Review of 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is a very comprehensive non-academic history of the Third Reich. I found the use of primary sources, include the author's diary, quite compelling. A warning to anyone taking on this book the language used to describe homosexuality was offensive. I understand that the author was a man of his time, so I wouldn't recommend skipping the book because of this, but just wanted to warn others. This book inspired me to learn more about the rise of fascism in particular. I was listening to audio book version, so I sought out an abridged print version with maps and photographs. Definitely necessary for me.
Review of 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Mr Shirer's encyclopedic work is very different from other established treatises on the subject of WWII in two notable aspects:
- Being a US journalist stationed in Germany and covering the political life, he was actually present at many historical moments up to the point when US citizens became personae non gratae. This gives a unique personal perspective to the events we largely know about from the archives and documents.
- There is hardly a factual statement in this massive (1,200 pages) volume that is not annotated with a reference to a source. This makes it a treasure trove for further research and also shows a considerable effort by the author to stick to the documented facts rather than to "established truths" offering them at face value.
Surely, the work is not new and more information has been uncovered in the decades since its publication but it is still …
Mr Shirer's encyclopedic work is very different from other established treatises on the subject of WWII in two notable aspects:
- Being a US journalist stationed in Germany and covering the political life, he was actually present at many historical moments up to the point when US citizens became personae non gratae. This gives a unique personal perspective to the events we largely know about from the archives and documents.
- There is hardly a factual statement in this massive (1,200 pages) volume that is not annotated with a reference to a source. This makes it a treasure trove for further research and also shows a considerable effort by the author to stick to the documented facts rather than to "established truths" offering them at face value.
Surely, the work is not new and more information has been uncovered in the decades since its publication but it is still wonderfully relevant and complete in its coverage of that fateful period of the European History. If you want to know more about it, you absolutely should read this book - it is a great complement to many other definitive works.
Review of 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Due to the nature of online reviews, "3 stars" might seem worrying. But it is probably the best 3 star review in history. A must read for every person who wants to call people nazis in online discourse, as with the members of the alt-right, who don't seem to understand the gravity of national socialism.
What I loved about this work:
1. The pre-war era is described in great detail, throwing into context the rise of Hitler and his early life.
2. It gives a new perspective on the power dynamics of Europe before the second world war. France and Britain, while hailed as the great heroes of Europe after the war, had their own part in Germany's rise. They appeased Hitler, and let him get away with a lot before they didn't have a choice but to act. Their contempt of Communism and willingness to sell out Czecho-Slovakia played …
Due to the nature of online reviews, "3 stars" might seem worrying. But it is probably the best 3 star review in history. A must read for every person who wants to call people nazis in online discourse, as with the members of the alt-right, who don't seem to understand the gravity of national socialism.
What I loved about this work:
1. The pre-war era is described in great detail, throwing into context the rise of Hitler and his early life.
2. It gives a new perspective on the power dynamics of Europe before the second world war. France and Britain, while hailed as the great heroes of Europe after the war, had their own part in Germany's rise. They appeased Hitler, and let him get away with a lot before they didn't have a choice but to act. Their contempt of Communism and willingness to sell out Czecho-Slovakia played a big part in Germany's uprising.
3. The pacing. There's no slow parts in a book this long. It's amazing.
4. The information is often first hand and extremely thoroughly researched. Exactly what you want from a historical book. Some things just can't be told vividly through third party accounts.
5. Gruesome, non-embellished accounts of German "scientific" experiments on their "racially inferior" victims aren't omitted.
Almost none of these perceived flaws would be apparent or even seen as flaws to most Western Europeans or Americans. But there's a few:
1. After such a strong start, you can feel the author's personal view of Hitler kind of follows the public opinion of the western democracies. The mostly objective descriptions of Hitler in the early pages and his colleagues goes down the rabbit hole of increasingly bothersome ad-hominems as the book progresses. Describing Goebbels as stupid is the first example that pops into my head.
2. Stylistic choices also suffer. Phrases start to repeat themselves, general Keitel is noted to be the chief of OKW on almost every mention of him, while other officers(which there are a lot of), tend to only be described by their function once. After a while you lose track of all those German names, and with the problems mentioned above with them all being described as "inept" , you just don't know who's who anymore.
3. There's a few biases that got to me, too. Non-American Allies are almost never even mentioned after America officially joins the war. The German people are mostly portrayed as naive people, betrayed and manipulated by their leadership, even though most historical evidence points to the fact, that they were supporting him while he was conquering Europe. Anti-semitism and German supremacy weren't ideologies confined to the Berghof and Reichstag. This is why I recommend reading the epilogue fully. There the author reveals some of these biases a bit more clearly, even refers to a "German problem", which raised all kinds of red flags for me.
Knowing who the author is is a must for such pieces. You can tell he isn't a historian, which is why he's allowed to make the work a bit more subjective, but maybe it's that fact specifically, which made possible for such a giant book to be so hard to put down.
Generally, a must-read for anyone who's interested in world war 2. This book gives a detailed and thorough description on how foreign powers such as the USA and Russia sunk their teeth into Europe, and puts into perspective on why and how Germany got pacified for good after it.
