biography hitler book

• Biographies & Memoirs

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } -23% $24.57 $ 24 . 57 FREE delivery Wednesday, June 12 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select your preferred free shipping option
• Drop off and leave!

Save with Used - Good .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } $14.02 $ 14 . 02 FREE delivery Wednesday, June 12 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Jathal LLC

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the authors

Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography Paperback – January 1, 1992

There is a newer edition of this item:.

Purchase options and add-ons

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian John Toland’s classic, definitive biography of Adolf Hitler remains the most thorough, readable, accessible, and, as much as possible, objective account of the life of a man whose evil effect on the world in the twentieth century will always be felt. Toland’s research provided one of the final opportunities for a historian to conduct personal interviews with over two hundred individuals intimately associated with Hitler. At a certain distance yet still with access to many of the people who enabled and who opposed the führer and his Third Reich, Toland strove to treat this life as if Hitler lived and died a hundred years before instead of within his own memory. From childhood and obscurity to his desperate end, Adolf Hitler emerges as, in Toland’s words, “far more complex and contradictory . . . obsessed by his dream of cleansing Europe Jews . . . a hybrid of Prometheus and Lucifer.”

• Print length 1120 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Anchor
• Publication date January 1, 1992
• Dimensions 6 x 2.55 x 9.2 inches
• ISBN-10 9780385420532
• ISBN-13 978-0385420532
• Lexile measure 1170L
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Similar items that may deliver to you quickly

Editorial Reviews

“The first book that anyone who wants to learn about Hitler or [World War II] in Europe must read. . . . A marvel.” — Newsweek “Toland weaves the epic tapestry of popular history, meshing together thousands of details into monumental narratives of wartime drama.” —Chicago Tribune “An unusually revealing picture . . . highly detailed . . . marvelously absorbing  . . . must be ranked as one of the most complete pictures of Hitler.” — The New York Times “A significant contribution.” — Houston Chronicle

From the Publisher

From the inside flap, from the back cover, about the author.

John Toland, the author of fifteen works of history and fiction, including Infamy: World War II and Its Aftermath , received the Pulitzer Prize for his magisterial Rising Sun: The Decline of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 . Mr. Toland died in 2004.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0385420536
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor; First Edition (January 1, 1992)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1120 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780385420532
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385420532
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1170L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 2.55 x 9.2 inches
• #77 in Fascism (Books)
• #618 in Political Leader Biographies
• #1,072 in World War II History (Books)

About the authors

John toland.

John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 – January 4, 2004) was an American writer and historian. He is best known for a biography of Adolf Hitler and a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II-era Japan, The Rising Sun.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Natalʹi︠a︡ A. Reshetovskai︠a︡

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Giuseppe Lo Duca

Customer reviews.

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography

About this ebook, ratings and reviews.

• Flag inappropriate

About the author

John Toland, the author of fifteen works of history and fiction, including Infamy: Pearl HarborII and Its Aftermath , received the Pulitzer Prize for his magisterial Rising Sun: The Decline of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 . Mr. Toland died in 2004.

Rate this ebook

Reading information, more by john toland.

Similar ebooks

• NONFICTION BOOKS
• BEST NONFICTION 2023
• BEST NONFICTION 2024
• Historical Biographies
• The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies
• Philosophical Biographies
• World War 2
• World History
• American History
• British History
• Chinese History
• Russian History
• Ancient History (up to 500)
• Medieval History (500-1400)
• Military History
• Art History
• Travel Books
• Ancient Philosophy
• Contemporary Philosophy
• Ethics & Moral Philosophy
• Great Philosophers
• Social & Political Philosophy
• Classical Studies
• New Science Books
• Maths & Statistics
• Popular Science
• Physics Books
• Climate Change Books
• How to Write
• English Grammar & Usage
• Books for Learning Languages
• Linguistics
• Political Ideologies
• Foreign Policy & International Relations
• American Politics
• British Politics
• Religious History Books
• Mental Health
• Neuroscience
• Child Psychology
• Film & Cinema
• Opera & Classical Music
• Behavioural Economics
• Development Economics
• Economic History
• Financial Crisis
• World Economies
• Investing Books
• Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
• Data Science Books
• Sex & Sexuality
• Death & Dying
• Food & Cooking
• Sports, Games & Hobbies
• FICTION BOOKS
• BEST NOVELS 2024
• BEST FICTION 2023
• New Literary Fiction
• World Literature
• Literary Criticism
• Literary Figures
• Classic English Literature
• American Literature
• Comics & Graphic Novels
• Fairy Tales & Mythology
• Historical Fiction
• Crime Novels
• Science Fiction
• Short Stories
• South Africa
• United States
• Arctic & Antarctica
• Afghanistan
• Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
• Netherlands
• Kids Recommend Books for Kids
• High School Teachers Recommendations
• Prizewinning Kids' Books
• Popular Series Books for Kids
• BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS (ALL AGES)
• Ages Baby-2
• Books for Teens and Young Adults
• THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS FOR KIDS
• BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2023
• BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS OF 2023
• Best Audiobooks for Kids
• Environment
• Best Books for Teens of 2023
• Best Kids' Books of 2023
• Political Novels
• New History Books
• New Historical Fiction
• New Biography
• New Memoirs
• New World Literature
• New Economics Books
• New Climate Books
• New Math Books
• New Philosophy Books
• New Psychology Books
• New Physics Books
• THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS
• Actors Read Great Books
• Books Narrated by Their Authors
• Best Audiobook Thrillers
• Best History Audiobooks
• Nobel Literature Prize
• Booker Prize (fiction)
• Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction)
• Financial Times (nonfiction)
• Wolfson Prize (history)
• Royal Society (science)
• Pushkin House Prize (Russia)
• Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction)
• Arthur C Clarke Prize (sci fi)
• The Hugos (sci fi & fantasy)
• Audie Awards (audiobooks)

Make Your Own List

History Books » Historical Figures

The best books on hitler, recommended by michael burleigh.

WINNER 2001 Baillie Gifford Prize for nonfiction

The Third Reich: A New History by Michael Burleigh

Hitler has a reputation as the incarnation of evil. But, as British historian Michael Burleigh points out in selecting the best books on the German dictator, Hitler was a bizarre and strangely empty character who never did a proper day's work in his life, as well as a raving fantasist on to whom Germans were able to project their longings.

The Fuehrer by Konrad Heiden

Hitler’s Vienna by Brigitte Hamann

Hitler: The Fuhrer and the People by J P Stern

The Hitler Myth by Ian Kershaw

Hitler by Joachim Fest

1 The Fuehrer by Konrad Heiden

2 hitler’s vienna by brigitte hamann, 3 hitler: the fuhrer and the people by j p stern, 4 the hitler myth by ian kershaw, 5 hitler by joachim fest.

L et’s start with the first of the Hitler books you’ve chosen, The Fuehrer . The author, Konrad Heiden, was a journalist? 

So when you say he got on his case, you mean he got on it in a negative way – he wasn’t a supporter? 

He certainly wasn’t a supporter. Rather than an academic writing about it, he did what any good journalist would do and started to look into Hitler’s finances and his relationships with women and all that sort of stuff. He delved. He got down to the grubby detail.

And what was the grubby detail? 

