason. May we live like that Greatest Generation - fighting for a better future at any cost; a better future for all humanity, not just "our side". There is no master race, there is no greatest nation. We are all human beings, we all live on the Earth, we are all family.