Rating: 
Summary: The two books will probably remain the final word on Hitler
Review: The massive piece of work (considering both books together) is a well woven and carefully researched study of the most unique figures in the last several centuries. I had a friend who was a professor who fled Germany, but not before he had met all the top Nazi figures--including Hitler. Although he hated everything about him, he would still admit that the man had a hypnotic effect. He worked with B. Donovan in O.S,S and then was a translator at the Nuremberg trials. I learned a great deal from him as having had extensive face-to-face contact with the Nazi leadership at the trial. I find that these books are highly consistent with what I heard.
TO LEN_F, I can only say he totally lacks understanding of Germany in the 1930s when it was in a depression far greater then faced in the U.S.A. His third paragraph is so ludicrous it comes close to childishness and has no place in a serious review. Hitler had a typical European feeling, but knew that from the time of Europe's greatest anti-Semite, Martin Luther, he had a ready scape-goat for all of Germany's problems, and with which to rouse the latent need of the masses. Look elsewhere in the Nazi leadership for the real hatred. And, to describe Hitler as anything but a mad genius is to totally refuse to look at how he almost took over Europe-and but for Churchill might well have. So, if Len wants to find what he is looking for, he is not likely to ever find what never existed. Hubris is a good title for the book, because it was Hitler's greatest strength and fatal weakness.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding biography of Adolf Hitler.
Review: Mr Kershaw has written a very engrossing study of Hitler's personal and political lives. The book is very well written - accessible to the general reader, but with a wealth of footnotes for those who would like to dig deeper on their own.Kershaw has done an admirable job in trying to get at the truth of the events of Hitler's life - not an easy task with so many layers of myth obscuring the subject. One example is the time that Hitler spent in Vienna before the First World War. Using primary and secondary sources, Kershaw paints a detailed picture of Hitler's years in Vienna - a picture that is often at odds with Hitler's own version as published in Mein Kampf. This book is an authoritative examination of Hitler's "formative years", the creation of the Nazi Party and Hitler's rise to absolute power. I am looking forward to the publication of the second volume.
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Summary: Disturbing, enlightening, and thoroughly good read.
Review: I speak as a general reader, expert at nothing. This volume has exactly 200 hundred pages (200) of notes and references. It is written with clarity and with a fluid style with sufficient variation, and outstanding structure, and so is no struggle for the general reader - no purple prose, or academic dryness, and is easy to follow the logical and grammatical development of sentence, paragraph and chapter. Its topic sentences are sometimes quite memorable eg, "Crisis was Hitler's oxygen. He needed it to survive." p. 200. In the work, Professor Kershaw refers to housewives like Luise Solmitz, and to reporters like William Shirer and to Generals like Ribbentrop in equal measure. We learn Hitler became a millionaire in his own right through the sales of Mein Kampf. We learn Hitler was, apparently, responsible for breaking the shackles of Versailles, restoring military pride and making Germany a force "to be reckoned with" whilst his party was seen as corrupt and violent - this in itself, how he was able to separate himself from his party so convincingly, is measure of his political skill. We learn (or at least I do) that Hitler introduced compulsory sterilization of the hereditary sick but that the ground had been prepared by the "experts" before Hitler took office. This book is not just a political, or military history, but a social and economic history as well. I suppose the study of this era in the World's history should be required reading for every citizen. Democracy as we know it, emerged the victor at the end of the 20th century, but only by the hair of its chinny chin chin.
Rating:
Summary: A Landmark Biography
Review: Biographies of Adolf Hitler are commonplace, but the first volume of Kershaw's new effort is well worth the read. Kershaw gets past the myths of Hitler to present a detailed, encyclopedic examination of his early life and rise to power. He manages the neat trick of remaining relatively dispassionate and objective about Hitler's political evolution. Kershaw also takes other historians to task for their assertion that Hitler was an energetic genius, revealing that much of the time Hitler was lazy and slothful and could not be bothered to pay attention to matters that did not intrigue him. The one downside of the book is that, in refusing to indulge the Hitler mythos, Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris can be a bit dry in stretches. Still, it's worth it to see this new interpretation of Hitler's life and career.
Rating:
Summary: An authoritative examination
Review: Ian Kershaw's book is simply exceptional in every way. His grasp of the primary and secondary sources on Hitler and Germany is astonishing. Despite what might appear to be a weighty tome, with thousands of footnotes, Kershaw has organized his material and presented it in elegant prose that drives the Hitler story along at a brisk pace--and draws the reader along too. Perhaps more impressive than Kershaw's research and writing, is his analysis. The reader will come away from this book with, at this point in time, the most cogent, insightful interpretation one can find of how Hitler came to power. Kershaw brilliantly lays out how Hitler's "belief" system was formed, where it fit into the Germany of Hitler's time, and how Hitler was able to match his talents as a propagandist and mesmerizing speaker to the "needs" of the German people. Kershaw does not accept simplistic explanations about Hitler's rise to power--there was nothing inevitable about it, it was not the "nature" of the German people that produced Hitler, etc. Instead, Kershaw presents a sober, balanced account that clearly lays out in detail the political, economic, and social situation in Germany, the times, and the man--and his luck--all of which led, as he notes in his final setence, Germany into the abyss. This book does not attempt to sensationalize Hitler. Rather it is an extraordinary piece of scholarship, analysis, and writing--this is the one book about Hitler and Germany that should be read. I look forward with great anticipation to a second volume.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Biography
Review: There are many books that focus on the life of Adolf Hitler, but none can be compared to the work of shear perfection that is Ian Kershaw's Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris. In the first volume of his Hitler biography, Kershaw addresses the key themes that led to Hitler's rise to power. The book does not begin with any preconceived notions regarding the "evil" or "inhumanity" of Hitler, but rather examines him as he was, a flesh and blood human being. Kershaw presents Hitler as a three dimensional figure. It is this balanced view that makes this book so unique. Hitler presents a full view of its namesake's story and directly challenges and refutes many misconceptions that have become part of the Hitler myth.