Well, things like the fact that Hitler was living with his niece and she shot herself in the 20s under odd circumstances. Presumably his intentions or his controlling nature became too onerous. It took some guts to write about that, given that these Nazis were armed and violent people. Money was coming in from all sorts of covert directions with secret donations from businessmen. It’s a better book than all the ponderous tomes on Hitler, because Heiden was actually there – it’s of the time. I think that can be more interesting than people who write about things afterwards.

Did Heiden know Hitler? 

Tell me about the next of your Hitler books, Hitler’s Vienna by Brigitte Hamann. 

Brigitte Hamann was a contemporary Austrian academic who went to great lengths to study his life. It’s quite tricky because Hitler provided his own account in Mein Kampf , which includes an account of his childhood and his time in both Vienna and Munich before and after WWI , so you appear to know. She used an incredible amount of legwork to separate the reality from the mythology. He constructed his whole life, his odyssey, as a form of political mythology.

“He was somebody who never did a day’s work in his life and loafed around, going on a downward trajectory and lived in doss houses before WWI.”

What does the book say Hitler lied about? 

Well, for example, he says he conceived his hatred of Jews when he arrived in Vienna from his home town. The reality was that he was selling his painted picture postcards to Jewish commercial art dealers, who were selling them for him. In the book he says that the people he particularly detests are the eastern Jews from Poland, Orthodox Jews, many of whom were living in Vienna. But there he is having actually quite normal relations with Jewish picture dealers.

You’re surely not trying to suggest that actually Hitler didn’t hate Jews? 

No, no! I’m not saying that. I’m saying it’s a bit more complicated. He stereotypes them by saying they’re wandering about the streets in their beards reeking of garlic, but actually most Jews in Vienna were highly assimilated and he was dealing with them.

What else does Hamann dig out about Hitler in the book? 

Just his bizarre lifestyle, really. He was somebody who never did a day’s work in his life and loafed around, going on a downward trajectory and lived in doss houses before WWI. He didn’t go to Germany until shortly before the war. Ironically, he was Austrian and didn’t become a German citizen until 1932… Did you know that?

I knew he was Austrian . 

But he didn’t get citizenship until 1932, which means that, given his political agitations in the 1920s, he could quite legitimately have been deported if anybody had been minded to deport him. He was trying to avoid serving in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces. He got his papers and fled to Germany.

But why was he in doss houses? He was from a respectable family, wasn’t he? 

Well, it’s more complicated than that. It was quite an extended family with a lot of changes of names and peculiarities. He just didn’t have any money, he didn’t work – and there was no social security net, so he went down.

How did he creep up again? 

By going to Germany. He claimed that Austria-Hungary was a kind of multi-cultural mishmash that he wouldn’t have wanted to fight for anyway. Whereas, of course, Germany was a different proposition because he was an ultra-German nationalist, so he served as a runner in the WWI on the Western Front.

And lied about that too? 

Well, he did get decorated for bravery. One author said the real men in the trenches at the front would have been vaguely contemptuous of him, running backwards and forwards between the command posts where he got given the written orders to take up to the front for the officers to execute. I find that a bit of a spurious distinction though. I mean, there would have been bullets flying around and shells, whether you were a runner or not. I think on one occasion one of the command bunkers he was running for was obliterated by a shell, killing everybody in it.

Are we going to be able to be sympathetic towards him then? Maybe he had post-traumatic shock which manifested itself in…dictatorial madness? 

Well, a lot of people had post-traumatic shock and went on to leave unexceptional lives in the post-war period. He was gassed and blinded, which he again dramatises, waking up blinded and gassed and facing Germany’s unconditional surrender. It’s very bizarre – you can see what they were on about in the sense that German armies were way into Eastern Europe on one front and right out in France and Belgium on the other and they hadn’t actually been militarily defeated. They would have been crushed to pieces if it had gone on any longer, but if you were a German soldier you’d have found it all quite mysterious. Of course, Hitler then blamed it on internal subversion.

The book’s title makes it sound like a guidebook to Hitler’s Vienna. Is there an element of that? 

Tell me about J P Stern, the author of the third of your Hitler books, Hitler: the Fuehrer and the People . 

He was a literary scholar who applied much more attention to matters of language , looking at the rhetorical concepts that someone like Hitler was using. So everything gets reduced to these militaristic concepts of struggle and battle. Really, it’s about the way in which someone like that successfully turns his own quite odd life story into the story of a country. All political extremists do this. You convert your individual grudge or grievance into a bigger narrative. That would be true of Islamist radicals in this country right now, as well as Nazis. Someone like Hitler successfully made his own life story emblematic.

It’s incredibly interesting from a psychoanalytic perspective. Everybody tries to make the outside world match their inner world and if your inner world is very disturbed… Hitler was actually creating an outside world to match his inner one. 

Yes, exactly. He was making himself into an animated version of the unknown soldier on the war memorial. He was the ordinary person who came back to articulate the alleged views of the people killed in their millions in the First World War.

He’s also enacting a massive omnipotent fantasy. 

Yes, on the largest scale. J P Stern is very well placed to talk about his, as he knows about language, probably from reading Karl Kraus , the great inter-war satirist who also wrote very astute things on all this. Hitler’s speeches have very particular patterns in them. It’s essentially the redemptive story – there we are down in this abyss and I’m going to lead you out of it.

Watching them as someone who doesn’t speak German, he doesn’t look like a great orator. He looks like a complete psychopath, shouting and waving his arms. 

No, no! I don’t think that at all! I’ve listened to lots of his speeches, including things like opening a motorway or something, and you’d be surprised at the level of economic analysis, and then, of course, there are these moments when he just goes off on a completely wild tangent, whenever he touches upon the subject of Jews. Like all anti-Semites.

“ The Hitler Myth is about how grannies would knit socks for him, about the whole interaction with the German people”

Supposing you and I were having lunch and one of us looked down at the salt cellar and said: ‘It’s a well-known fact that the Jews monopolised the Medieval salt trade in the South of France.’ That’s what he would be like and that would lead on to some other aspect of their perfidy.

What did Jews mean to him, do you think? 

That’s an incredibly complicated subject. In a way there’s a type of contempt and hatred with a sneaking admiration for their biological pertinacity. That they survive everything. It’s a love-hate relationship, though with a great deal less love, obviously. What I mean is that he would have thought they maintain their racial integrity, which he admires.

So, there’s a sense of belonging that he doesn’t have. 

Yes. And it’s a very complicated relationship. If you go to Israel the Polish Jews always talk about the snobbery of German Jews, who are the most cultured and sophisticated. The most German, basically. Ironically, they were assimilated and non-religious so that their point of identification was with German culture.

So you do think he was a great and charismatic orator? 

Of course. He must have been. It’s also the way in which he offers a transgressive temptation. In other words he is inviting you to think dark thoughts. He’s articulating dark thoughts people had in their heads anyway and giving them voice.

Like a racist joke? It’s OK if it’s a joke? 

A bit like that, yes. He’s tempting people to think things and go along with things he’s articulating. The whole thing was set up and he would deliberately hold the speeches in twilight or in darkness, all of which he says he got from being inside Catholic churches which use twilight and candlelight to manipulative effect. He deliberately set out to do that because people become emotionally susceptible in that kind of environment. If you factor in the darkness, the flaming torches, the drum rolls and trumpet blasts it would have been almost tribal in its power. It was quite deliberate. Also because he didn’t get up for most of the day. He didn’t surface until late in the day. He reversed time. He was a night operator. They all were. Stalin was another one.

