In this masterful narrative, acclaimed historian Giles MacDonogh chronicles Adolf Hitler after the First World War. From the purging of the army in...
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Nov 18, 2010
Rachel
rated it: 
This is the first truly negative book review I have ever given.
What disturbs me the most about this book was the LACK of information given by the author. When I first picked up this book, I was actually scared knowing that once again I was going to have to re-read and learn even more about the gruesome history that Hitler and his Nazis had permanently marked the face of human history with. However, MacDonogh's way of reporting "history" during this time is condescending i More...
What disturbs me the most about this book was the LACK of information given by the author. When I first picked up this book, I was actually scared knowing that once again I was going to have to re-read and learn even more about the gruesome history that Hitler and his Nazis had permanently marked the face of human history with. However, MacDonogh's way of reporting "history" during this time is condescending i More...
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Jul 24, 2010
Eric
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Jun 19, 2010
Jill
rated it: 
This book is the author's analysis of why the year 1938 was a turning point which lead to the conflagration of WWII. History buffs would agree that Hitler, in his quest for control of Europe (and beyond), gambled on the inept leadership of England (Chamberlain, the great appeaser), and France (a government in chaos) to back away from any confrontation with Germany. Despite the fact that Hitler kept gobbling up one territory and country after another, they turned a blind eye to the portents of t
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Jul 26, 2011
Going month by month, McDonogh chronicles the slide towards the full invasion of Czechoslovakia, including the often overlooked purge of the old Hapsburg-hangers-on (including the sons of Franz Ferdinand) to Dachau, the birth of Edda Goring, Hitler's fit over being improperly dressed on a state visit to Rome and the sheer haphazardness and terrifying randomness of the Nazi state apparatus, from negligent or abusive border guards to the paperwork loopholes that saved lives one day and doomed the
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Jan 02, 2010
Doug
rated it:
Complements the other book, Munich 1938, that I read recently, with appalling accounts of what happened to Austrian Jews. MacDonagh has an unusual writing style (clipped sentences, similar to reading news bulletins) that grew on me. Neither book holds many surprises, since the story is so familiar and the interpretations conventional. But this history of these years never fails to shock.
Feb 07, 2010
Ed
rated it:
A good book of a bad year for the world. The real emergence of Hitler to a world menace. Many factors, not the least of which was Europe losing a generation of young men in WWI, resulted in a failue to confront and missed opportunities to contain or topple the Nazi regime. Some insight into the antisemitism in Europe, it was not just a German phenomenon.
Aug 03, 2011
Alan
rated it:
Readable, rather than dense. Proceeds as one chapter per month, covering the Nazi progress into Austria, Czechoslovaki, and more, and the beginnings of "cleansing" that became the holocaust. Kind of who's who of Nazis but sometimes it seems like a pile of names.
Jun 22, 2011
Raimo
rated it:
This is sobering history. The melancholy fact that Hitler might've been stopped at several points before bringing about the cataclsym of WW II is profoundly disturbing. A good addition to the scholarship regarding the Third Reich.
May 25, 2010
Kipi
rated it: 
2.5 stars
"Masterful narrative"?? I must have read the wrong version. Certainly a great deal of good information, but very, very dry. Even as a reader fascinated by WWII history, I had to force myself to finish it. Rarely does a book take me longer than a week to finish, but this one took a month.
"Masterful narrative"?? I must have read the wrong version. Certainly a great deal of good information, but very, very dry. Even as a reader fascinated by WWII history, I had to force myself to finish it. Rarely does a book take me longer than a week to finish, but this one took a month.
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