Customer Reviews

Hitler

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I'm a big fan of biographies, and this remains (some 10 years after reading it) one of my favorites. There is no dearth of books on Hitler, of course. Fest's accomplishment here is that each section on Hitler is straddled by a section describing other events in the world and Germany, always giving the reader a larger context in which Hitler's activities can be placed.

I'm a little dismayed by [people] who suggest that Hitler was merely a sufferer of post-traumatic-stress syndrome after his experience in the trenches of WWI, and that Fest does a disservice (to Hitler?) by leaving this information out. But many people have suffered in the trenches in many wars without later moving on to attempt world domination and genocide.

In any case, Fest's biography omits nothing. It is written in a clear, beautiful language, and will leave you with an entirely new understanding of Hitler, Germans and Germany.

As a devoted reader of history, especially of the early 20th century period, I probably have gone through every popular and even arcane book on Hitler and National Socialism. I've read Albert Speer's "Inside the Third Reich," Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reach," Alan Bullock's "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives," . . . yet, these books, while informative, lack the depth of understanding of the horrible phenomenon of Hitler that Joachim Fest brings to his biography. Maybe because Fest himself is German and is therefore closer to his subject. Yes, the style is dry, and the book is indeed rather biased at times--the preface is titled incredibly "Hitler and Historical Greatness!" Yet, within that preface, you will find insights and observations that are lacking in all other biographies on the Fuehrer. I myself was riveted from page one all the way to the end. So, if you want to really understand Hitler, read this book. If you want to read a lighter biography, read the sections on Hitler in Bullock's "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives."

The life story of Adolf Hitler is so compelling that it is hard to imagine a book about it ever being boring. Fest's account is thoroughly researched and and meticulously detailed and was a best sellerin West Germany before being published in the U.S. Though not as readabled as Robert Payne's superior "The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler," it still paints a fairly complete portrait of the man. If the book has any drawback, it is that it does not spend enough time on Hitler's pre-World War I activities. Payne much more thoroughly documents the humiliation and disappointment in Vienna that searled Hitler's soul and helped turn him into a monster. Nevertheless, Fest's "Hitler" remains one of the defining biographies of the 20th century's most evil figure.

Historian John Lukacs, who has just come out with "The Hitler of History", an analysis of Hitler's hundred or so important biographers, says Fest's bio is the "best long biography" of Adolph Hitler. Fest fleshes out the young Hitler in fascinating detail. Especially interesting is Fest's account of Hitler's political rise in Weimar Germany from being a member of a minute political party which held its meetings in the back of a beer hall to a dynamic leader of a strong poltical party by the end of the 1920s. Fest is very interpretive and analytical. Typical is his suggestion that Hitler was an artist mutated into a politician. For an American like myself, Fest is weak in explaining how the Nazi's, who never achieved more than fifty percent of an honest vote, was able to dominate the apparatus of government so thoroughly and so fast upon joining a governing coalition in 1933. It has never happened in America even if America has had pols with tyranical personality traits- Wilson, Johnson, Nixon, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and, to a small degree, FDR. If the amateur historian has time for only one biography of Adolph Hitler, this is the one to get.

Most books written about Hitler concentrate on the Holocaust or World War Two and rightfully so. These are the two most prominent events for which Hitler is known. Fest takes a different perspective on Hitler by writing on his life before he unleashed terror on the world.

Fest is NOT a Hitler apologist though. He clearly states that in his prologue. His thesis does highlight the patriotic Hitler who was successful in bringing back the pride to Germany. Unfortunately he had to throw it away with the war.

It may be counter-factual history, but Fest makes the reader think: What if Hitler had stopped in 1938?

Joachim Fest's book "Hitler" is a rare pleasure to read. His words create an atmosphere and a world that we can understand. Fest manages to step into the shoes of Hitler -- we sit and day-dream with that man and build castles in the air. More than that, he manages to bare Hitler's mind and soul to the reader. We learn how and why Hitler acted as he did. His actions that are so vile that we absolutely condemn them, suddenly become clearer. We begin to understand and are warned of the power that one single man can usurp, even though he is penniles, without education and friends. Fest does in no way justify Hitler or his tyranny. On the contrary, he does open our eyes so that we see how actions of such brutality are possible. He makes us understand that they can happen again, but also how they can be avoided. It is an in-depth study of a strongman--strongmen by the way come in all sizes; we encounter them in our daily lives. Since Hitler's demise, half a dozen countries have suffered strongmen as heads of state, and it is vital that we understand and recognize a tyrant before it is too late. None better to learn from than Fest's Hitler, one of the shrewdest and most ruthless strongman of them all.
Roswitha McIntosh, author of "The Madman & His Mistress"

I'm certainly not an expert on WW2, and I know that there are other books out there (such as Ian Kershaw's) on Hitler that are very good. But several avid readers and history buffs told me that Fest's book was the best, so I read his first. It's true that he does not devote a lot of content to the Holocaust, but he is very graphic and adamant about what happened with that. He is harldy an apologist for Hitler, as one reviewer seems to say. In any case, the fact that he is German and lived through WW2, plus a terrific writer cinched it for me. It's a little dense at times, but if you stay the course, it's well worth it.

This is a dense, thorough, anbd illuminating biography of a frightening and fascinating figure historian John Lukacs calls "the man of the century." I would be lying if I didn't say it's slow going; it's not a book for the faint of heart as Fest spends much of his time trying to explain the phenomenon of Hitler to a German audience. Was he an aberration? Was he an inevitable outcome of German culture? Those are the questions Fest tries to answer. Nevertheless, the book is full of original insights in Hitler's character that will linger long after the book is finished.

I read this book for a graduate-level course on the history of Nazi Germany. Fest provides great insight into Hitler's development and personality, in his dry, somber German way. As a reference, it is undeniably one of the best out there on the subject. As a textbook, it requires coffee to finish reading. However, any student is perfectly capable of finishing and garnering great knowledge from this book.

Joachim C. Fest's "Hitler" is a superb account of the strange man that was to become the Chancellor of the Third Reich. There is a slight problem, but an affliction that is fairly commom, there is no excitement found within these pages. The story is told with no attempt at livliness, just stale, dry, but ultimately rewarding if you have the endurance to conquer this 861 page hardback. This book gives you much information, but because of the dry writing style, you do not absorb anywhere near the wealth of information in other, better-written books of this same period. However, don't think this book is a waste, is is not, far from it. It is a rewarding piece of literature, one that will greatly increase your knowledge of Adolf Hitler. However, you should only start this book if you are serious about finishing it. Otherwise you will not get past page 100. Dedication is what it takes, but lurking within the book is a wealth of information, should you wish to uncover it.