ePub The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans in History

Review

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful. One of the finer works on the rise of NazismBy Reader in the rainI am a 67 years old retired high school history teacher and have been studying Hitler and the Holocaust since reading Shirer's "Rise and Fall" when I was in the 6th grade over half a century ago. Since then I have pretty much devoured dozens of histories; hundreds of articles; and dozens more novels about the "what; how; and why" Hitler was able to rise to power and why the nascent anti-semitism that had been part of European culture for over a thousand years somehow morphed into the holocaust. My obsession with the subject stems from both my abiding passion for history and my realization that my father; who served in the Army Air Corps during WW II; was but two or three generations removed (depending which branch of the family tree was being examined) from his 100% German roots. Hence the thought occurred to me early on in my studies ; "What if one or more of our ancestors had not left Germany? Dad could just as easily been in the Luftwaffe; the SA; or even the SS; he was; after all; very patriotic.So; since I have described how I came to read this book as well as my bonafides to review it I guess I should get on to my review. Evans' book is one of the finest I have ever read on both the roots of German culture in the years both preceding and after the Great War as well as how the Weimar Republic Collapsed into the Third Reich. The documentation is superb and the writing is interesting and compelling. Evans avoids the flaw incumbent in the work so many historians; "I researched this fact; it is going in the book; damn it!" which allows the work to move at a very nice pace. Many a night while reading the book I was staying up far past my bedtime because I simply could not put it down. I am very well versed in the subject matter but somehow Evans has managed to write a book that is readable and interesting to an expert such as I and is at the same time completely approachable and understandable to someone with but the most limited background in the period. I can hardly wait to immerse myself in the ensuing two volumes. However I do not expect the third volume to grip me quite so firmly as I am far more interested in how the Third Reich and its leader came to be than again reading a tale of the evil it did. If you are new to the detailed study of this subject I highly recommend reading this work and then moving on to Timothy Snyder's "Black Earth" a book that does a better job of explaining Hitler's political theories and philosophies than any other work I have read so far.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. "The Coming of the Third Reich" brilliantly explains how Hitler and the Nazis first came to power in Germany.By Mike Powers“The Coming of the Third Reich” is the first volume of British historian Richard J. Evans’ masterful three-volume history of Nazi Germany. In it; Evans tells the story of what happened in Germany from the end of World War I (1918) to the consolidation of power by the Nazis in mid-1933. Evans traces Adolf Hitler’s rise from an obscure; down-and-out street artist in Vienna to his assumption of power as Germany’s Reich Chancellor in 1933. He also shows how and why the Weimar Republic – Germany’s first attempt at democracy – failed; and how the National Socialist party was able to exploit that failure for its own ends.I found the most interesting chapters of “The Coming of the Third Reich” are those that show how the Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists “coordinated” (their term) the entire nation under their dictatorial; one-party regime once they had attained power. The Nazis used a combination of legal means – the promulgation of several laws passed by the government – as well as street riots; murder; intimidation; and thuggery – to consolidate their power over the nation. Every aspect of German society – art; music; literature; science; journalism; education; business; industry; finance; and others – was subject to this brutal “coordination” by the Nazis. A key feature of the National Socialist program was; of course; Hitler’s promise to eliminate the Jews from German society. Evans describes in great detail how Hitler and his minions; with the tacit approval of many Germans; began implementing their brutal and ultimately genocidal plan to eradicate the Jews from not only Germany; but Europe as well.Richard J. Evans writes with a lively and engaging style that held my interest throughout this book’s 672 pages. (It only took me ten days to read it from cover to cover.) I do not think “The Coming of the Third Reich” is quite as easy to read as William L. Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich;” but in many ways; I think it is much better. It provides greater detail; and there is much more historical analysis that accompanies its fast-paced narrative. I gained a tremendous amount of new knowledge from “The Coming of the Third Reich;” and enjoyed reading it tremendously. Highly recommended.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Effectively teaches you a surprisingly complex topic.By ClarkReally captures the many factors. The author proposes that a dozen little factors lead to this disaster. Instead of trying to describe the point of collision; he first walks you along each factor by itself; usually ending the chapter with "but this faction was really just a small group and not a major cause." After three or four of these you may feel teased. But then in the last chapter he shows you how these factors play against another and you are now educated enough on each of them to really understand the subtleties and accumulated trends. Its a topic of shades and no one singular move caused this disaster. I felt this author trained me well to understand the sophisticated conclusions made at the end of the book.