Book Review: Rise of the Third Reich

Okay, interesting book. Not for everyone, though, just us history buffs. One should have a basic understanding of European history in the 20th century to take on this book. It is a little academic, but well written. Extremely thorough. Richard Evans (the author) examines many aspects of life in the inter-war period in Germany between 1918 to 1933 when Hitler came to power. You come away with an idea of the chaos, both social and economic that led Germany to control by the Nazis.

Evans does a good job of tracking each aspect of how the Nazis gained and consolidated their power. I've been very interested in this subject for a long time, as I have always wondered how it happened that someone like Hitler not only came to power, but was able to carry out his diabolical agenda. I've also puzzled over the culpability of the German people at the time in Hitler's agenda of exterminating the Jewish people. Evans makes it clear that Hitler is very up-front about not only his loathing of the Jews, blaming them for the defeat in World War I, but his desire to "exterminate" them as early as the mid-1920s. It is impossible for me to believe that the Germans did not know that this was Hitler's agenda. There is also an interesting confluence of fear, anger, propaganda, junk science, and racism that propel the Nazis to power. The feeling I walked away with is that freedom of speech and freedom of the flow and discovery of information is essential to maintaining a healthy society.

I would highly recommend Evans book to fellow history-geeks like myself-- If you're a news junkie, you watch C-SPAN and have read many, many history books, you will dig this book and the good news is it is a first in a series about Hitler's rise to power. If you are a NORMAL person, well, maybe the whole Hitler thing would be a downer on your summer.

I probably won't post a new book review for awhile, as now I have started on McCollough's huge book "Truman"- I've been meaning to read it for years, so I will be spending the first part of my summer with a very engaging personality, Harry Truman.