Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich

William Shirer's comprehensive treatment of the curious rise and horrific fall of the Nazis in post-Weimar Germany is the benchmark volume to measure all other treatments of the era by. There are so many monographs on Nazi Germany that one reels before the list looming in a relevant bibliography. Save yourself the trouble; this book gives one exactly the kind of complete immersion in and coverage of the realities of the era that too many of the other books lack. Shirer, an American journalist stationed in Berlin as a newspaper (and later radio) correspondant during the rise of the National Socialists, was there, on the ground and at the scene witnessing many of the events he describes in such detail.

He has, of course, written extensively on these experiences, both herein and elsewhere in books like 'The Nightmare Years' and 'Berlin Diary'. But this book has to be considered his masterpiece, and is worth the time, trouble and price for this hefty best-selling volume. After all, it has never been out of print in the forty years since its original publication in the early 1960s. I promise that if you read this, you'll never think of World War Two in the same way. It is indeed a long and difficult read, but one that is well worth the effort. Enjoy!


Important but flawed   February 24, 2000
John A. Cusey (Houston, TX USA)
82 out of 92 found this review helpful

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of this book. It was the first comprehensive popular history of Nazi Germany to appear in English, and it is probably more responsible than any other single source for shaping the way that Americans think about Nazi Germany, World War II, and the Holocaust. More than that, this is an estimable work of history. Shirer has done an admirable job of combing through the mountains of primary source material that the Nazis left behind and assembling a coherent and comprehensible narrative from it.

Of course, it would be a mistake to view this book as simply or even primarily a work of history. It is intended as an indictment of the evil and barbarity that the Nazis perpetrated in Germany and across Europe for more than twelve years and as an indictment of the men and women in Germany, in France, in Great Britain, and elsewhere who allowed that evil and barbarity to occur. Shirer is not content to point out that Hitler and Himmler and Goering and Frank were monsters; he also is intent on showing how complicit the German Army and the German people were in what happened and how the ignorance, stupidity, and cowardice of the politicians of the West and the Soviet Union actively assisted Hitler's monstosities in coming to pass.

The reader can almost visualize Shirer shaking in outrage when he considers the evil Hitler wrought with the help of the rest of Europe. This outrage is, in many ways, both the book's greatest asset and its greatest shortcoming. While Shirer's indignation makes this a great moral work, it also causes him to be more than a little unfair to some of his subjects and to present the history as being more one-dimensional than it in fact was. Shirer never tells, for example, that one of the principal reasons that Chamberlain and Daladier were willing to appease Hitler was that the Depression had bankrupted both Britain and France. They believed that they could not afford to rearm so that they could stop Hitler militarily, and so they sought to get the best deals they could at the bargaining table. Their policy was, of course, dangerously short-sighted, but it is unfair to both men to suggest that their policy was almost solely the result of cowardice.

Then, too, is the fact that Shirer almost invariably describes Rosenberg as a befuddled dolt, Goering as fat, and Ribbentrop as vacuous. It is readily apparent to the reader that he does so because he feels he must constantly reiterate their lack of praiseworthiness, but it is disconcerting to the reader. I am at a loss to explain what Goering's girth has to do with anything, or what it was about Rosenberg's writing that made him any stupider that most Nazis. While I believe that Ribbentrop deserves almost all of the calumny that can be heaped on him, Shirer never makes a real case for his vacuity.

Finally, it must be said that Shirer appears to run out of steam towards the end of the book. All of World War II is covered in the last 25% of the book, and many important topics, including the Holocaust, get short shrift as a result.

These criticisms should not be taken to mean that I believe that this book is not meritorious or that it should not be read. On the contrary: one would be hard-pressed to find a better, more comprehensible, more accessible one volume book about Nazi Germany. It ought to be the starting point (but not the ending point) for anyone interested in World War II or Nazi Germany.


Unfortunately, it's a Must Read   February 19, 1999
Steven Fantina (Phillipsburg, NJ USA)
57 out of 76 found this review helpful

William Shirer was well qualified to write this all-to-necessary book. As a war correspondent, he lived in Nazi Germany, covering the darkest chapter in human history thoroughly and objectively as possible. This 50-year old classic is a story that tragically is not told very factually anymore.