The fact that Hitler had never had a job would, you’d have thought, make it terribly difficult for him to run a country, an army, a war. 

Tell me about the next of your Hitler books, Ian Kershaw’s, The Hitler Myth . 

I know he’s written a huge two-volume biography . If that’s what grabs you… but it doesn’t grab me. His earlier book,  The Hitler Myth , is much more effective because it looks at how he interacted with the German people and how his image was manipulated after he got into power to turn the negatives into pluses. For example, the fact that he was sexually dysfunctional and had non-relationships with women was turned into the idea of the Führer denying his natural manly instincts to work all the time for Germany. This is an old trick. If you think back to Ingres’s portraits of Napoleon at his desk at three o’clock in the morning with the candles all burnt out. It’s a pretty constant form of image making.

Why do we think that he was sexually unsuccessful? 

God knows. I’ve never thought about that one. People just think he was. No,  The Hitler Myth  is about how grannies would knit socks for him, about the whole interaction with the German people. Rather like any famous person, when they walk into a room you somehow think their eyes have connected with you. If you touch the hand you don’t wash it; you tell your mates you really touched him.

Well, Bill Clinton is good at it, but some famous people make you feel rejected, not loved. 

That’s true, but the book is about how he becomes the fulfilment of people’s wishes.

So, maybe he was quite characterless. He made a whole country his projection but he also received a whole country’s projections at the same time? 

Yes, I’m sure he did.

That must mean he was quite a blank slate? 

That’s the thing. Having read lots about Hitler and all his own ruminations, his informal ramblings, his Führer monologues (because somebody was jotting down everything he said late at night, on such subjects as what soup the Spartans drank – seriously) he does come across as something of an enigma. There was nothing there. Everybody was desperately trying to keep their eyes open and he was going on about how marvellous it was that it only took a few hundred Brits to keep down millions of Indians – that’s what we need to do.

So there was something key missing? 

Yes. Maybe it’s like any sort of problem – you’re missing the most simple thing. But the more you look at it, it’s like there’s nothing there. It’s hard to explain. There’s a lot of feeling but it all seems quite bogus and empty.

That’s terrifying. It’s so much more frightening that there’s not much there than that he’s the incarnation of evil. 

Of course, the strict theological definition of evil is the absence of good, so it does actually suggest a vacuum, oddly enough. So it’s right.

If you can take any projection from little grannies to sexual excitement in young women, it means you can absorb anything. 

Tell us about the last of your Hitler books, Joachim Fest’s biography, Hitler . 

He died a couple of years ago. He was the editor of  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . He was a very grand German journalist who also wrote marvellous history books . It’s beautifully written and very astute about him. Obviously he finds him to be an appalling individual. He spends a lot of time talking about whether or not he’s a ‘great’ historical figure , who made a huge impact on his time. I’m ambivalent about that since all he left were ruins and dead people. But it’s a brilliant biography of him as a politician and warlord. It’s a life of the man rather than an attempt to do the times and somehow to put the man in it. Germans do fewer biographies , in fact. Here and in the US there is so much about fascism because it indirectly bolsters the left as the force of anti-fascism. Nazis provide the left with their anti-fascist credentials.

January 28, 2011

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you've enjoyed this interview, please support us by donating a small amount .

©Henry Richards

Michael Burleigh

Michael Burleigh is a Senior Fellow at LSE Ideas , the world’s premier university-based think tank. He has written fifteen books, including most recently Day of the Assassins: A History of Political Murder (Picador 2021) and Populism: Before and After the Pandemic (Hurst 2021). His Third Reich: A New History (2000) won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction.

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

© Five Books 2024

• Politics, Philosophy & Social Sciences
• Government & Politics
• Political Science & Ideology

Your Amazon Prime 30-day FREE trial includes:

Unlimited Premium Delivery is available to Amazon Prime members. To join, select "Yes, I want a free trial with FREE Premium Delivery on this order." above the Add to Basket button and confirm your Amazon Prime free trial sign-up.

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, you will be charged £95/year for Prime (annual) membership or £8.99/month for Prime (monthly) membership.

Buy new: .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } -23% £14.59 £ 14 . 59 FREE delivery Sunday, 9 June Dispatches from: Amazon Sold by: Amazon

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. For a full refund with no deduction for return shipping, you can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition.

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Save with Used - Very Good .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } £9.72 £ 9 . 72 £2.80 delivery 15 - 19 June Dispatches from: momox co uk Sold by: momox co uk

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Hitler paperback – 25 feb. 2009, purchase options and add-ons.

Now available in a single, abridged paperback, Ian Kershaw's Hitler is the definitive biography of the Nazi leader. Ian Kershaw's two volume biography, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis , was greeted with universal acclaim as the essential work on one of the most malign figures in history, from his earliest origins to the final days of the Second World War. Now this landmark historical work is available in one single, abridged edition, tracing the story of how a bitter, failed art student from an obscure corner of Austria rose to unparalleled power, destroying the lives of millions and bringing the world to the brink of Armageddon. 'Supersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write' David Cannadine, Observer 'The Hitler biography for the twenty-first century' Richard Evans, Sunday Telegraph 'I cannot imagine a better biography of this great tyrant emerging for a long while' Jeremy Paxman 'Magisterial ... anyone who wishes to understand the Third Reich must read Kershaw, for no one has done more to lay bare Hitler's morbid psyche' Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph 'For the present generation, Kershaw's Hitler stands out as a clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity' Mail on Sund 'An achievement of the very highest order' Michael Burleigh, Financial Times Ian Kershaw (b. 1943) was Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield from 1989-2008, and is one of the world's leading authorities on Hitler. His books include The 'Hitler Myth' , his two volume biography Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis , and Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941 . He was knighted in 2002.

• Print length 1072 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Penguin
• Publication date 25 Feb. 2009
• Dimensions 12.95 x 5.08 x 19.81 cm
• ISBN-10 0141035889
• ISBN-13 978-0141035888
• See all details

Frequently bought together

What do customers buy after viewing this item?

From the Publisher

Product description

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin; 1st edition (25 Feb. 2009)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1072 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0141035889
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141035888
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.95 x 5.08 x 19.81 cm
• 71 in German Historical Biographies

About the author

Ian kershaw.

Sir Ian Kershaw, FBA (born 29 April 1943) is a British historian and author whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is particularly noted for his monumental biographies of Hitler.

He was the leading disciple of the late German historian Martin Broszat, and (until his retirement) professor at the University of Sheffield. Kershaw has called Broszat an "inspirational mentor" who did much to shape his understanding of National Socialist Germany. Kershaw served as historical adviser on numerous BBC documentaries, notably The Nazis: A Warning From History and War of the Century. He taught a module titled 'Germans against Hitler'.

