Almost since its initial publication in 1959, William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has been regarded as a classic text in the canon of historical narratives documenting Germany under Nazi rule. I've never been an aficionado of this material, but I became interested in the history of mid 20th century Germany following a trip to Berlin and reading Richard Bessel's "Germany 1945: From War to Peace" and Erik Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts." Shirer's enormous tome was something that I had wanted to attempt since then but I found its length a bit daunting. While it certainly does require dedicated reading time (and lots of it), it is undeniably a complete, thorough and highly readable history, worthy of the critical praise it has garnered over the decades. Shirer offers a unique perspective among historians of this era since he witnessed many of the events surrounding the rise of the Nazis while serving as a foreign correspondent for CBS radio. The eyewitness aspect of his account, coupled with the fact that it was written relatively soon after the events of World War II lend it a powerful sense of reality in that many histories, often written long after the events being chronicled, may feel "diluted" or slightly fictionalized. Shirer's effort feels very "of the moment," when the horrors of World War II and its aftermath were still fresh in the global consciousness. I've often been baffled over how an advanced western culture like that of 20th century Germany could have ever descended into fascism and totalitarian rule. Shirer's narrative suggests several primary factors: (1) the extremely punitive reparations imposed on Germany by the allies following World War I; (2) the economic deprivations of the 1920s and 30s (often tied to those reparations); (3) the fact that Germans had never known true democracy made them somewhat predisposed to leadership from the top, down; (4) the inherent weakness and ineffectiveness of the Weimar Republic; and (5) the political craftiness of Adolph Hitler who, despite being the embodiment of human evil and megalomania, was a gifted politician who knew precisely how to outmaneuver his opponents at every turn. Momentous points in history often turn on such confluences of unique conditions. Shirer covers all of these conditions in detail such that the reader has a very clear sense of the atmosphere of Germany and the mind of the German people during Hitler's rise from obscurity, to prominence and ultimately, to complete dominance. Hitler's political maneuverings during the 1920s and early 1930s make for fascinating reading as Shirer documents all the points at which history could have easily taken a different path but did not. Of course, most will be familiar with the major events of World War II but Shirer devotes many pages to the politics leading up to Hitler's initial conquests. He relies on reams of documents made available through capture at the War's conclusion to trace the discussions, negotiations and demands made between the German state and its weaker neighbors, all of whom would eventually come to be controlled by the Nazi party. These communications offer a true insight not only into the minds of the Nazis but also of their enablers like Neville Chamberlain and his feckless administration. Fresh from the horrors of the first World War, Europe's leaders were prepared to do almost anything to avoid a second massive conflict. They never imagined that their efforts to avoid it would actually set its stage. There were times when I felt that Shirer provided almost too many direct quotations from official governmental communiques and diplomatic documents, to the point where they became somewhat repetitive. It's my only real criticism of the book and the only reason that I deducted one star from my rating. So much of the book is dedicated to the politics of Nazi germany and its interactions with other governments that it almost seemed like a straight-ahead military and political history. I wondered: where is the coverage of Nazi atrocities? I needn't have wondered. They're covered in full detail towards the end of the book. Every time one is tempted to think that they cannot be further shocked by the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, there's always more. The capacity to be shocked where these men were concerned seems to know no limits. Shirer does his duty to remind anyone who reads his book of precisely how evil human beings can be when under the thrall of a immoral leadership. At the end, I was thankful to reach the conclusion of "Rise and Fall." Not because it's not a well-written history, but because the horrors and national insanity that it documents become difficult to bear after a while. I felt relieved that I had the freedom to simply walk away from this history without ever having had to live through any part of it.

This was a good read for many and I study the Nazis. This was impressive because this reporter was in Berlin seeing the lies and murderous plots happening first hand. The author went back later to see the Nazi residue in Nuremburg. I amazed at the amount of suffering inflicted with so callous an attitude. It was interesting to see Hitler’s thinking and the level of anger he rose to when confronted by ideas opposite to him.

Factual and dry. Does not delve into the origins of the hearts and minds of Germans of the 20th century, whose philosophers back to Kant and Plato had injected the seeds of National Socialism. Only philosophy is powerful enough to turn tens of millions of people into a nation of murderers. But definitely a worthwhile read. Every schoolchild should read this. And every secondary school should teach a one-year class on just this book alone.

I’ve always wanted to get to this book in my studies on WW2. I mainly read about the American Civil War and the Roman Empire, but about a 3 years ago I decided to focus more on biographies. Discovered the Amazing Allison Weir, and Margaret George. Special shout to Margaret who’s Memoirs of Cleopatra had me read 4 straight books on Women of the Roman world. Sorry I digress, but the point was after all that I was wanting to get back to my typical type of historic read and felt it was time for Mr. Shirers detailed history of Nazi Germany. My one knock against this book is the Swastikas on cover and spine. I’m not offended by it because I look at it from the historical nature, plus know my book is in no way pro third Reich, but I got some looks on a few flights I took while reading this book. In this day and age I think it’s best to keep that symbol off reading material regardless of historical importance it’s not needed, and gives people the wrong impression. Outside of that this is truly the best book on the Third Reich I have ever read. Not only the amazing detail and information, but William Shrirer has the personal experience and journalistic background that make his take perfect for the source material. He covers the various takes on controversial military decisions made by Hitler. He knows when to display the atrocities and evil of the Nazi Regime, and when to tell the objective viewpoint. You can tell this man spent a lot of time and chose his words carefully to limit his personal bias when it was important to be objective. A true masterpiece of history, and amazing post war study combined with his own first hand accounts. Structured masterfully, told truthfully, and brings a lunchbox style work ethic to explain a dense two decades of history.