A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler [Paperback]

Thomas Fuchs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

"Four Stars."-- West Coast Review of Books

"Fascinating reading."-- Booklist

"An engrossing book...excellent."-- Oahu Sun Press

"A seldom-seen slant on Hitler's life."-- School Library Journal"A wonderful addition to the works about Hitler."-- Isaiah Kuperstein, Association of Holocaust Organizations

"Fascinating and invaluable....A detailed portrait of Hitler."-- L.A. Reader

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425173402
• ISBN-13: 978-0425173404
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Political
  • #42 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hitler, Adolf
  • #83 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Lone Wolf, September 1, 2001

By 

JMack (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler (Paperback)

The life Of Adolph Hitler is a facinating journey which has become riddled with myths by our popular culture. While adjectives such as evil and maniacal accurately describe Hitler, he was also a very intelligent man. Thomas Fuchs attemtps to dispell many of the myths, and bring out the truth with this book.
Hitler seems to have be obsessed with creating poltical change since his career in art failed. Hitler also had other fascinations aside from anti-semitism (which was not his original idea). The book suggests Hitler to be a hypochondriac, which is somewhat beleiveable whether or not you believe that he had syphillis and bad teeth. Also, Fuchs discusses Hitler's obsession with wolfs, often seeing himself as sort of a lone wolf.
My only objetion with this book is that it tends to be redundant at times. However, this is mostly due to the encyclopedia-like format of the book.
For a reader that desires to learn more about perhaps the most hypnotically potent speaker in the history of humankind, this book is an excellent place to start. Many of the other Hitler biographies carry on far to long.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the ULTIMATE reference guide to Hitler, February 16, 2000

By 

thetwonky (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler (Paperback)

This is unquestionably the ultimate resourse on a very complex individual. Formatted in a user-freindly encyclopedic style, this book details everything that was but never should-have-been concerning Hitler's entire life. Author Fuchs digs up some amazingly obscure facts about the much-chronicled Hitler. Most impressive are the chapters concerning his family life. I have personally used this volume numerous times for historical research, and insist this book used by all those interested in learning the truth behind Adolf Hitler.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better., July 6, 2000

By 

Lindon - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Concise Biography of Adolf Hitler (Paperback)

"A concise biography of Adolf Hitler" is the premiere book for people wanting to start learning about the former dictator and tyrant of Germany. The author lays the book out into a series of different topics and within these different sections he gives a complete viewpoint of Hitler. These range from his eating habits, sexual life, as well as his controversial mind set. The author also dispels of some of the myths that we have always heard about Hitler. The book finishes with very short biographies of some of the leader's friends. The one true stenghth of this book is it causes the reader to want to know more about the subject.

Even with this said there are some weaknesses with the book. The first is the fact that each chapter is a separate section within itself, which means there is not a unity that flows from chapter to chapter. This in turn, leads to a difficult readability and almost encourages the reader to stop after each chapter instead of wanting to read the whole book. This is compounded even more by the author's need to insert the phrase "See Chapter 3" or "See Chapter 8", which might have seemed helpful at the beginning but after the tenth repetition it became an unwanted and dreaded statement. Secondly, there is a complete absence of pictures, or maps. This forces the reader to count on the author to illustrate images through the use of words. A practice that Mr. Fuchs fails to complete. For example, the author only attempts to describe Heinrich Himmler as the "one with pince-nez glasses" and yet he than tries to give a 4 page biography about the complex German SS captain.

Even with these weaknesses the book is still an informative piece of historical data. It must also be noted that the source index stretches out over 80 plus pages. The author justifies this by saying he wishes for the readers to use his book as a "stepping stone" for further research. This leads this reviewer to wonder what Thomas Fuchs could have done if he had expanded his research and maybe had not so hastily rushed to the publisher.

Pro: 1) Stepping stone for Hitler research

Cons: 1) Fragmented chapters, lack of unity 2) Lack of maps and illustrations 3) Research could have been expanded throughout the book