His wife, Dame Betty Kershaw, was professor of nursing and dean of the School of Nursing Studies at the University of Sheffield.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Amrei-Marie; cropped by Beyond My Ken (talk) 05:47, 1 May 2015 (UTC) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• UK Modern Slavery Statement
• Sustainability
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell on Amazon Handmade
• Sell on Amazon Launchpad
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect and build your brand
• Associates Programme
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Seller Fulfilled Prime
• Advertise Your Products
• Independently Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Instalments by Barclays
• Amazon Platinum Mastercard
• Amazon Classic Mastercard
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Payment Methods Help
• Shop with Points
• Top Up Your Account
• Top Up Your Account in Store
• COVID-19 and Amazon
• Track Packages or View Orders
• Delivery Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Amazon Mobile App
• Customer Service
• Accessibility
• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Cookies Notice
• Interest-Based Ads Notice

Hitler: A Global Biography

Brendan simms.

870 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think? Rate this book Write a Review

Friends & Following

Community reviews.

Join the discussion

Can't find what you're looking for.

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Hitler : a biography

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

1,907 Views

33 Favorites

Better World Books

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

No suitable files to display here.

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station36.cebu on October 11, 2021

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

• Even more »

Account Options

• Try the new Google Books
• Advanced Book Search
• W. W. Norton & Company
• Barnes&Noble.com
• Books-A-Million
• Find in a library
• All sellers  »

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases, about the author  (2008), bibliographic information.

• How Netflix Docuseries <i>Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial</i> Takes a New Approach to the Holocaust

How Netflix Docuseries  Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial  Takes a New Approach to the Holocaust

D espite the countless documentaries , movies, TV shows, and books on World War II , 63% of American millennials and Gen Z do not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, according to a 2020 state-by-state survey conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany . The survey found that 48% could not name a concentration camp or ghetto.

Netflix hopes to change that with Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial, an ambitious new World War II documentary out Wednesday that’s geared towards younger audiences. Over six episodes, the documentary traces Adolf Hitler ’s rise to power and the major milestones of WWII.

While the documentary covers a lot of well-trodden ground, the goal is to tell the story of WWII in a new engaging way for younger audiences. For example, in addition to interviews with academics and archival footage that are typical of WWII documentaries, it features actors recreating key moments in the history of the war, giving the series the feel of watching a silent movie. 

Here are some of the biggest revelations from Evil on Trial . 

What Hitler’s personal life tells us

Hitler ’s personal history paints a picture of someone who desired to be famous from a very young age. Born in Austria, he dreamed of becoming a renowned artist. But he was rejected by Vienna’s top fine arts institute because he could only paint landscapes and couldn’t paint people very well. While living in a men’s shelter for a few years, he sold paintings copied from postcards. His worldview was shaped by “blaming other people for his misfortune and the rabid anti semitism that existed in Vienna at the time,” Joe Berlinger, director of Evil on Trial , tells TIME.

In the second episode, actors reenact young Hitler ’s obsession with his niece Geli Raubel in the early 1930s. The young Nazi leader wanted her to become a great opera singer and paid for her lessons, and they even lived together in Munich—sparking rumors in the local press that they were dating. But she found him too domineering, and in 1931, she shot herself with Hitler’s pistol in his apartment. The scandal was in every newspaper, but it did not affect his popularity.

Why Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial was made

The fifth episode of the docu-series explores the pivotal moment when Nazi leaders started building extermination camps. Officers had been shooting Jews to death, and drinking a lot while doing it to cope. According to Boston College historian Devin Pendas, Nazi leaders looked for a more efficient way to murder Jews en masse in order to protect officers’ well-being. “This shows the perversity of the moral priorities that the Nazis have,” Pendas says in the episode. “They acknowledge that this is emotionally traumatic—but only for the killers.” Nazi leaders finalized plans for a mass extermination of the Jewish population at the Wannsee Conference on Jan. 20, 1942, in Berlin, and the plan has come to be known as the “Final Solution.”

The episode then shows how the Final Solution remained largely unknown to the general public until footage of the atrocities was played during the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946), the international tribunal convened after WWII to bring Nazi leaders to justice. Prosecutors played footage of dead bodies collected by top filmmakers of the day, Roman Karmen, John Ford and Budd Schulberg.

“Some of the defendants do hang their heads in shame, but a lot of them seem bored which is pretty appalling if you think about the fact that these defendants are responsible for that,” Pendas explains.

Overall, Berlinger hopes the docu-series will show younger viewers worldwide that “democracy is fragile” and help them better spot authoritarians in governments. Through the history and horrors of the Holocaust—the propaganda and dehumanization—it’s a warning that “normal people can do horrific things.” 

More Must-Reads from TIME

• How Joe Biden Leads
• TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024
• Javier Milei’s Radical Plan to Transform Argentina
• How Private Donors Shape Birth-Control Choices
• What Sealed Trump’s Fate : Column
• Are Walking Pads Worth It?
• 15 LGBTQ+ Books to Read for Pride
• Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Write to Olivia B. Waxman at [email protected]

Screen Rant

Who plays hitler in netflix's hitler and the nazis: evil on trial docuseries.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

25 Genuinely Scary Crime Documentaries On Netflix

"i cried": bridgerton season 3 ending teased by shonda rhimes, i can't believe star wars did that to carrie-anne moss.

• Netflix's 2024 docuseries 'Hitler and the Nazis' covers Adolf Hitler's life, rise to power, and atrocities.
• The series includes reenactments and archival footage to educate younger audiences about WWII.
• Károly Kozma plays Hitler in the series, which aims to ensure the history of the Holocaust is not forgotten.

Netflix 's Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial documents Adolf Hitler's childhood, rise to power in Nazi Germany, horrific attack on Jewish people, and eventual fall towards the end of World War II, and the series, which consists of six hour-long episodes, includes both archival footage and reenactments. The 2024 historical documentary on Netflix was directed by Joe Berlinger, known for helming Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile . Berlinger's docuseries covers almost everything that anyone would ever need to know about Hitler, the Nazis, and most importantly, the Holocaust.

All six episodes of Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial are now available to stream on Netflix.

According to Tudum by Netflix , Berlinger was inspired to develop Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial , which is geared toward young people, after learning that almost two-thirds of Millennials are unaware of what Auschwitz is (based on a 2018 study conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany). After learning this alarming information, Berlinger wanted to do his part to ensure that the history of the Holocaust and the horrors of the crimes committed against Jewish people weren't forgotten. And that is how Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial came to be.

Károly Kozma Plays Hitler In Netflix's New Hitler And The Nazis: Evil On Trial Doc

Hitler and the nazis: evil on trial debuted on june 5.

Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial features an expansive cast of actors and actresses who play real people, including the man at the front and center of the Netflix historical documentary series , Adolf Hitler, portrayed by Károly Kozma. Kozma appears as the Nazi Germany dictator throughout the show's six episodes, from his beginnings as a politician in Europe to his eventual death in April 1945. Additionally, Erik Gyercán plays Hitler as a child in the docuseries.

Berlinger wished to appeal to young people (and ensure the Holocaust wasn't forgotten) while making Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial , and reenactments would help him accomplish his goal.

Aside from Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial , Kozma has starred in a handful of other (mostly foreign) television shows and movies. The actor's credits include The Curse , Aranyélet , Vikend , Kills on Wheels , Coyote , and Tóth János . Now, Kozma is the face of the 2024 historical docuseries chronicling the rise and fall of Hitler.

Netflix has proven time and time again its good at making true-crime documentaries. But which ones are the scariest?

