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ssmcclay 's review for:
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
by William L. Shirer
[prior review didn't save...]
Incredible and authoritative overview of this critical topic. One of the best history books I've ever "read" and I plan to buy the physical copy for a re-read when the time is right. Shirer's ability to use himself as a primary source sets this book apart and is something that later histories can't touch; he was in the country during the entire period and kept a detailed journal, as well as being able to draw on his own journalistic dispatches and other writings. I was struck an alarming number of times at how relevant the story of the rise of the Nazi party is given the meteoric rise of right-wing fascism and populism in the modern day. A small vanguard group of disaffected freaks, deviants, avaricious public figures and marginal but opportunistic politicians (sound familiar?) are able to accrue power by hook or by crook, ultimately managing to capture a state apparatus that is too sclerotic and disorganized to recognize the danger and organize to defeat it (SOUND FAMILIAR?), all the while capturing an ever-increasing share of public support by promising a restoration of past glory and a rectification of economic displacement (I don't think I need to keep editorializing).
Incredible and authoritative overview of this critical topic. One of the best history books I've ever "read" and I plan to buy the physical copy for a re-read when the time is right. Shirer's ability to use himself as a primary source sets this book apart and is something that later histories can't touch; he was in the country during the entire period and kept a detailed journal, as well as being able to draw on his own journalistic dispatches and other writings. I was struck an alarming number of times at how relevant the story of the rise of the Nazi party is given the meteoric rise of right-wing fascism and populism in the modern day. A small vanguard group of disaffected freaks, deviants, avaricious public figures and marginal but opportunistic politicians (sound familiar?) are able to accrue power by hook or by crook, ultimately managing to capture a state apparatus that is too sclerotic and disorganized to recognize the danger and organize to defeat it (SOUND FAMILIAR?), all the while capturing an ever-increasing share of public support by promising a restoration of past glory and a rectification of economic displacement (I don't think I need to keep editorializing).