audiobook Hitler: Ascent; 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich in History

Review

182 of 184 people found the following review helpful. Best source for Hitler's lifeBy Richard MossThe best source for Hitler's life up to the outbreak of WW2. Clear; level-headed. Absorbing.Best source for Hitler's life: Kershaw's classic two-volume biography is the obvious comparison. Ullrich has 15 years of subsequent research to draw on. As well; Kershaw presents a Life and Times; while Ullrich focuses on the life. Ullrich can seem plodding in comparison with Kershaw's brilliance; and subsequent research doesn't overturn Kershaw's analysis; so you may still prefer him. If you've already read Kershaw and you want to go deeper; Ullrich is for you.Clear: Straightforward; fairly concise; readable. Excellent translation; livelier than the original.Level-headed: Ullrich disposes of much of the nonsense written about Hitler -- that he was a shirker in WW1; or gay; or lazy. He doesn't swallow Speer's self-serving lies.Absorbing: Ullrich's method is to give the facts with a minimum of analysis. It's dry; but the events are so powerful that the result is absorbing. I didn't find the book too long. Yes; it's 1;000 pages; but 232 of them are source notes; and there is a lot to cover.Book or Kindle? Buy the Kindle version. The book is workmanlike rather than attractive.93 of 98 people found the following review helpful. A dense; crucial and scholarly workBy BookreporterFirst published in Germany in 2013; HITLER: ASCENT 1889-1939 is a dense; scholarly work that looks at the dictator of the Third Reich from many perspectives; offering perhaps the most “human” view available in our times.Volker Ullrich states that writing about Adolf Hitler is “without a doubt the most difficult task for a historian.” Hitler was; by the time of his suicide at the end of World War II; considered by all but a handful of his most fanatical followers to be a monster; and since then has been almost universally depicted as such. Thus a chapter entitled “Hitler as Human Being” reveals the author’s notable determination to present a responsible view of his complex protagonist. Ullrich chronicles Hitler’s early childhood; his adolescence as a rather dreamy school dropout and his service in World War I; up to the moment when he became the occupant of the German Chancellery; pivoting his country to the brink of all-out war.Contrary to other accounts that suggest Hitler was the product of abuse; Ullrich asserts that the boy experienced an unremarkable childhood for the time and place. The young Hitler showed early academic promise but wound up with slipping grades; contempt for teachers and an autodidact’s love of solitary reading. Eschewing the intimacy of most romantic relationships; but not a sexual deviant; he purposely developed an uncommon ability to stifle personal sentiment and morph into an iron-willed leader with near superhuman charisma. His pale violet eyes were variously described as intense; hypnotic; unforgettable and unwavering. Though he had only average talent as a painter; his hands were cited as those of an artist; and he used them memorably in his highly dramatic speeches.Admirably intent on presenting Hitler in an unbiased manner; Ullrich cannot help but paint a picture of an aberrant character devising and achieving an unprecedented rise to glorification. Hitler could cry at will; hide feelings of contempt behind a gracious persona; and had a prodigious memory --- but only for the facts he considered important. He could be both warm and cold; so extremely so that even his closest confidantes were perplexed when they thought back on it. And though anti-Semitism was rife in Germany after World War I; it was Hitler alone; in his distant and nuanced manner; who would cold-bloodedly predict; in 1939; “the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.”Ullrich’s thoughtful first volume of the Hitler biography immediately made the bestseller list in his native land. No stranger to exploration of the megalomaniacal personality; having written previously about Bismarck and Napoleon; Ullrich expresses his belief that by allowing Hitler some traces of normality; the deeds of the future Führer “will emerge as even more horrific.”Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Fresh lookBy Duckie DocUlrich's Hitler is the first volume of a new biography taking him up to the start of the Second World War. The author is a journalist from Germany and his non-academic approach to the retelling of the oft told story of this infamous Twentieth Century figure provides a new look from the Twenty-First. Ulrich doesn't portray Hitler as a monster or lunatic but doesn't let him off the hook at the same time. In this way it is a fair or even-handed; unemotional approach. Let the events themselves indict the man as surely they did. Ulrich uses Goebbels to relate many events and their twists and turns and the reaction of the regime to those events. In this way it is a somewhat innovative and helpful approach to portraying (or divining) the thought processes of his enigmatic protagonist. Ulrich doesn't delve into the origins of Hitler's anti-Semitism but includes it as an important thread in the story. Likewise Hitler's early life including his youth; time in Vienna and his war years are not described in detail and no attempt is made to draw deep or far-reaching conclusions from those phases of his life to explain his motivation or behavior once on his quest for power. Ulrich's narrative of the Munich years; the Putsch and then the uncertain; dizzying climb to the Chancellorship is the heart and meat of this first volume. It is a useful; fresh and solid biography for the general reader and the lack of moralizing or even political analyzing by the author doesn't detract but adds greatly to its value. It is the best since Kershaw's monumental work.