Hitler: A Study in Tyranny [Hardcover]

Alan Bullock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999

Bullock describes with chilling specificity how through adroit manipulation of popular discontent, the control of information, and the politics of terror, a madman and a monster inspired Germany to perpetrate the defining horror of this century.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Bullock, Baron Bullock, was born in 1914. He studied at Oxford University and served as a research assistant to Winston Churchill while writing his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. He was a history fellow at New College, Oxford, helped found St Catherine's College, Oxford, and was Vice-Chancellor for the university. A renowned modern historian, Bullock was made a life peer in 1976. He died in 2004. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 848 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row; Completely Revised Edition edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568520360
• ISBN-13: 978-1568520360
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.8 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Straight Forward, Comprehensive Study, October 4, 2001

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (Paperback)

In "Hitler: A Study in Tyranny," Alan Bullock stated that, as an author, he has no axe to grind. He adhered to that statement. Bullock offered a very balanced and plausible account of Hitler's life atempting to understand the dictator not as a demon but as a human being.

Readers interested in tantalizing controversy will be disappointed with this book. Bullock chose not to assert blame for such things as the Reichstag fire. Bullock dismissed the popular claim that Hitler changed his name from Schicklgruber (man, I got tired of my teachers reiterating that bit of misinformation) and the myth that Hitler resorted to astrology in decision-making. As for Geli Raubel, Bullock finds her best to be left as "a mystery." Bullock took a conservative stance in his analysis focusing only on the known fact's about Hitler's life.

Bullock offers a thorough study of Hitler's days in Vienna before the First World War and the ways in which this experience formed his political views. Hitler is presented not as the originator of future Nazi principles but as a product of the anti-rational, anti-intellectual, and anti-Semetic ideas that had been circulating in Europe for the previous hundred years. His understanding of propaganda, oratory skills, and pratical exposure to street politics helped Hitler gain a following. Ultimately, it was Hitler's determination that prompted him to turn down enticing offers of political position by Franz von Papen and Bruening that were less than what he sought: the Chancellory. During the Second World War, Hitler's "warlord" image was transformed: "the human being disappears, absorbed into the historical figure of the Fuehrer." Bullock also pointed out that this devotion to power led eventually to Hitler's downfall.

Although this book may be a little burdensome for pleasure reading (I doubt I will read it again), it is a very readable biography that would be appropriate for the college student who needs to learn places, events, etc. The lack of an index in this edition does pose a problem when one is trying to find information, however. Another criticism I have is its title "A Study in Tyranny." I was expecting the work to go more into an analysis of Hitler's tyrannical personality and the susceptibility of the German people to it. Maybe I was expecting a little psychology. This book, however, is a straight foward biography with not a lot of interpretation. The works of Ian Kershaw may be consulted if a reader wants more depth.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How does a homicidal tyrant come to power and rule?, March 16, 2006

By 

ct reader "logos.hfd" (ct) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (Paperback)

This was the best profile of Hitler when I read it forty years ago (it's only rival was Shirer's `Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'). Bullock skillfully explores Hitler's public and personal world in three sections (Party Leader, Chancellor, and War-Lord). Some of his surprising habits (non-smoker, vegetarian, and teetotaler) stand in contrast with the criminal war he launched and the innocents he killed.

`A Study in Tyranny' has since been supplemented with accounts by Fest, Kershaw, and several others, but Bullock remains well worth reading for those serious in the subject.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hitler, A Study In Tyranny, September 13, 2004

By 

Herbert E. Ferran "BertF" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler, a Study in Tyranny (Hardcover)

I really don't know how to rate this book since I am currently rereading the unabridged version which I was forced to obtain from Amazon.com.uk. It is an excellent work and I can not imagine why Americans are not permitted to order it from the US. Does Amazon US think Americans are too lazy to read the original? I would give it 5 stars if it were the unabridged version. I will never know what the abridged said or left out.