Timothy

A good biography with a different viewpoint

Revisado: 10-10-19

An interesting contrarian biography of Hitler. A good read, but not for those without a prior background in the subject. This is a political biography and not in any way an account of his personal life.

In the beginning the author outlines three points he intends to develop:

1. “Hitler’s principal preoccupation throughout his career was Anglo-America and global capitalism, rather than the Soviet Union and Bolshevism”
2. “Hitler’s view of the German Volk–even when purged of Jews and other ‘undesirables’–was highly ambivalent, reflecting a sense of inferiority by comparison with the ‘Anglo-Saxons”
3. “we have–for very understandable reasons–focused too much on Hitler’s murderous ‘negative eugenics’ against the Jews and other ‘undesirables’ and not enough on what he regarded as his ‘positive eugenics’, which were designed to ‘elevate’ the German people to the level of their British and American rivals."

The second and third points are used mainly to support the first.

Most biographies of Hitler have looked east to the Soviet Union and focused on his obsession with “Jewish Bolshevism” as the primary driver of his beliefs and actions. This biography looks west and presents Hitler’s perception of Anglo-America, global capitalism and the generations of German immigrants that made such a vital contribution to America (to the detriment of Germany) as the primary driver of his beliefs and actions.

The author brings to light a great deal of important information either neglected or omitted in other works on Hitler. There is a wealth of new material here that is critical in understanding Hitler and how the evil he unleashed developed. But in swinging the pendulum west, the author neglects the role the Soviet Union and communism played in Hitler’s thinking and planning. What is needed here is also needed in other biographies – a balance that looks both east and west for an explanation of Hitler. This in no way diminishes the important information the author presents. But the reader should be aware that both east and west were significant factors in Hitler’s thinking and planning and that there is more to the story than what is presented here (or in any other single biography). This focus west sometimes leads to some distortions (my opinion) regarding the weight the author places on Anglo American actions and the effect they had on the Nazi war effort (such as the impact of bombing and the campaign in North Africa) as compared with Soviet actions.

The original research the author did on the development of Hitler’s thinking from 1919 – 1925 is very impressive. He makes an attempt at finding a unifying thread in Hitler’s thinking / philosophy and gets off to a good start here. But at some point (probably around 1925) Hitler’s thinking is consumed by the pursuit of power and his “philosophy” becomes whatever fits a particular time and circumstance. What he says depends almost entirely on his audience and his intentions at that moment and can and often is completely disconnected from what has come before or will come after.

The author avoids rewriting much that has already been written exhaustively about Hitler. The use of Rosenberg’s writings is interesting (and a welcome relief from the same quotations from Goebbels). This is not just another rewriting of his life using the same information, same evidence, same stories. This will make the book very interesting for people who have already read much about Hitler. But on the opposite side, this is not an ideal book for someone who has not read other biographies of Hitler (Ian Kershaw’s “Hitler” is a much better starting point). The lack of information about the impact Albert Speer had on Hitler’s understanding of the United States is disappointing given Speer’s role in industrial reorganization / management. The same could be said of Joseph Goebbels’ role in the tension between those that looked east and those that looked west for a solution to the post 1941 failing war effort.

The reader should have some knowledge of the Third Reich and the Holocaust before reading this work (Richard Evan’s “The Third Reich in Power” and Henry Friedlander’s “The Origins of Nazi Genocide” are excellent). This is not a history of the Third Reich, the Holocaust or World War II – it is a political biography of Hitler. Since the author brings to light much about Hitler’s thinking regarding the United States and Britain, the reader should consider "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" by Lawrence James, “The American West and the Nazi East” by Carol Kakel and “Hitler's Ostkrieg and the Indian Wars" by Edward B. Westermann as excellent companions for this book. "Hitler's 'National Community': Society and Culture in Nazi Germany" by Lisa Pine would also be excellent to read with / after this biography.

Overall a good biography, definitely one with a different viewpoint. It has flaws like all biographies, but the different viewpoint makes it a worthwhile read with an important perspective.