Why Netflix's New Documentary Includes Actors Recreating WWII Moments

Hitler and the nazis incorporates reenactments & archival footage.

The June 2024 Netflix television show utilizes expert interviews and real footage from the late 1930s and early to mid-1940s. But director Joe Berlinger also wanted to include reenactments of the historical events in his docuseries, likely to make them feel more in the present and show how they weren't that long ago. As mentioned above, Berlinger wished to appeal to young people (and ensure the Holocaust wasn't forgotten) while making Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial , and reenactments would help him accomplish his goal.

Source: Tudum by Netflix

'Hitler and the Nazis' recounts Third Reich's horrors for the Netflix generation

Riveting six-part doc — rich with footage, commentary and newly released audio — aims to keep the atrocities and the lessons of a dark time from fading from memory..

Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring in one of the many historical photos presented in “Hitler and the Nazis.”

Courtesy of Netflix

Even with the vast and ever-growing library of books, feature films, documentaries and TV series about World War II, even with such powerful reminders as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, there is a legitimate concern that as the decades pass, the heroics of the Allied powers and the atrocities of Hitler and the Third Reich will be lost to time. In 2018, a study conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 41% of all respondents and 66% of millennials didn’t know what Auschwitz is.

A moment here to let that sink in.

That study is one of the reasons the skilled documentarian Joe Berlinger (“Paradise Lost,” “The Ted Bundy Tapes” ) directed the riveting and essential six-part Netflix documentary series “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial.” Expertly weaving in archival footage, dramatic re-creations, interviews with esteemed journalists and historians and audio recordings from the Nuremberg Trials (many of which have only recently been made public), Berlinger paints a stunningly effective portrait of Hitler’s rise to power, the mass murders and other horrors committed by the Third Reich — and the stunning testimony at the trials of some of Hitler’s most vile and unrepentant henchmen.

The series also benefits greatly from its reliance on the reportage of the late William L. Shirer, one of the few American correspondents who was reporting from Germany during Hitler’s rise to power and in the early stages of the war. (Shirer’s epic, 1,250-page book “The Rise and Fall of Third Reich,” was published in 1960 to great acclaim and best-selling success and is still hailed as an important work.)

Through the use of AI technology that enables Shirer to “speak” as narrator, as well as dramatic re-creations in which Balázs Kató portrays Shirer, we get the visceral feeling of being at Shirer’s side as he covers Hitler and the war from close proximity. (As is the case with most dramatic re-creations in documentaries, the actors portraying Shirer, Hitler, Göring, et al., don’t speak their lines. We see visuals of them re-creating scenes, while actual writings and recordings provide the dialogue. It’s an effective technique that sidesteps sensationalism.)

• ‘Masters of the Air’ a pulse-pounding WWII series from ‘Band of Brothers’ team

“Hitler and the Nazis” toggles back and forth on the timeline, alternating between a chronological study of Hitler’s rise to power and a number of pivotal events in World War II to the 1945-1946 Nuremberg trials. Shirer was the classic intrepid reporter, going to great lengths to get scoops — but he also was an impressive wordsmith, e.g., his description of Göring in the courtroom: “At first glance, I scarcely recognize him. His faded Air Force uniform, shorn of the insignia and of the medals he loved so childishly, hangs loosely on him. And gone is his own burliness, his old arrogance, his flamboyant air. How a twist of fate, I marveled, could reduce a man to size.”

(Another poignant touch: Much of the score was created from the compositions of Holocaust victims, with Vincent Pedulla and Serj Tankian from System of a Down reorchestrating the material.)

In re-creations, Balázs Kató plays reporter William Shirer, whose writings are central to the documentary.

The series is filled with unforgettable passages, as when we see how hundreds of German-Jewish refugees aboard the German liner St. Louis were turned away in Cuba and then denied entrance to the USA and had to return to Europe, or when we hear about the mass executions of innocent men, women and children and see actual film footage and photos documenting these atrocities. When the French agreed to surrender in 1940, Hitler insisted the armistice be carried out on the Compiègne Wagon, the same train carriage in which the Germans surrendered in the 1918 armistice, and that the carriage be taken from a nearby museum and placed in the exact same location as in 1918. Bearing witness to this moment and broadcasting it back to the USA: William Shirer.

• ‘One Life': Anthony Hopkins magnificent as a man who kept his WWII heroism under wraps

At the Nuremberg Trials, after U.S. Chief of Counsel Robert H. Jackson delivers his powerful and famous opening statement, the despicable likes of Rudolph Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Albert Speer plead not guilty and either feign ignorance of the depths of the horrors committed by the Third Reich, or blame it all on Hitler, who of course by that time had committed suicide. They are cowardly to the end.

Shirer reflects on being in Germany in 1939, when the war started: “The Germans seemed so strong then, that a lonely American on the streets of Berlin wondered whether the forces of democracy, of decency, would ever rally in time. Now, one’s thoughts turn to the future, to put our minds and our hearts to work on a better world, one in which, above all, there should be no more wars.”

Humankind is still working on that. In the meantime, “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial” is a timely reminder that anyone in present day who embraces even a trace of the Third Reich’s ways is either an ignorant fool or a racist and antisemitic hatemonger.

A Legendary Missing World War II Plane Has Appeared in the Jungle After 80 Years

Major Richard Bong downed 40 Japanese aircraft in his trusty “Marge.” Then, after a crash, it was lost to time.

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?

Major Richard Bong was the top flying ace of World War II for the United States, credited with 40 aerial victories against Japanese aircraft. For his heroism, General Douglas MacArthur presented Bong with a Medal of Honor in December 1944. As his citation noted, Bong undertook dangerous combat missions and downed enemy planes, despite being “assigned to duty as gunnery instructor, and neither required, nor expected, to perform combat duty.”

Bong, who was known as the “Ace of Aces,” took down all 40 of those Japanese fighter planes while flying the same aircraft: a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter that he named for his sweetheart, “Marge.” And for 80 years, that historic plane was lost to time.

But now, Marge has finally been found, thanks to a joint venture between the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Centre and Pacific Wrecks , a charity that helps to “locate and document Missing In Action (MIA) personnel.”

Explorers located Marge, an iconic piece of World War II aviation history, in the Madang Province of New Guinea, according to Heritage Daily . The search crew found Bong’s P-38, serial number 42-103993, after just two days of trekking through the jungle. “The plane was found with two engines above ground level, and still coloured with Bong’s signature red paint,” Heritage Daily reports. Once the crew spotted an Army stencil on the wingtip reading “993,” the last three digits of Bong's serial number, they knew they’d found Marge.

Although Bong’s plane crashed in that New Guinea jungle 80 years ago, it wasn’t Bong who was actually in the aircraft when it went down. Instead, 2nd Lt. Thomas E. Malone took Marge—which wasn’t only named for Bong’s girlfriend (later wife) Marjorie “Marge” Ann Vattendahl, but even bore her face on the nose cone as well—for a simple weather reconnaissance mission over New Guinea on March 24, 1944.

During that flight, “the propeller failed to feather, followed by an electrical failure, causing the plane to enter an uncontrollable spin,” according to Heritage Daily . Malone bailed out and parachuted to safety somewhere south of Madang, but the plane crashed into the northern jungle and was lost.

