The Hitler of History [Paperback]

John Lukacs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 1998

"A valuable service . . . serious, entertaining, provocative and distinctive." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

In the fifty years since his suicide amid the ruins of Berlin, Adolf Hitler has been the subject of more biographies than any comparable figure of our time--and at the center of a crucial historical debate over the nature of evil and moral responsibility in the twentieth century. In this brilliant and original book, the historian John Lukacs climbs above the fray to produce a definitive "history of a history: the history of the evolution of our understanding of Hitler's life and our debates about its meaning."

Like an expert attorney, Lukacs puts the biographies on trial, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and hidden agendas. And through their intersecting and conflicting accounts, he addresses the enduring enigmas surrounding the demiurge of the Third Reich. Was Hitler a revolutionary or a reactionary? How successful was he as a statesman and a strategist? What was his primary motive for the extermination of the Jews? The Hitler of History answers these questions as fully as any modern work can hope to, with an intellectual boldness that makes it absolutely essential to any understanding of the post-Hitler world.

"Lukacs is a shrewd historian and an engaging writer . . . a sharp and sober portrait." --Philadelphia Inquirer

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The horrible life and work of Adolf Hitler have long raised puzzling questions for historians: How could the putatively civilized German nation allow a leader to plunge it into murderous barbarism? Why did the rest of Europe not put a stop to Hitler's rise before Germany could amass imperial power? How did Hitler transform bourgeois anti-Semitism into the Holocaust? John Lukacs addresses these and many other questions in this book of essays on the many problems Hitler and his regime present to historians. He assesses the contemporary, too-abundant literature, and makes some surprising and controversial evaluations. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Since 1945 there have been over 100 biographies of Adolf Hitler. Depictions of the dictator have ranged from the anti-Christ to a man who really did nothing wrong, whose staff caused all the evils. The late noted historian Lukacs (e.g., Destinations Past, LJ 6/15/94) has not written a biography of Hitler but a history of the history of the knowledge we have of Hitler by examining his major biographers. Through the analysis of writers in Germany, England, and the United States, Lukacs wrestles with such problems as where Hitler's ideas were shaped, his racism, his obsession with Jews, and other problems facing anyone studying the leader of the Third Reich. Along the way, he discusses the admirers and defenders of Hitler and Hitler's place in history. This is an important book for anyone wishing to delve seriously into the literature of Hitler. While not an easy work to read, it should be in all academic and large public libraries.?Dennis L. Noble, Sequim, Wa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (November 3, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375701133
• ISBN-13: 978-0375701139
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hitler, Adolf

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unfair and unbalanced, January 19, 1999

By 

Kevin Brianton (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Hitler of History (Paperback)

After reading biographies of Hitler for the past 20 years, I looked forward to reading this book as I wanted an overview of this massive collection of works. It was not to be.

Lukacs is very set in his ways and often passes off his views as fact. Toland is dismissed - even though his biography is a best seller - as being hard to read. A surprise for anyone who has read Toland's work.

He then tries to link Toland with David Irving, even though they have nothing in common. He also points out that Toland has some bizarre views on Pearl Harbour, and says this indicates an authoritarian bent and that Toland admires Hitler, and so does the infamous Irving. I re-read Toland's work and I found it to be a well written biography of Hitler and I really cannot understand Lukacs' conclusion that he is an admirer.

Fest's work - which he likes far more - is difficult to read and yet receives no such attack. The fact is that Lukacs does not like Toland's work and has thrown every bit of mud that he can at him.

Further he basically ignores the work of Konrad Heiden before the war and the huge debt that Bullock had to the writer in his biography. Yet Bullock is praised for his efforts.

Finally his virtual silence on Bracher is a real fault of the book. Bracher provides a far more cohesive argument for the rise of Hitler than Fest - in my opinion - and he is barely mentioned.

Behind a facade of historical accuracy, Lukacs likes what he likes and is unfair to those he does not.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hitler in his place, June 3, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Hitler of History (Paperback)

"Hitler" has become less a person than a brand name in the years since his death. His name is applied with equal casualness to left- and right-wing politics, and against anything and anyone one doesn't like. What Hitler and the short-lived Nazi phenomenon really was has been tailored to suit the biases of every historian who has examined them. Lukas shows how Hitler and the Nazis are distorted by the lens of each historian's own bigotry and shortcomings. And yet, at the same time, he demonstrates a truth too often overlooked by historians playing petty oneupsmanship against those who don't share their own political views -- that Hitler was an extremely complex man, whose unique ideology doesn't fit comfortably into either the conventional politics of left or right, but combines the worst aspects of both. This book is a critical examination of Hitler biographies, as well as an assessment of Hitler himself -- which is like grasping water -- Lukan has written a valuable resource for anyone who wants to see beyond typical parochial presentations. And the ultimate conclusion one reaches when reading it is that instead of looking outward for the answer to why Hitler happened, one should look introspectively, at one's own heart.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gave me a deeper understanding of Hitler, August 2, 2001

By 

Mattias Borjesson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hitler of History (Paperback)

I have been very intrested in Hitler and national socialism since I was 13. I'm 23 now so I have read quite many books on the subject by now. when I first read this book about two years ago I was stunned by it. The aurthor John Lukacs seem to have a bottomless knowledge of the 20th centurary European history. Although you can criticize his somewhat "was and is always right" attitude, he none the less often presents his case so compelling arguments that I buy most of his thesis. He explains that nationalism, and nationalsocialism not only was a german phenomenon but an universal idea, which dominated th 20th century, and was far more important than communism or even old style UK-US libaral democracy. He also explains Hitlers antisemitism and his place in Germanys history. For me this book was an awakning, and I have read it many times. I understand Hitler and the national socialistic movement much better now. Hitler did not create the national socialism. Even though in Germany he used the radical nationalism in his want for power, he was rather the most central revolutionary figure, of that movement. The only a little bit annoying is that Lukacs takes much time argue against the british history revisionist, and holocaust denier David Irving. This may well be with well intent, but I think its rather unnecessary. It would be better to just ingnore him, this takes needless space from other important insights. Irving has already been repitudated by so many before.