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esto le resultó útil a 22 personas

Excellent

Revisado: 08-31-19

Excellent

Three areas stand out

1. The Kirov murder. The author points out evidence that Stalin and his team may have played some role in his death. He doesn't draw any conclusions but leaves the reader with much to think about
2. The book is not a biography of Stalin or a history of Stalinism. It is the story of how Stalin's inner circle developed, how they enabled the transition from oligarchy to autocracy and the role they played in facilitating Stalinist terror.
3. The role Khrushchev played in the purges

A good companion to Stephen Kotkin's biography of Stalin

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Excellent

Revisado: 05-16-19

Very interesting, well balanced, readable book. It held my interest from beginning to end. The overall topic is so broad it would be easy for a book to be too superficial or myopic, but the author very successfully balances covering a broad scope with meaningful detail. The author is very influenced by Ian Kershaw and his “working toward the Führer” thesis which provides the foundation that guides and supports the book. No one interested in this terrible period of history will be disappointed with this book. Having some understanding of what was going on in Germany at the time is essential before reading this work, Richard J. Evans book “The Third Reich in Power, 1933-1939” would provide this understanding. It would also be helpful to have some understanding of the culture of Weimar Germany before reading this, “Weimar Culture” by Peter Gay would be a good choice.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Excellent Historiography not intended as a history

Revisado: 02-17-19

This is not a history of the Holocaust or a biography of Hitler.

This is historiography not history and very specifically the historiography associated with the author, who is a major figure in research and writing about the the Third Reich. It is a collection of his (mostly) unedited essays over time on the subject. If you are familiar with the debates, scholarship and writing on the Third Reich (for example, Functionalism versus intentionalism) this will be an excellent resource for understanding how the pieces evolved and controversies fit together. Specifically it shows the development of Kershaw's "Leader Principle" (Führerprinzip) / "Working towards the Führer" theory which has had a major impact on this field of study.

Excellent book, but not what some people may be expecting.

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esto le resultó útil a 16 personas

Good brief biography

Revisado: 02-17-19

Good brief biography. Not a complete chronological narrative of his life but a collection of "snapshots" that highlight important or interesting moments in his life. A good summary for those that are new to Madison's life but you should understand the events that surrounded his life. The author reasonably assumes you know the context of his subject's life. For example if you do not understand the events that led to and transpired during the War of 1812 much of this section will not make sense. If you don't understand the development of the first party system and the differences and history between the Federalists and Republicans, much of the material presented will not be meaningful. The author provides an unvarnished look at Madison the person, the good and the bad, the consistencies and contradictions. Not much detail at all, but the material selected is important and informative and the presentation is interesting and memorable.

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Magnificent

Revisado: 12-27-18

You will not be disappointed with this book. The author dives beyond superficial story lines and seeks to understand this enormously complex event as it was experienced by Russians - Bolsheviks, their ideological adversaries and the average Russian as it happened. This is not just "another" retelling of the Russian Revolution - it is the telling of the Russian Revolution as Russians experienced it.

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esto le resultó útil a 12 personas

A Real Life Dystopian Nightmare

Revisado: 08-31-18

It’s hard to even begin to explain the tragedy detailed in this book. It reads like a horrible dystopian nightmare that people cannot wake up from and often don’t even understand they are in. It’s hard to imagine that this world ever existed, but it was very real for millions.

Soviet repression and Stalinism is rightly associated with the Gulag and the extensive network of Soviet prisons. But compared to the entire population, only a small part of Russian society experienced these places. This work explores what happened to the rest of Russian society (it is a book that primarily looks at urban Russia, but much of it could be expanded to the broader Soviet Union).

It details the repressive Soviet “social engineering” experiment, the attempt to control every facet of life – where they lived, who they lived with, where they went to school, who went to school, where you worked, what, when and where you ate. It demonstrates the relentless attempt to destroy every vestige of private life and with it a person’s sense of being an individual. It also shows how ordinary people coped with living in such a oppressive system and how they attempted to mitigate it and maintain some small piece of private life and individuality as a form of resistance to the destruction all around them.

The narration in the audiobook is excellent

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esto le resultó útil a 20 personas

Wonderful book by a talented writer and historian

Revisado: 08-24-18

Excellent and thought provoking. Like any good work on history, the reader will be left with many new questions and many fresh ideas to explore further. I was constantly wanting to put this down and explore the issues it raised, but the author consistently keeps you with him until the end.