Malone survived bailing out from Marge. But not long after the crash, Bong, the plane’s original pilot, wasn’t as fortunate.

About a year after Marge went down in New Guinea, Bong was in California to test out a Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star. Shortly after takeoff during his acceptance flight on August 6, 1945, a fuel pump malfunction occurred. Bong bailed out, but he was too low for his parachute to properly deploy. He was killed upon impact with the ground. He was only 24 years old.

For his remarkable career, Bong was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center was created in his honor. The Center, located in Bong’s birthplace of Superior, Wisconsin, boasts a museum, a screening room, and even a replica of the pilot’s legendary P-38.

Now, through the Historical Center’s efforts, in tandem with the not-for-profit 501(c)(3) Pacific Wrecks that undertook the search, the museum no longer needs to only settle for a facsimile of the fame fighter plane.

“This discovery not only honours Richard Bong’s memory, but also serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by all those who served during World War II,” said Briana Fiandt, curator of collections at the Bong Center, via Heritage Daily . “It is a tribute to their courage, their service, and their enduring impact on our nation’s history.”

Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products , covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources , his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good. 

.css-cuqpxl:before{padding-right:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;} Pop Mech Pro .css-xtujxj:before{padding-left:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;}

North Korea Sends “Poop Balloons” Into South Korea

The F-35 Is Still One of the Safest Planes

The Air Force’s Upcoming “Doomsday Plane” Replacem

Meet the Marines' New Kamikaze Drone

Did Russia Launch a Weapon Near a U.S. Satellite?

A Groundbreaking Discovery For Interstellar Travel

America's Missile Defense Has Entered a New Era

The Army’s Laser Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

What We Know About Russia’s Mystery Radio Signal

Corpses Found Under Hitler's Lair

A Battery-Powered Race Car Takes On Pikes Peak

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

D-Day anniversary shines a spotlight on ‘Rosie the Riveter’ women who built the weapons of WWII

Anna Mae Krier, also known as a Rosie the Riveter, center, poses during a service at the Pegasus Bridge memorial in Benouville, Normandy, France, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

U.S. World War II veteran Anna Mae Krier, center rear, listens as she sits with other veterans during a service at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

U.S. World War II veteran Anna Mae Krier visits the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

WWII veteran Connie Palacioz, left, collects sand on Omaha Beach, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 in Normandy. Veterans and world dignitaries gather in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

American WW II veteran Connie Palacioz is helped collecting sand during a wreath-laying ceremony at Utah Beach, Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at Utah Beach, Normandy,. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

American WW II veteran Connie Palacioz attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Utah Beach, Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at Utah Beach, Normandy,. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

• Copy Link copied

PEGASUS BRIDGE, France (AP) — When the 5,000th B-17 bomber built after Pearl Harbor rolled out of its Boeing factory, teenage riveter Anna Mae Krier made sure it would carry a message from the women of World War II: She signed her name on it.

Now 98, and in Normandy, France, for this week’s 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Krier is still proudly promoting the vital roles played by women in the June 6, 1944, invasion and throughout the war — including by making weaponry that enabled men to fight.

Krier was among millions of women who rolled up their sleeves in defense-industry factories, replacing men who volunteered and were called up for combat in the Pacific, Africa and Europe.

The women had their own icon in “Rosie the Riveter,” a woman in a polka-dotted bandanna flexing a muscular arm in a recruitment poster that declared: “We can do it!”

After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that pitched the United States into war on Dec. 7, 1941, “every man, woman and child just went to work,” Krier recalled Wednesday as she visited the site of an iconic D-Day battle, Pegasus Bridge.

The North Dakota native was 17 when she went to work in 1943 as a riveter on B-17 and B-29 bombers. She helped build more than 6,000 aircraft, according to her biography provided by the Best Defense Foundation, which brought her to Normandy for the anniversary.

“Us women built all that equipment, the airplanes, the tanks, the ammunition” and ships used in the Allied invasion of Normandy that helped liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny, Krier said.

She added: “We weren’t doing it for honors and awards. We were doing it to save our country. And we ended up helping save the world.”

Women flew the planes that women built, too.

The pioneering Women Airforce Service Pilots, known as WASPs, fulfilled an array of noncombat flight missions, including flying planes from factories on their way to the front, that freed male pilots for battle.

Thirty-eight of the women were killed in wartime service. Long considered civilians, not members of the military, they weren’t entitled to the pay and benefits men received. Only in 1977, after a long fight, did they get veteran status, followed in 2010 with the Congressional Gold Medal , the highest civilian honor given by Congress.

Women defense workers also received little notice or appreciation at first. Krier was among ex-"Rosies” who pushed successfully for their contribution to be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal.

“That made me so proud,” she said. “And I’m just so proud of our young women. We opened doors for the young women today. But look what you women are doing. We’re just so happy to see what you’re doing with your lives. I think that’s great.”

Connie Palacioz, another “Rosie” who punched rivets on the nose sections of B-29 bombers in Kansas, didn’t tell her future family about the details of her wartime work because “I never thought it was important to (say) that I was a riveter.”

The 99-year-old Palacioz is also in Normandy for the D-Day anniversary, part of a veterans group flown over by American Airlines.

“All the men were at the war. So us women had to do the job,” she said. “So there was a lot of Rosie the Riveters.”

Leicester reported from Port-en-Bessin-Huppain, France. AP journalists Theodora Tongas in Omaha Beach, France, and Alex Turnbull in Pegasus Bridge, France, contributed.

Palo Alto Online

Books defaced with antisemitic images at Palo Alto library

• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Palo Alto librarians were instructed this week to inspect the Holocaust section in every city branch after a Rinconada Library patron found numerous books defaced by antisemitic stickers and messages.

The patron, local resident Ethan Klivans, told this publication that he was browsing books at the Rinconada branch on Wednesday afternoon when he found an Adolf Hitler sticker while flipping through “Simon Weisenthal: Life and Legends” by Tom Segev. Inside the book, a biography of the famed Nazi hunter, he saw a sticker with an image of Adolf Hitler and a caption celebrating the killing of Jewish people.

He then began to check other books in the Holocaust section. They were similarly defaced with stickers that celebrated or denied the Holocaust, he said.

“It was awful to see that type of stuff,” Klivans told this publication.

Klivens said that he alerted the librarian at the reception desk about the defaced book and was assured that staff would take care of it. He said a library employee was sent out to remove a few books with the offending stickers. But even after that, most of the books with the antisemitic imagery remained on the shelves, he said.

Klivens said he was surprised by the lack of urgency among library staff, who he said were talking amongst themselves and with other library patrons after the revelation.

“There was zero alarm over this, which was a real shocking thing.” Klivens said.

Frustrated by what he considered to be a lack of urgency by the library manager to inspect and remove all the defaced books, he then contacted Library Director Gayanthri Kanth to complain about the problem. In a letter, he said he believed the library was “negligent in his capacity as a custodian of the library’s collection.”

“I wanted to save future patrons from seeing what I saw, and had I not gone back to check the other books in the Holocaust section, they would have remained in circulation,” he wrote.

Kanth responded on May 30 with an email apologizing for exposure to the offensive material and assuring Klivens that branch managers had been instructed to be “more proactive and responsive in the future.”

She also told him that staff had methodically scrutinized all the titles in the Holocaust section and was “working on updating its process to address such incidents in a quick and thorough manner.”

