History records no phenomenon like Adolf Hitler. No name still evokes such hate and fear, and no individual has left so much terror, death and destruction in his wake. Even today historians speculate over the question: how did it happen? Was Hitler a madman on the rampage? A puppet of Germany's elite? Or an evil man who planned everything to the last? Joachim C. Fest's now classic biography is the first major post-war German study of Hitler. Scholarly yet highly readable, it reconciles these differing views of Hitler, both bringing unique insights into his obsessive, hubristic personality and examining the economic, political and cultural conditions that aided him in his terrifying rise to power.
About the Author:
Joachim C. Fest was born in Berlin in 1926. After the Second World War, in which he served and was taken prisoner, he joined the radio station RIAS-Berlin, where he became the head of the Department of Contemporary History. In 1961 he became the Editor-in-Chief of TV for Norddeutscher Rundfunk. He was the author of 'The Face of the Third Reich' (Penguin, 1963) and 'Plotting Hitler's Death' (1996).
Originally published in Germany in 1973, translation into English in 1974.
One of the standard biographies of Hitler. This is a Book Club reprint, the edge chipped black dustjacket is now in a clear plastic removabel jacket protector.