Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written; Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness.From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin; Adolf Hitler left a murky trail; strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in this century. Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his thirty-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I. With extraordinary vividness; Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna; the crucible of a war with immense casualties; the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 1920s; the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right and the Left; the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources; Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist; a "drummer" sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls; to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch and; ultimately; to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people.This volume; the first of two; ends with the promulgation of the infamous Nuremberg laws that pushed German Jews to the outer fringes of society; and with the march of the German army into the Rhineland; Hitler's initial move toward the abyss of war. Black-and-white photos throughout
#26253 in Books William Cronon 1992-05-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.20 x 1.60 x 6.20l; 1.82 #File Name: 0393308731592 pagesNature s Metropolis Chicago and the Great West
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A beautifully written book describing the rise of a great metropolis ...By c.larchA beautifully written book describing the rise of a great metropolis and its ability to exceed its boosters' wildest dreams. The intrinsic connection between city and country is one of the strongest themes of the book; granting credit to both country and city for the rise of Chicago. Additionally; the book surveys nature as found and man's alterations to nature (termed 'first nature' and 'second nature'; respectively); and its impact on the city's economy. This is a must-read for any person who desires to shape cities and who subscribes to the theories of landscape urbanism. Though it does not conform to the idea that cities are to be solely shaped around nature; the book does in fact support that geography and the inherent value of landscape is what brought greatness to Chicago and the Midwestern region.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Bulls; Bears; and Wheat: Oh My!By Taylor roseThe city of Chicago inhabits a unique location straddling several natural divides: between the watersheds of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River; between vast grasslands on the Great Plains and dense woodlands around the Great Lakes. Appropriately; William Cronon’s Nature’s Metropolis tells the story of the city’s remarkable nineteenth-century rise as one of connections; both geographical and thematic: between east and west; water and rail; ecology and economy. But like the low; swampy ridge through which enterprising Chicagoans constructed the Illinois and Michigan Canal in the 1830s and 40s; Cronon’s divisions are not so neat and tidy.Cronon begins with a delicate refutation of Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis; arguing that cities “grew in tandem with the countryside†(p. 47). Rather than developing in isolation as the product of discreet urban economic forces; Chicago rose to power only as its rural surroundings became a hinterland of natural and agricultural resource production. And as more efficient and reliable transportation networks sprung up to support trade between; for example; cattle ranchers in Kansas or lumbermen in Michigan and the concentration of fiscal and manufacturing capital in Chicago; ties strengthened further; leading some boosters and twentieth-century urban theorists to espouse a certain “gravitational†(p. 38) argument for the city’s success.Throughout Nature’s Metropolis—especially in the three parallel chapters on grain; lumber; and meat production—Cronon proves that economic and environmental histories can (and should) be reconciled. Furthermore; Cronon writes with the clarity and color that makes this a truly engaging book. Indeed; his explanation of futures markets is as lucid as that of seasonal grain production—which says a lot; considering the disdain with which environmental historians often regard the mechanisms of capitalism. Though the last three chapters can feel a bit tedious and redundant—especially considering the book’s length—Nature’s Metropolis is a remarkable achievement and a benchmark for urban environmental history.58 of 58 people found the following review helpful. A review from an armchair historian.By frumiousbThere are going to be other reviewers who can provide more erudite reviews-- reviews better grounded in the study of cities or economic history. I am nothing more than an average reader who enjoys non-fiction.First of all; potential readers should be aware that this is an economic history. It follows flows of goods and capital rather than following the lives and careers of the men and women of Chicago. I knew what to expect; but for people looking for a more standard history of Chicago this may make Nature's Metropolis difficult to engage.I really enjoyed reading the book. It stretched my understanding of the economic growth of cities and raised issues that I had not considered about the role of the city *in* nature (not as opposed to nature). The examination of elements that made Chicago into both a city and The City was fascinating. The chapters tracing grain; lumber and meat as goods were clearly written and underscored the central theses.I guess it goes without saying that Nature's Metropolis is far from a light read; but that does not make it less rewarding. As someone who does not have a background in history; I only longingly wished that the bibliography had been annotated to help support further reading.