Library staff in all other branches were instructed to “inspect books in the same subject range and remove them from public access if additional hate stickers were located in them.” The matter, she added, has also been forwarded to the Palo Alto Police Department.

Library staff are also working to restore the material that had been defaced, she said.

“Thankfully, we are able to restore most of the collection,” she wrote. “Library staff have also started working on a purchasing list to replace the books that have been defaced beyond the ability to repair.”

Kanth told this publication that once library staff was notified of the defaced books, they did a search of all books pertaining to the Holocaust history. After finding the 940 books in this category, staff pulled all the books that they could locate that were defaced, Kanth said in an email. She said that 31 books at the Rinconada Library were defaced and that none of the other branches were affected.

She acknowledged that staff had initially overlooked some of the defaced books because they were damaged in different ways than the initial books.

“We appreciate a community member bringing this issue to our attention and after notification, staff searched books in the subject matter area of the initial book damaged,” Kanth said. “Other damaged books were missed through the initial search due to some books damaged differently. Inspection of books was expanded, with more removed from circulation.”

Gennady Sheyner Staff Writer, Palo Alto Weekly / PaloAltoOnline.com

Gennady Sheyner covers local and regional politics, housing, transportation and other topics for the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and their sister publications. He has won awards for his coverage... More by Gennady Sheyner

Join the Conversation

Denial of history, support of mass murder is a symptom of mental illness. As a person who is personally connected with someone who was a prisoner of Auschwitz at age nine, I am appalled that anyone could deny the extremely well-documented horrors committed by the Nazis.

My friend survived, thanks to his beloved and resourceful father who was imprisoned with him. We should neither forget nor deny this awful history.

My gripe with library books is that so many of them are dirty having crumbs, food or coffee stains, etc. It is obvious to me that people don’t care to keep borrowed books clean. But this is a new low!

It is alarming that across the world, Holocaust denialism has taken on such force. It is infuriating that right here in Palo Alto, our public servants neither notice it or express concern. These types of actions actually are *illegal* so why did the library not look at its records to identify the perpetrator(s) and bring them to justice? It will cost money to replace the books that were ruined, and we taxpayers will be covering the bill.

As a Gen-Xer, I was privy to two cultural events that shaped our generation, both broadcast through TV, at a time when only one or two shows were on at the same time. The first was the national broadcast of Alex Haley’s _Roots_ – which told, over several nights, the horrifying story of Kunte Kinte, who had been kidnapped in Africa as a child, and sold into slavery in the US. Millions of Americans watched this television event together, and through it, gained empathy and insight into one of the worst humanitarian evils in human history.

The following year, a similar multi-day broadcast aired about the Holocaust, called, IIRC, the Holocaust. Through many evenings, Americans together watched the story of German families who were captured, tortured, and ultimately killed, along with six million other Jews, and six million non-Jews, by the Nazis and their collaborators. Like with Roots, the Holocaust television experience was an effective way to educate the public about the worst *genocide* in recorded human history.

These days, many people — the loudest people — reflect no understanding of Jews and Jewish history. They have zero understanding that Israel is a democracy, where everyone gets a vote, which is why 11 Arab Muslims serve on the Israeli Congress, called the Knesset. They have no idea that 1/2 of all Jewish Israelis are non-white — about half of all Israelis where ethnically cleansed and forced out from the neighboring 22 Arab nations that seek to destroy Israel. They do not know that most black people in Israel are Jewish – they are Ethiopian Jews who were ethnically cleansed by anti-semitic Islamists in Africa. They have literally no f’ing idea but they shout very, very loud and monopolize the conversation, because as it turns out, there are hardly any of us and we simply cannot keep up.

Most frightening to many of us is the reverse use of genocide against us (because attacking our ancestral home is attacking Jews). The only way they can claim that Jews commit rather than — the truth — are the victims of genocide requires erasing the factual history of the Jewish people, especially the Holocaust — which is exactly what these anti-semitic thugs were doing when destroying our history books. Destroying our history is a continuing act of genocide – -a word that was invented to describe the Holocaust. And we are barely holding on. There were 24 million Jews on earth prior to the Holocaust, and right now there are only about 14 million, half of whom live in the tiny state of Israel which is surrounded by 22 Muslim Arab nations who seek to destroy it.

Without the state of Israel, many believe that the Jewish religion, culture, and ethnicity would cease to exist. Yet here we are, back to the same anti-semitic blood libel narratives that fueled the Holocaust: the lie that Jews “control” the media (haha – media coverage like this article would be entirely different if Jews “controlled” it); the government, financial systems, etc. We are literally one-quarter of one percent of the world’s population, and shrinking.

THAT is why it is a huge deal when the City of Palo Alto, through its libraries, colludes with antisemitic vandals by doing nothing until pushed. Consider this another PUSH.

Alex Hailey and Roots was a work of historical fiction based on some facts. It was written as a novel and most of the history had falsehoods and was inaccurate. Even Hailey himself later admitted he had fabricated the history. https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-Alex-Haleys-Roots-is-true

“The Holocaust” was also not actually “true.” That is irrelevant. Both mini-series brought the existence of inhumanity and evil to mainstream audiences, and taught empathy. To be honest, experts in the field commonly cite the reading of fiction novels as one of the most effective ways to teach empathy. A strong reader would recognize that things do not have to be true to each detail to teach empathy and understanding. For that reason, I STRONGLY believe that if millennials and Gen Z people had the opportunity to watch a mini-series like “The Holocaust” (which of course was tamed down – they are not going to show people being burned alive, cooked in ovens, or dying in poison showers), they would know better than to deny the Holocaust. THAT is the point.

Similarly, I should mention that people who grew up in the American North like I did (Wisconsin) may have been particularly benefited from the show _Roots_ because our state always opposed slavery and many of us had problems understanding if and how any human beings EVER could think such torture and dehumanization of human beings could be remotely justifiable — TBH I still am sickened by the concept of anyone living in such a time and place and not devoting all of their time and energy to tearing it down. YMMV of course!

Thank you, Rebecca, for that timely and well documented recap of the Jewish people from World War II and on. It is sad and frustrating to confront the ignorance of our society, it’s lack of historical reference and modern history. Israel removed it own people from Gaza in ’05 to trade land for peace. Am. philanthropists built greenhouses so Gazans would have an industry with Israel as an eager market. Hamas leaders tore it all down and started on their goal to wipe out Israel. Along with starting several wars, their schools and government demonize Jews. They use their own population as pawns and propaganda. Americans are sadly ill informed, as Israel is the democratic hope for the Middle East. Its strengthening ties to the Saudi’s prompted this latest barbaric incursion backed by Iran. The U.S.needs to reaffirm its commitment to these same ideals our Govt. continues to tout. Our own leadership, along with our allies, depends on it.

I grew up in the rural Southeastern US during 1946-1966. Alex Haley’s book is more valuable conscience today in light of current events. Haley continues to provide perspective for me to acknowledge and own.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Leave a comment

We've recently sent you an authentication link. Please, check your inbox!

Sign in with a password below, or sign in using your email .

Get a code sent to your email to sign in, or sign in using a password .

Enter the code you received via email to sign in, or sign in using a password .

