Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date Published: 1960
Description: Acceptable. Missing dust jacket. Well used. Still readable but not for the collector. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Binding: Mass market pb
Publisher: Fawcett, New York
Date Published: [1960]
Description: Good. No dust jacket, as issued. Cover has a few minor scratches, page slightly yellowing, o/w near VG. Unknown printing. xiii, 1599 p. 18 cm. Fawcett crest book C1307. Bibliography: p. 1533-1545. On cover: "The Famous $10 Best Seller Complete and Unabridged" read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1960
Description: Fair. No dust jacket. some cover wear, top back cover corner clipped, text good, unmarked, some aging. 1245 p. 25 cm. Includes bibliographies. read more
Edition: First edition. Stated First Printing.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1960
Description: Good. No dust jacket. Clean, tight, square, unmarked, no pos. Several rubs, one scuffed corner, two bumped corners. Hinged at first signature but binding still tight and intact. Missing DJ. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 1245 p. 25 cm. Endpaper maps. LCCN 606729. Clean, square. Unmarked First/First. No previous owner names. Shows some hinging at between first and second signatures. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1960
ISBN-13:9780671624217ISBN:0671624210
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 2 Volume box set. Box shows some minor shelf wear as do both books. 2 volume set. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. Two Volume Box Set. Volume One: The Rise; Volume Two: The Fall. Total of 1245 pp. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1960
Description: Good in poor dust jacket. DJ has heavy shelf wear, most of spine section has been torn off, binding is fairly tight and square, pages are unmarked. 1245 p. 25 cm. Includes bibliographies. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1960
Description: Good. No dust jacket. brown cloth book is in good condition has some soiling on bottom page edges. Spine has wear on top edge. Unknown printing. 1245 p. 23 cm. Includes bibliographies. read more
"Hard to put down. Very good, but two major weaknesses: in Shirer's intense hatred for the Nazis he makes them too clownish to have been able to accomplish what they did. Easy to understand, but better if we came to share his feelings through a more dispassionate presentation of facts - they're more than sufficient. And even near 1200 pages it needs a few more - he sometimes leaves out background that would explain how important situations came to be, especially military and industrial ones. One day Hitler takes a wild gamble against vastly superior French forces by reoccupying the Rhineland; a few months later he has the most powerful military machine in Europe making mincemeat out of Poland overnight. We know the factories were humming in violation of Versailles, but what was produced when and in what numbers isn't much explained, nor how the army was grown so rapidly. And one day there are no German troops in Italy, then suddenly they're spread around the peninsula. How they got there and when, where, how many, what types of divisions - are hardly explained. (There are better explanations of these things when Germany confronts Russia in the East and the Allies in the West.)
Shirer also doesn't explain much about German developments of new military tactics and technologies, which were crucial to the Third Reich's rapid conquest of Europe (and to modern warfare generally) - these just appear with invasions and battles. Granted this is a history of the Reich, not a military history per se, but the Reich's history is as much military as anything else (though Shirer does shed interesting light on Germany's recovery from the Depression under the Nazis).
Both problems are probably partly due to the book's being written so soon after the events; Shirer seems to assume his reader is an informed person who lived during the war. Valuable as it is, the book's a reminder of why historians are skeptical of writing recent history. But it's still a classic and a page-turner at that. Also Shirer, besides having been a journalist in Germany from before Hitler's rise until 1940 (or '41?), did an enormous amount of research using a wealth of primary sources. This direct experience and considerable research probably make the book a must-read, but one to be supplemented."
"Shirer wrote what many people consider the comprehensive history of the Hitler era. I have to fault him for being TOO prejudiced against Hitler; there are limits to everything, and Hitler did do some good things for Germany despite the very many bad things that he did. The most important part of this book is the description of steps Hitler took after coming to power to consolidate his power and establish the dictatorship. America seems to have completely ignored the powerful lessons to be learned from here in its recent history, especially in the Bush years. Any political grouping should take note of this section and avoid allowing it to be duplicated: the consequences of failing to do show loom large in history and on the map of Europe. What the book fails to establish, and should, is that this history can be duplicated anywhere and at anytime. Such antics as happened were not a peculiar aberration attributable to Hitler's strange personality, but are possible in any society which surrenders its power to criticise its leaders and fails to hold them accountable for their errors."
"This book gives a real insight into how the upper echelons of Nazi Germany thought. Shirer (the author) was in Nazi Germany during WW2 and gives some of his own personal accounts (few and far between each other, so that the book does not read like an autobiography), which gives the history a personal touch. Shirer's history is backed up by an extensive bibliography, which he brags about in his intro, gives the book a real history lecture feel ( I love history, so it was great). The only minus is that Shirer, like most historians, cannot help but add his own moral commentary and condemnation of Nazi Germany, which gives the book an angry feel instead of an objective one. (Even though I-and most of the world- agree with all of his moral outrage.) Over all it is a great history book which anyone who is getting into the history of one of the most evil regimes that ever existed should read."
"Started this Bible-sized book in early June, in Berlin, taken me until yesterday to get through it. Very well-written and readable history. Particularly noteworthy sections on Hitler's early life, historical and philosophical influences on Hitler (and company), the maneuvering to usurp power. Tragic to read about one weaker neighbor after the next underestimating, miscalculating or being bullied by Hitler to the loss of their sovereignty. One moves into a sense of near hopelessness, until the totally outmatched Poles nonetheless make a stand, and invasions of Britain and Russia (the latter is a particularly fascinating read) come up just short, the first checks on the German war machine that quickly become a turning tide. The long glimpse into Hitler's New Order left me with the same nauseated feeling I had after visiting the Holocaust Museum. New insight into the almost hapless Mussolini, in his mind leader of a great power, while in the field and in relations with Hitler, proven to be something else entirely. Countless illustrations of propaganda's effectiveness, and the importance of a free and well-functioning press. Several case studies in civ-mil relations, the failures of politicians to heed their generals' counsel. Valkyrie detailed like a thriller. Lastly, you're there with Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and the others as the wheels quickly start to come off, men who had enriched themselves and victimized millions, reduced to cowering Saddam-like in their spider holes as the Russians and Americans close in.
Frequent comparisons in our day, from all sides, to Hitler and the Nazis. The cold, cruel, calculated, unapologetic and merciless evil I encountered in this book leave me that much more skeptical of those comparisons than I was before.
It's a commitment to get through, but a great read...just a great, historical read."
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