This book should be read to counterbalance all the misinformation that now envelops the Third Reich. While the politically correct spin often claims that Christianity is responsible for massacre of the Jews-the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC is founded on such fatuity--this book details Hitler's hatred and oppression of Catholics and Protestants. He imprisoned thousands of priests, nuns, and ministers in Germany and warned that he would exterminate all clerics in Poland who failed to preach his message. Shortly after seizing power he ordered all churches to replace the crucifix with a swastika and to substitute Mein Kampf for the Bible-not exactly what the radical liberal left likes to teach about this evil dictator, who in reality despised Christianity as much as he abhorred Judaism. Pope Pius who today is regularly singled out as being insensitive to nazi atrocities is evidenced to have been one of the few vociferous voices who repeatedly denounced nazism from its earliest days.

Another current myth debunked is the nazis' systematic annihilation of homosexuals. The book documents that many of the founders of nazism were in fact homosexuals themselves. When innocent homosexuals were brutally murdered it was during Hitler's purges of party members who had aroused his suspicions. Often these targeted gay advisers were caught in the company of innocent young men who were killed along with their nazi lovers. Even Hitler's questionable sexual preference is alluded to in this voluminous narrative.

The most shocking aspect of the book is its portrayal of Hitler's incredible ability to manipulate. He did not gain his power by force or treachery-rather he was one of the most skillful politicians in history. When he gave a speech, he could feel the German people's pain. He promised a brighter future for the all the citizens, and skillfully avoided discussing his fanatical plans in his campaign stemwinders. As a politician he accomplished a great deal. He gave Germany a booming economy, low unemployment rates, and his approval ratings were high right up until the end. Obviously, he failed in providing moral leadership, but The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich does a remarkable job of detailing how the one of the most evil people in history was able to assume and maintain so much power for so long. It should serve as a warning for all generations to come.

At 1500+ pages, it is an endeavor, but it's a story that must be told and more importantly it must be ACCURATELY told. Far too many innocent lives were wiped out by the depravity of nazism to let the story be doctored to suit the purposes of special interest groups. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is that rare work that truly dissects a historical period in a very readable fashion.


A great book to read, notably by scholars...   October 19, 2006
Mr Bassil A MARDELLI (Riad El-SOLH , Beirut Lebanon)
53 out of 57 found this review helpful

The late William Shirer left us one of the very few sober accounts written about Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The credence of this book lays in the fact that the author lived in Germany, witnessed and felt the pulse of the WWII events.
We do not see many silly `labelling' of Adolph Hitler `the mad man', his `illegitimate father'. Or Hitler loitering the street of Vienna `roaming on his face', having failed his exams at National Art Academy, deciding to avenge from Austria `to vindicate his honour'.

In this book we can learn the early events that led to WWII.
We can see how Churchill's reticence to respond to many peace overtures Hitler offered in 1939 and after - when the British and French leaders were fighting much among themselves - hampered the quest for reconciliation.

Shirer spoke the language and mixed with the German people, he ate with them, rode their buses, listened to their radio, read their newspapers, and what is appreciable though is nowhere in the book one can see accusations that Hitler was a world threat - no wonder why the author was blacklisted in the early fifties for his daring and open-minded views.

Shirer couldn't have possibly seen how Paul Reynaud, the French Premier, listened to his mistress - Madame Helene de Portes - to sign the armistice with Germany at the time Churchill was equivocal with his promises to help France when Roosevelt was unprepared.
Shirer wrote on Page 740 "Hitler was determined above all not to allow the French Fleet to fall into the hands of the British"........."the armistice terms were designed to keep a French government functioning on French soil, and the French Fleet neutralized"... Whereas Churchill had aimed at getting the fleet scuttled because he was not sure the French were able to fight from North Africa, and sending the fleet to British waters would have been a liability on GB. Churchill would be held responsible for French towns destruction from the German air raids `as long as Britain held the French fleet'.

This is a great book to read, and a must read by scholars....