Subscribe to our newsletters:

• Weekend Express
• Breaking News Email Alerts
• Peninsula Foodist
• The Six Fifty
• Local Scoop
• Editorial Features

Sign in with your email

Lost your password?

Try a different email

Send another code

Sign in with a password

Privacy Policy

Advertisement

Supported by

The Brilliant Comic Who Shined Brightest Out of the Spotlight

A new biography of the performer, writer and director Elaine May has the intensity to match its subject.

• Share full article

By Dwight Garner

• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

MISS MAY DOES NOT EXIST: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius , by Carrie Courogen

Nichols and May, the comedy team, were together from 1957 until 1961. They were so charming and sophisticated and acerbic, selling out Broadway theatres with their crossfire talk, that the critic Edmund Wilson saw them perform four times. He confided to his diary about Elaine May that he was “sorry not to be young enough to fall in love with her and ruin my life.”

She and Mike Nichols, who only briefly were lovers, split amicably. We know what happened to Nichols. By 1967 he had directed the movies “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “The Graduate,” as well as hit plays on Broadway. May’s arc was not so well-defined. In 1967, Life magazine profiled her under the headline, “Whatever Happened to Elaine May?”

Whatever did? The story is told in Carrie Courogen’s casual, sympathetic and compulsively readable new biography, “Miss May Does Not Exist.” The title comes from short biographies Nichols and May wrote for the back of one of their comedy albums. Nichols’s bio began: “Mike Nichols is not a member of the Actors Studio, which has produced such stars as Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Ben Gazzara, Eva Marie Saint, Carroll Baker, and others too numerous to mention.” May’s read simply: “Miss May does not exist.”

It’s an awkward title that, as the book goes on, begins to seem apt. Throughout her life, May, 92, has had a knack for disappearing, for being there but not there. She has had a knack, too, for being — for lack of a better word — difficult. It’s one of this biography’s salient contentions that while American culture makes room for its tortured and demanding male talents, it freezes similar women out. “Big movie directors are the modern mad kings,” Pauline Kael wrote in 1973. There has been little room for mad queens.

What happened to Elaine May in the 1960s is that she became attached to a lot of projects, including her own plays, that flopped. She tripped into a messy scandal. She fell in love with her psychiatrist, a man named David Rubinfine, a well-known shrink to the stars. Rubinfine was married. His wife of 20 years killed herself. He had three young daughters who May suddenly needed to raise, in addition to her own daughter from a previous marriage.

May directed two hit movies in the early 1970s, “A New Leaf,” in which she starred with Walter Matthau, and “The Heartbreak Kid,” with Charles Grodin. She became known as a perfectionist — brilliant but also dithering, at least to those who wearied of her. She required take after take of scenes. She liked to say “action” but loathed to say “cut.” She wore her crews down. Matthau, no easy personality himself, commented that May “makes Hitler look like a little librarian.”

She was by then a major director, only the third woman to be a member the Directors Guild of America. She spent years making an over-budget flop, “Mikey and Nicky,” a dark buddy film with Peter Falk and John Cassavetes that was released in 1976. When the studio tried to take the film over, two reels mysteriously went missing. It was a wild caper, and May was a prime suspect. It would be 11 years before she directed again, and the result was “Ishtar” (1987).

In between, she became known as perhaps the best script doctor in Hollywood. She worked with Warren Beatty on “Heaven Can Wait” and “Reds.” She and Beatty, obsessives, chimed with each other. He’d fly her into luxury hotels for weeks at a time. She’d bar housekeeping from her rooms because they were so chaotic, with drafts and room-service dishes and cigar ash everywhere.

People paid attention to her smoking. On the set of “Mikey and Nicky,” one observer recalled that you could read her mood by what was between her fingers: “She chain-smoked cigarettes when things were running smoothly . You’d know things were getting dicey once she pulled out her skinny Schimmelpenninck cigars.” And when disaster was imminent, “she would puff away on oversize cigars that were fit for Orson Welles but looked downright comedic hanging from Elaine’s mouth.”

May did script work on “Tootsie,” “What About Bob?” and many of Nichols’s films. She mostly refused to take credit for this work, preferring to remain behind the scenes. The novelist Jim Harrison, who worked with her on the movie “Wolf,” commented: “It’s like some Taoist thing with her. Very mysterious. Come in, do the work, take the money, leave no tracks.” People cut her very large checks.

The story of the filming of “Ishtar” in the Moroccan desert has been told many times before. I won’t reprise the gory details here. The movie was intended to be a kind of homage to the old “Road to …” movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Courogen notes that the film is better than it’s been given credit for, and she coolly dissects the way May’s studio thwarted, antagonized and all but sabotaged her.

May was born in Philadelphia in 1932 and had a nomadic childhood. Her father, who died at 47, was in the Yiddish theater. May didn’t graduate from high school but was an autodidact. After an early failed marriage, she made her way to the University of Chicago, where she never formally enrolled but took classes.

Her intensity, her beauty and her wit made her a formidable character. Onstage, Courogen writes, she was “too threatening to heckle.” She met Nichols, her soul mate, at one of his shows. They did a great deal of improv until Nichols left for New York and she eventually followed. Until the end of his life Nichols would call on her to help with his movies. They frequently got back together to perform their classic routines for good causes.

This is Courogen’s first book, and she relates it as if over Negronis. She casually drops a lot of f-bombs. At times, she rambles. She writes about how she stalked May while wearing a cheap blonde wig. (May did not grant her an interview.) Smart but offbeat, she’s the Elaine May of biographers.

Courogen is not (yet) the most adept critic, nor is she a supersleuth biographer, the kind with a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass. But she understands why May matters. She tracks May’s influence in popular culture, especially on female writer-directors such as Greta Gerwig and Lena Dunham.

This book is “a love story,” Courogen writes early on, and indeed it is. The author is an ardent fan who’s read everything and talked to whomever she could. Her intensity shines. Sometimes you’d rather ride along with a fan than with a professor.

I wish someone had stepped in to save her when, in the second half of the book, the clichés begin to really weigh down her sentences. They threaten to sink an otherwise buoyant ship.

There are a few quasi-howlers. We are asked to sympathize with May during Covid because “it wasn’t easy that first winter, alone and at risk in her apartment overlooking a desolate Central Park.” Yes, those crisp Central Park views (May lives in the San Remo) have long been known to bring on ennui.

Elaine May, difficult? Give us more like her, Courogen says. “She’s black deli coffee served to those who drink only champagne.”

MISS MAY DOES NOT EXIST : The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius | By Carrie Courogen | St. Martin’s | 386 pp. | $30

Dwight Garner has been a book critic for The Times since 2008, and before that was an editor at the Book Review for a decade. More about Dwight Garner

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

John S. Jacobs was a fugitive, an abolitionist — and the brother of the canonical author Harriet Jacobs. Now, his own fierce autobiography has re-emerged .

Don DeLillo’s fascination with terrorism, cults and mass culture’s weirder turns has given his work a prophetic air. Here are his essential books .

Jenny Erpenbeck’s “ Kairos ,” a novel about a torrid love affair in the final years of East Germany, won the International Booker Prize , the renowned award for fiction translated into English.

Kevin Kwan, the author of “Crazy Rich Asians,” left Singapore’s opulent, status-obsessed, upper crust when he was 11. He’s still writing about it .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .