Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis - Softcover

Kershaw, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140272399 ISBN 13: 9780140272390

Publisher: Penguin, 2001

Synopsis

Winner of the Wolfson Prize for History, Ian Kershaw's Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis is the concluding second volume of one of the greatest biographies of modern times.

No figure in twentieth century history more clearly demands a close biographical understanding than Adolf Hitler; and no period is more important than the Second World War.

Beginning with Hitler's startling European successes in the aftermath of the Rhineland occupation, from Czechoslovakia to Poland; addressing crucial questions about the unique nature of Nazi radicalism; exploring the Holocaust and the poisoned European world that allowed Hitler to operate so effectively; and ending nine years later with the suicide in the Berlin bunker, Kershaw allows us as never before to understand Hitler's motivation and impact.

'Magisterial ... anyone who wishes to understand the third reich must read Kershaw, for no on has done more to lay bare Hitler's morbid psyche'
  Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph

'An achievement of the very highest order ... a marvellous book'
  Michael Burleigh, Financial Times

'No previous biographer has examined Hitler's devilishness in Kershaw's detail ... his book is so comprehensive, so richly documented and so judicious that it will not soon be superseded'
  Daniel Johnson, Daily Telegraph

Ian Kershaw's other books include Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis, Making Friends with Hitler, Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World 1940-4 and The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45. Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis received the Wolfson History Prize and the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austria for Political Book of the Year, and was joint winner of the inaugural British Academy Book Prize.

About this title

Review:

George VI thought him a "damnable villain" and Neville Chamberlain found him not quite a gentleman, but to the rest of the world Adolf Hitler has come to personify modern evil to such an extent that his biographers have always faced an unenviable task. The two most renowned biographies of Hitler--by Joachim C Fest (Hitler) and by Alan Bullock (Hitler: A Study in Tyranny)--painted a picture of individual tyranny which, in the words of AJP Taylor, left Hitler guilty and every other German innocent. Decades of scholarship on German society under the Nazis now make that verdict unsafe, and so the modern biographer of Hitler must account both for his terrible mindset and his charismatic appeal. In the second and final volume of his mammoth biography of Hitler, covering the climax of Nazi power, the reclamation of German-speaking Europe, and the horrific unfolding of the final solution in Poland and Russia, Ian Kershaw manages to achieve both these tasks. Following on from Hitler: Hubris 1889-1936 the epic Hitler: Nemesis 1936-1945 takes the reader from the adulation and hysteria of Hitler's electoral victory in 1936 to the obsessive and remote "bunker" mentality which enveloped the Fuhrer as Operation Barbarossa (the attack on Russia in 1942) proved the beginning of the end. Chilling yet objective: a definitive work.--Miles Taylor

Review:

Winner of the Wolfson History Prize, the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austria for Political Book of the Year, and the inaugural British Academy Book Prize. (Prizes and awards)

Magisterial ... anyone who wishes to understand the third reich must read Kershaw, for no on has done more to lay bare Hitler's morbid psyche (Niall Ferguson Sunday Telegraph)

An achievement of the very highest order ... Kershaw communicates a genuine sense of tension as Hitler embarked on ever-riskier stratagems, bringing a fresh eye to the over-familiar diplomatic or military story ... a marvellous book (Michael Burleigh Financial Times)

Extraordinarily convincing ... I do not know any other Hitler biography that so coolly, factually and devastatingly presents the phenomena of "obedience" and charisma (Gitta Sereny The Times)

For the present generation, Kershaw's Hitler stands as our clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity (Craig Brown Mail on Sunday)

No previous biographer has examined Hitler's devilishness in Kershaw's detail ... his book is so comprehensive, so richly documented and so judicious that it will not soon be superseded (Daniel Johnson Daily Telegraph)

A riveting narrative ... the text positively crackles with fascinating insights and interesting perceptions ... this is unquestionably an outstanding biography (Frank McLynn Herald)

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0140272399
• ISBN 13: 9780140272390
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1115