The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "ON 9 November 1918, the German nation was plunged into a state of deep trauma, from which it would not recover for at least a..." (more)
Key Phrases: world will hold its breath, time will come again, Soviet Union, Red Army, East Prussia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the Gotterdämmerung for Hitler's Germany approached in April 1945, the surviving members of the Führer's inner circle of bureaucrats were still competing for his favor and conspiring, each in his own furtive way, to succeed him. Why anyone aspired to preside over the ruins is less a mystery after reading Read. From the unpromising beginnings of Nazism in the 1920s, ambitious misfits gathered around Hitler, whose demagogic genius in exploiting the humiliation of WWI's defeat seemed likely to propel him to power. Each was, in Read's words, "totally besotted" with Hitler and "bitterly jealous" of his attention to others. Not all survived the Darwinian struggle for favor and succession. Ernst Rhm was murdered by fellow Nazis. Rudolf Hess took a solo flight to captivity. Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated. But three of the original disciples-Hermann Gring, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler-remained to the end, competing for power even when, with defeat imminent, the prize had lost all value. Four latecomers also hung on for dubious glory: the foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop; chief architect and war production genius, Albert Speer; Hitler's private secretary, Martin Bormann; and Adm. Karl Dnitz, whom no one expected to be anointed Hitler's successor. That the internecine rivalries persisted beyond the end suggests the warped minds of Hitler's crew of bureaucratic criminals. Despite his penchant for cliche ("the ripest of plums suddenly dropped into the Nazis' laps, completely out of the blue"), Read (coauthor of The Fall of Berlin, etc.) tells the story of two decades of assiduous jockeying for power in luridly absorbing if overwhelming detail. 16 pages of b&w photos.
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From Booklist

From the ample literature about Adolf Hitler's sycophants, Read synthesizes this hefty chronological narration of the most notorious half-dozen's competition for the dictator's favor. He expresses his repugnance for this crew of cretins and cynics but understands the great interest in their horrific career trajectory as they emerged from obscurity to warmongering, genocidal prominence. Read recounts how the economic and political crises of early 1920s Germany affected Hitler's future paladins, and their motivations in picking his Nazi party from the stew of right-wing organizations as the vehicle for their ambitions and the outlet for their hatred. Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goring-- these principals as well as the second tier of the inner circle are all here, proving their usefulness to Hitler, murderously crushing opponents within and outside the Nazi party, engineering the Holocaust, and otherwise setting the world on fire. An able integration of extant material, Read's chronicle stands as a viable alternative to collecting it individually, or simply as an introduction to the gangsterlike personalities of the leading Nazis. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 984 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393048004
• ISBN-13: 978-0393048001
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #297,403 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitler's inner circle, October 18, 2004

By	S. MACPHERSON "smac967" (Camas, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book to gain a better understanding on the men who surrounded Hitler on his path to power and ultimate fall. What I found was that this book was satisfying even as a straight forward history of the European theatre of World War II. I have read a lot about Hitler himself (Kershaw's excellent two-volume biography is highly recommended) and, of course, Goring, Goebbels, and Himmler all played an important role in all the readings. However, this book focuses primarily on those three men and their lives.

While it was interesting to learn more about these three men, what I found most compelling is the author's total distaste for Von Ribbentrop, who I did not know so much about before reading this book. It was almost comical to read about Ribbentrop's bumbling approach to foriegn affairs and his total lack of tact in dealing with other nations. The author even goes so far as to implicitly blame Ribbentrop for World War II itself, given his failure to adequately advise Hitler as to the British intentions over the invasion of Poland.

As for Goring, it is clear that the author researched his subject to the point of even having a grudging admiration for him. The author spends a lot of time discussing Goring: his weaknesses in early life as he struggles with addiction, his flamboyant lifestyle once power is assumed, and his total preoccupation with atttaining as many titles as possible in the Reich (not that he was alone in this regard). Goring is to a point painted as being swept along unwillingly in the excesses of the Hitler regime, ie the Holocaust. The author, however, did a good job of showing that in the final analysis this is not true- his economic policies for subjugated nations called for hordes of slave labor, for example. Thus, while the author might intend to make the reader be amused at Goring's gaudy dress on one page, he was clear to point out on the next that it was the Nazi policies, of which Goring was an integral part, that caused so much human misery.

Himmler is give much less discussion by the author, but a little goes a long way to justify him as the personification of pure evil. For students of the Nazi era, this book will not open much new ground in relation to Himmler and his SS, of which much has been written. It was interesting to read about his ultimate end, as this was something I had not read about in detail. As for Goebbels, what the author emphasizes is just how awe-struck he was in the presence of Hitler. The author did open my eyes with the fact that Goebbels was actually a true Socialist who believed this ideal but swallowed his true views from the Fuhrer, on one occasion to save his life.

What becomes clear as this book is read is just how truly pathetic these men really were: willing to literally trample on those who could not defend themselves, while at the same time grabbing the spoils to build vast homes and wealth for themselves. This is a well-written book, an enjoyable read, and full of interesting asides as to the lives of the 'inner circle' of Hitler's regime. Highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable, March 6, 2005

By	Stanley Hauer (Hattiesburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is like picking a scab--painful as it is, you just can't stop. I found it truly compulsive reading. I'm not an historian, just an avid reader of history; but I devoured this one. I checked it out of the public library and couldn't finish it in two weeks, so I purchased it from Amazon. I'm glad I did, for I believe I'll read this one again. Real historians can comment on Read's reliability; this amateur says that it's a well crafted piece of prose. Of course there's much that isn't here--consult Kershaw's variable two-volume biography of Hitler for that--but the focus on Goring and Goebbels is well handled. I give this one an A.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lengthy Book That Will Hold Your Interest, September 2, 2004

By	C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The product details states this book is 352 pages while it actually is 923 pages of text not counting the index. Anthony Read has covered the rise of the Third Reich from its beginnings during the Weimar Republic between World Wars I and II until its capitulation in the spring of 1945. All of Hitler's infamous henchmen are here as various ones, each one jealous of the others, vie for favorable standing within the party to gain favor with the Fuhrer. If you are looking for a book on Hitler and his cohorts, this mammoth volume will bring it all to life for you.