Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris Paperback – April 17, 2000

This is a history of Hitler, not of the third Reich. It is quite readable and the author's style brings this evil man to life. having read much about Hitler and this period of history i was surprised to learn so much. Kershaw makes a judgment call on much of the rumors and post Hitler comments about his early life, which I found most interesting.

I read other books by him and I find him to be a gifted historian who makes history not sound like a history book.

It is daunting to think that a 1000+-page book is the abridged version. Whew. And yet Prof. Kershaw does not get lost in the details, and neither does the reader. Unless you want the full 1000 pages, be prepared to skim some. (I chose this heavy volume because of Prof. Kershaw's impeccable reputation in Hitler scholarship and I'm glad that I did.)
For me personally, so much of what I know about the Holocaust comes from sources that stress the long roots of anti-Semitism in Germany, yet Kershaw shows--and, more significantly in this setting, documents--how the plan for the Holocaust developed only over time, and how it included a great deal of improvisation, both by Hitler and by his lieutenants. In the early years, for example, Hitler's writings were no more anti-Semitic than was routine in Germany at the time. Then, the Jews became a convenient target for national anger and a focus of Hitler's rhetoric, but to say that the Holocaust as we see it "was always the intention" is not supported by the abundant documentation.

I've been reading about the Third Reich for most of my life, and this book stands out in a number of regards.

First, it is an excellent biography. Kershaw depends on some key sources (August Kubizek's recollections; Goebbels's diaries; the memoirs and reports of Hitler's secretaries; Hitler's speeches) to craft a rise-and-fall tale worthy of the best Greek dramas or Shakespeare. I found myself being drawn into the life and thoughts of this awful protagonist, and we can see the story play out the way it did even if this anti-hero was totally incapable of doing so himself. Blind to his ever-increasing, unbounded hubris, Hitler created the conditions for his ultimate defeat, as Kershaw's account makes crystal clear, page after page.

Second, it's a sound explanation of the Third Reich itself. Kershaw subscribes to the interpretation, which he repeats so often that it becomes a major theme, that everyone in the Third Reich was "working toward the Fuehrer." I found this a compelling explanation of how the Third Reich came to be, and how it operated. It's difficult for me to separate the Third Reich from Hitler, and this worked for me. I found this more convincing than the interpretation of Richard J. Evans, as demonstrated in "The Coming of the Third Reich," which works from a mirror viewpoint: that Hitler was a product of Germany in the 1930s. For some reason, I can't see the Third Reich without Hitler, and so Kershaw's thesis (not original, he admits, but consistently demonstrated throughout his book) made more sense to me. As Kershaw argues, a conservative, anti-Versailles, expansionist, and even mildly anti-semitic government may have come to Germany, but Hitler seemed uniquely ready to bring his paranoid, pathological, genocidal hatred to Germany and to the world. To understand how the war and the Holocaust happened, you have to understand Hitler.

Third, Kershaw's explanations of various aspects of the regime encapsulate much about WWII in Europe that teach a lot. This book isn't just about Hitler's personal habits. The development of the Holocaust, the military successes and overwhelming failures, the strategies, and the foreign policy aspects, and the neglect of the home front are all related well here. Among the reasons for starting the disastrous Barbarossa campaign, Hitler hoped to force Britain to the peace table by eliminating its sole possible continental partner; the flawed logic of this and many other military decisions is well told, usually with fair-mindedness. I could quibble with some of Kershaw's technical details (were those really the right tank types in Kursk on the northern shoulder?), but on balance, the bigger picture is stark, terrible, and transcendent.

If you've read Goebbels's diaries, or Speer's or von Manstein's memoirs, much of what's related in this regard will seem familiar. Yet, Kershaw takes a critical stance toward those authors, and is able to weave his own fresh narrative. He maintains a historian's distance toward his sources, but is also able to make very human judgments on the murderous, war-mongering regime. All that said, I found the last chapters not surprising, and if you've seen the movie "Downfall," you'll have the highlights of Hitler's last days, as much as we can know.

Altogether, if I had to recommend one book on the 1939-1945 war in Europe, or on the Third Reich, or on Hitler, this would be it. Kershaw delivers on all 3 angles. I was riveted with every page, and the book held my attention all the way to the end.

The Kindle edition is well edited, and as my understanding of this subject doesn't depend on maps, photos, or other images, the book translates well to the Kindle format. Also, while I would have loved to check the footnotes as I went along, they aren't in this edition.

Very compelling explanation of the rise of Hitler. Kershaw does an incredible job of explaining how Hitler was able to harness the public emotions of the post-WWI years to become the leader of a fringe political party that eventually was elected into office with mass public support. He also gives what is likely the best account of Hitler's early years and how he came to develop his "world view". This volume ends with the remilitarization of the Rhineland and shows the culmination of the dictatorial powers that the German public willingly gave to Hitler.

A phenomenal biography in every way. Kershaw is a fantastic writer. I now have four of his volumes on my shelves.

One of the most astonishing sections of this book is on page 427. After Hindenburg brought Hitler into the government as Chancellor, Erich von Ludendorff, another World War I legend, wrote to Hindenburg, "You have delivered up our holy German Fatherland to one of the greatest demagogues of all time. I solemnly prophesy that this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery. Future generations will damn you in your grave for what you have done.”

Even after reading, for example, "Hitler's dark charisma" by Laurence Rees, which is quite good, I had difficulties understanding fully the rise of Hitler to power and his grip on the German people. Now I feel that I do understand both the personality characteristics which made him so special and his historical environment. I've read some reviews complaining that the author spends to much time speaking about this environment and introducing a lot of "supporting characters", but I don't agree and I think this amount of detail is essential for the overall picture.
And far from being heavy and boring, the book reads like a crime novel, which it is, of course.

This is the second time I read the book and it seems even better than the first time. Learning from history is necessary if there are things we want to prevent from happening again. I think we want to prevent a Nazi-line regime and another world war from happening again.