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Hitler
- Ascent 1889-1939
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 34 hrs and 46 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
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Based on previously unpublished documents, diaries, notes, photographs, and dramatic interviews with Hitler's colleagues and associates, this is the definitive biography of one of the most despised yet fascinating figures of the 20th century. Painstakingly documented, it is a work that will not soon be forgotten.
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good but...
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The idea that nothing happens by chance in history, that nothing is quite what it seems to be at first sight, that everything is the result of the secret machinations of malign groups of people manipulating everything from behind the scenes - these notions are as old as history itself. But conspiracy theories are becoming more popular and more widespread in the 21st century. Nowhere have they become more obvious than in revisionist accounts of the history of the Third Reich.
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Succint and enilighening
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In this compelling book, highly acclaimed author and broadcaster Laurence Rees tells the definitive history of the most notorious Nazi institution of them all. We discover how Auschwitz evolved from a concentration camp for Polish political prisoners into the site of the largest mass murder in history - part death camp, part concentration camp, where around a million Jews were killed.
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Very Good
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The Dead Are Arising
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- Unabridged
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Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly 30-year-long quest to interview anyone he could find who had actually known Malcolm X - including siblings, classmates, friends, cellmates, FBI moles and cops and political leaders around the world. His goal was ambitious: to transform what would become hundreds of hours of interviews into a portrait that would separate fact from fiction.
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Most In depth bio of Malcolm X - compelling!
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Summary
A major new biography - an extraordinary, penetrating study of the man who has become the personification of evil.
For all the literature about Adolf Hitler, there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that sheds important new light on Hitler himself. Drawing on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research, Volker Ullrich reveals the man behind the public persona, from Hitler's childhood, to his failures as a young man in Vienna, to his experiences during the First World War, to his rise as a far-right party leader. Ullrich deftly captures Hitler's intelligence, instinctive grasp of politics, and gift for oratory as well as his megalomania, deep insecurity, and repulsive worldview.
Many previous biographies have focused on the larger social conditions that explain the rise of the Third Reich. Ullrich gives us a comprehensive portrait of a postwar Germany humiliated by defeat, wracked by political crisis, and starved by an economic depression - but his real gift is to show vividly how Hitler used his ruthlessness and political talent to shape the Nazi party and lead it to power. For decades the world has tried to grasp how Hitler was possible. By focusing on the man at the center of it all, on how he experienced his world, formed his political beliefs, and wielded power, this riveting biography brings us closer than ever to the answer.
Translated from the German by Jefferson Chase.
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- C. Hamilton-welsh
- 20-08-17
Clearly well researched but bit dull and poor narration
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Probably not as there are so many much better ones
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Forensic detail but got wearing - hard to listen to
Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Don Hagen?
Any of the big ones. Tried to enjoy the narration and it did get a bit better but not good. Dull.
Do you think Hitler needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
Yes story only half told but get a new narrator please
1 person found this helpful
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- marcoscu
- 19-01-17
Good book., well read.
A conventional account of Hitler's rise, we'll read but with some strange translation quirks.
1 person found this helpful
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- Badger
- 04-03-20
Excellent
An important, fascinating and detailed account centred around the personalities involved.
Also, I can't praise the narrator too highly. His quiet, even, beautifully enunciated delivery is a perfect counterpoint to the savage events he is describing
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- rachael horwitz
- 28-11-18
Very good
I'll have to listen to some parts of it again because I had it on in the background doing other things. I learned a lot of new things from this book and the narration was excellent. It makes me want to find out more about the other characters mentioned (Goebbels, Papen, etc)
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- Narny
- 18-10-17
Informative listen
Found the content very interesting with quite a few things I was unaware of.
However the narration is a little laboured and took some getting used to.
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- Paul
- 05-12-16
A new view of the man.
A different perspective on his early life and great detail on the pre WWI Vienna years that makes his experience clearer. The rise to power is described based on multiple firsthand sources and provides the reader a very clear view of the motives of the players. At least that's what I came away with. A very clear and realistic picture of the man.
5 people found this helpful
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- matthew c strublic
- 12-11-16
Great book!
This is perhaps one of the best woks on the subject I have come across. Personal details make this work come to life in a way that makes it most enjoyable to listen to. Highly recommend it.
5 people found this helpful
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- Joshua
- 03-11-16
Worthwhile if you haven't read a Hitler biography
I've read every major historical biography of Hitler in my studies, so I picked this up on audible for ease. Honestly, it's ok. I would certainly say it's a good start off point, at least as good as Kershaw's and with some updated information. Ullrich also concentrates a lot more on Hitler the man and has a fairly differing POV with a lot of previous scholarship on questions about Hitler's personality. I certainly cannot complain about the research and writing, it's all good. Honestly though, I preferred reading it myself later. The narration isn't great.