Two items struck me the most while reading. The first is the relationship between the development of Clay and the development of Kentucky. Was Clay’s development more a product of Kentucky’s experience, or did Clay have the greater influence on Kentucky’s development? How mutual was the influence? I started believing that the two had more or less equal influence on each other, a back and forth push pull as they developed together. I was left feeling that Kentucky was more of an influence on Clay than he was on Kentucky, a conclusion I don’t think the author would share, but the one I was left with. It is an interesting open question in my mind and left me wanting to read more about the early life of Kentucky.

The second was the person of John J. Crittenden. He is usually more of a background figure in history, a piece of furniture the actors work around. This is clearly not the case and this work leaves you wanting to know more about him. Hopefully we will see a new biography of this important figure. This author would be an excellent choice to write such a book.

The audiobook narration is excellent. James Foster is wonderful. Tantor Audio meets its usual high standard.

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esto le resultó útil a 7 personas

Wonderful book by a talented writer and historian

Revisado: 07-20-18

This is a wonderful book by a talented writer and historian. As the title suggests, the continuity between Roman times and the early middle ages is an important theme in the work. The author blends secular and ecclesiastical history together in a way that never becomes tedious and provides insight into both the eastern and western inheritance of Rome and the post-Roman Islamic world. It never bogs down in political history and gives the reader a view of the social and cultural history of the period. The narration is great, 32hrs by any single narrator can get stale, but this one never does. Highly recommended

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esto le resultó útil a 29 personas

A fresh and different look at Stalin

Revisado: 08-24-17

Would you consider the audio edition of Stalin, Volume I to be better than the print version?

No. Unfortunately the audio version seems to omit any parenthetical statements in the text and these are valuable. If you're using Immersion Reading this is noticeable.

What three words best describe Paul Hecht’s voice?

Nice pacing and inflection. I rated the performance one star because unfortunately the audio version seems to omit any parenthetical statements in the text and these are valuable. If you're using Immersion Reading this is noticeable.

Any additional comments?

I believe what makes this volume special is how it shows Stalin's connection to the historical context of Russia and Europe -especially in regards to Germany - and does so without becoming meaningless Freudian psycho-history. The author also makes excellent use of primary source quotes that will be very helpful for teachers. Here is a passage that I think demonstrates these points:

"But Kamenev went far beyond separating Stalin from Bukharin. We are against creating a “leader” theory, we’re against building up a “leader.” We are against the idea that the secretariat, by combining both policy and organization in practice, should stand above the main political organ, that is, the politburo. . . . Personally, I suggest that our general secretary is not someone who is capable of unifying the old Bolshevik headquarters around himself. . . . Precisely because I have spoken on numerous occasions with Comrade Stalin, precisely because I have spoken on numerous occasions with a group of Lenin’s comrades, I say here at the Congress: I have come to the conclusion that Comrade Stalin cannot perform the function of unifying the Bolshevik headquarters. Kamenev, as he uttered these remarkable words, was interrupted repeatedly, and the jeering became nearly deafening: “Untrue!” “Nonsense.” “So that’s what they’re up to.” “Stalin! Stalin!” The delegates rise and salute Comrade Stalin. Stormy applause. . . . “Long live Comrade Stalin.” Prolonged stormy applause. Shouts of “Hurrah.” General commotion. The published stenogram continued: “Yevdokimov, from his seat: ‘Long live the Russian Communist Party! Hurrah! Hurrah!’ (The delegates stand and shout ‘Hurrah!’ Noise. Stormy, long-sustained applause) (Yevdokimov, from his seat) ‘Long live the central committee of our party! Hurrah!’ (The delegates shout ‘Hurrah!’) ‘The party above all! Right!’ (Applause and shouts, ‘Hurrah!’)”332 Stalin never had a birthday like this (nor would he again)."

This three volume biography will be a great compliment to Anne Applebaum's works on Stalinism - Gulag, Red Famine, and Iron Curtain
Highly recommended

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas