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Hitler

A Biography

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Hitler

By: Ian Kershaw
Narrated by: Damian Lynch
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About this listen

Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness.

From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.

Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his 30-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I. With extraordinary vividness, Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the crucible of a war with immense casualties, the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 1920s, the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right and the Left and the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race.

In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources, Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist, a "drummer" sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls, to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch and, ultimately, to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people.

©1998 Ian Kershaw (P)2015 Audible, Ltd
Germany Historical Military Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State World War Imperialism Interwar Period Holocaust Prisoners of War Scary Thought-Provoking Royalty Self-Determination Hungary Refugee Winston Churchill King
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What listeners say about Hitler

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A thorough treatment of Hitler

I have long wanted and searched for a treatment of Hitler to better understand how this nobody could lead one of the most cultivated and modern countries in the world into the abyss. this treatment of Hitler as the charismatic leader whom the country worked towards provides a sobering account much more persuasive than attempts to demonise or psychologize him. a must read!

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Long but good

A real good listen even though it is a long listen. The narrator was very good as well.

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An amazing book brilliantly narrated

A seminal work. In-depth and providing a fascinating insight into the mind of the dictator and the people.

Perfectly narrated.

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A great book, well read

This is a wonderful account of Hitler's life, actions and reasons. Although it is very detailed it is easy to listen to and understand: It is for the scholar and the layman. The narrator is clear and interesting and adds to the experience. I recommend this book to all who are interested in this period of history.

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This

Book would interest me more with a different narrator, I couldn't finish it atm, very interestin' book of course but maybe another time.

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Hitler, by Ian Kershaw.

"First he climbs to Heaven, then he falls to Earth. Not light, but darkness." The I Ching.

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Tough going but ....

....stick with it. Should never be allowed to happen again. Wished it was a work of fiction.

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A brilliant thorough retelling

I was initially put off by the length of the book as I've never listened to one so long but I can honestly say at no point did it get boring. It took me a while but it was fascinating and taught me things I thought I knew a lot about.

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A chilling insight into Hitler

A very well researched book on how Adolf captures the hearts and minds of a civil society in the 20th century and goes on to make history with it.

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20th Century in a nut shell

Clear, detailed & fasinating account of the man who had the biggest impact on our world in the 20th century. A warning for us all

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