14 people found this helpful
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- Hubble98
- 14-11-16
History we wished DIDN'T happen
Would you consider the audio edition of Hitler to be better than the print version?
No comment.
What did you like best about this story?
The IMMENSE amount of research that must have gone into this compelling book. Clearly the writer, and others before him, spent many, many MANY hours hunched over desks reading millions of words to get what was needed for this material. No detail, no matter how small, was left untold.
What does Don Hagen bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
I felt like I was sitting in the room with Hitler at times, listening to him scream and spit, berating those around him just for the joy of it, seeing his face turn different shades of red, wondering who wouldn't be in the room the next day because of some perceived slight that set him off so. A truly frightening yet fascinating monster of a man. To bring the story to that kind of life was compelling, which is what I always hope for, but don't always get, in biographies. This one delivered with change to spare. this one belongs in any history buff's library for sure.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
"Like you've never seen or heard him before"
5 people found this helpful
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- oc_artist
- 22-10-16
Read, don't listen
First: narrator would put anyone to sleep. Very sing-song voice lacking any variability even in passages that are dramatic and/or horrifying. I ended up reading the book in hardcover-- which also has the advantage of giving you very detailed references and footnotes.
This is an invaluable addition to the many books about Hitler. The author had the advantage of more time having passed and more primary source material being available since previous biographies. Despite being long, the book is well-written and really holds the reader's interest. As you know if you've read reviews elsewhere, the author doesn't approach Hitler as a monster but as a skilled man who had absolutely no conscience and who perfected the dubious talent of manipulating people according to their greatest vulnerabilities. The truth was anything that advanced his power. Very timely in our country where so many are re-examining our form of government and what the citizen's role is in preserving our democracy.
19 people found this helpful
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- Michael Fitzgerald
- 17-07-17
Nothing New
It was just okay. The language is the same used by all writers on this period (i.e. fait accompli seems to have no synonym and Goebbels never writes in his diary, he always "confides" to it, etc).
There is one thing I never encountered until reading this book, and that is Private Hitler instead of Corporal Hitler. Perhaps it is an error in the translation?
The reader is just awful! His monotone, soporific drone might be more tolerable if he didn't mispronounce every German word and name. It got to be hilarious after a while. "Ribbontrope" and "chancellry" we're my favorites.
It is a typical biography from the strict conformist school of history.
Toland's biography remains the only objective one.
4 people found this helpful
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- Jay
- 01-02-19
ugh
really awful narration, boring presentation, does not keep interest, very much a struggle to get through first few chapters before writing completely
1 person found this helpful
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- Pegan
- 03-08-18
Narrator whistles S
This narrator has a loud sharp whistle for any word ending in 's'. It's extremely distracting, I had to stop listening after an hour. I gave it another shot the next day but still couldn't get past it. Had to return the book.
1 person found this helpful
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- Juanita G.
- 28-06-17
factual density overcomes narrative monotony
this book was amazing but have a secondary reference for all things german history and government. the delivery was either monotone or a euphemism for the slow creep of Hitler's takeover. I do wish there was a second edition. the lead up is not enough and it leaves much to be desired as far as german political climate is concerned. murchtenzie mehr.
1 person found this helpful
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- iKlick
- 27-08-17
Authoritative Work on an Authoritarian
To describe this book as thorough would be an understatement, and to listen to the entire audio book takes a serious time commitment. I would have been satisfied with a condensed version; I didn't need to know what kind of food Hitler ate or what his typical evening was like (in great detail). However, for anyone wanting to try to understand this twisted and evil man who brought such death and destruction to others, listening to this audio book will not be a waste of time. It is a master work, and the amount of research that had to have gone into its writing is almost incomprehensible.
What I usually find most intriguing and fascinating is not Hitler the man, but how what appeared to be normal and reasonable people in Germany could have succumbed to him. Although this book does not expressly seek to answer that question, it does provide some insights, because it does an excellent job of conveying the times and German society, with economic pressures , class considerations and perspectives, and existing prejudices all playing a part.
I was struck (more than I had anticipated) with some parallels of Hitler and what happened in the 1930s with what is happening in our time, and it brings to mind the saying (too often ignored) that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We most desperately need to learn from history, and listening to this audio book will aid that effort.
Hitler could not have done what he did on his own, and so the men who surrounded him played a key role. The book does a good job in describing those men and explaining how they aided him.
The book ends just before Poland is invaded in 1939. I look forward to the follow-up book.
2 people found this helpful