The author's motivation behind writing this book is also key to the overall understanding of its significance. Kershaw states that a Hitler biography had never been part of his agenda. In fact, he was extremely hesitant to even begin undertaking this venture because of the prior works of Alan Bullock and Joachim Fest. Kershaw's prior works did not focus on individuals, but rather broader social trends surrounding Hitler's acceptance and Nazism. It was the inescapable link between Hitler and Nazi Germany that finally drove Kershaw to begin his book.
Ian Kershaw's "Hitler 1889-1936 Hubris" is the first part of the greatest biography ever written on the subject of Adolf Hitler. It is the most complete and thought provoking of all the Hitler biographies. While the work can only be described as massive, at well over 800 pages, it is well worth the read. Kershaw addresses all sides of the Hitler. He looks at the figure of Hitler independently of preconceived notions. Kershaw comments on and discredits many of the numerous Hitler myths ranging from the possible Jewish origins of his grandfather, his sexual preference, and the roots of his anti-Semitism. Kershaw references the earlier works of Joachim Fest and Alan Bullock to make his descriptions of Hitler more well rounded. This book address nearly ever key element of Hitler's early life from his boyhood days in Austria to his time in the trenches of World War I and finally to his eventual rise to power through the Nazis. The book is incredibly detailed and presents the full scope of each event in Hitler's life. Kershaw also helps to place Hitler's life in the larger context of the German nation throughout the pre-1936 era.
Perhaps the most prominent theme addressed by Kershaw is Hitler's anti-Semitism. Not only is this one of the most fundamental issues to understanding Hitler, but it is also a prime example of the skill employed by Ian Kershaw in his book. I found Kershaw's theory to be well formed and the most sound of all the other material available. The book is supplemented by a diverse collection of Hitler and Nazi photographs. These photos add to the work as they depict Hitler before he would become the Fuhrer of Germany. Some of these photos, especially of his youth, are not commonly seen and offer a different look on a man whose life is frequently analyzed throughout the world. The book is skillfully written and has a great flow, which makes its length seem almost a non-factor. After reading "Hubris" one will not be able to resist diving into the second volume "Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis." Overall, you could not find a better biography of Hitler. Kershaw does not provide "shocking" new details or "sensational" accounts he simply gives the reader the facts. I highly recommend Kershaw's book for anyone interested in Nazi Germany or history in general.
Rating:
Summary: No Hubris Without Complicity
Review: It probably goes without saying that every American citizen should read at least one critical biography of Adolf Hitler over the course of a lifetime. It is hard to conceive of anyone who has influenced American life, foreign policy, and human sensitivities more than Hitler in our own times. There are past and prospective readers of this work who fought the War that he essentially started and fueled, and very few American families are untouched by his legacy of destruction. Given his place in history, detested as that may be, it would be hard to cite a better biographical sketch of Der Fuhrer than that of Professor Ian Kershaw of the University of Sheffield in England. We all know that Hitler was bad. Kershaw takes us for a two-volume excursion that explains, as well as anyone can, how he became bad and how his evil was allowed to ferment, verily to thrive, when others in power could have squashed him. The first volume traces Hitler's life up to and including the German reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1937, a daring but bloodless military foray that left both the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations in tatters. One might suspect that Hitler's flaunting of international law might have been halted midstream by the appropriate checks and balances of German government, business, the military and popular opinion. Obviously, this did not happen. The genius of this volume, in my view, is Kershaw's penetrating analysis of the national conditions of German life and politics that carried Hitler's agenda to fruition, at ultimately terrible cost. Alois Schicklgruber changed his name to Alois Hitler in 1876, thirteen years before the birth of his son Adolf in 1889. [Heil Schicklgruber?] There are hints in "Mein Kampf" and other sources that Adolf Hitler's overbearing mother was unable to protect him from his father's physical outbursts of anger, though materially the family was comfortable. His secondary school reports describe him as an unmotivated underachiever, and he seems to have left formal schooling with enthusiasm only for history. In his late teens and early adult years Hitler lived an existence described by Kershaw as "parasitic idleness," drawing from inheritances and fancying himself an artist. In actuality he was refused admission on multiple occasions to institutes of advanced artistic training. When his money ran out, Hitler gravitated to Vienna and painted postcards. He was something of a beer hall bum who worked only enough to survive in a public shelter and pontificate with other down and outers on issues of the day. Kershaw describes in vivid detail the social and political currents of Austria at the time. Nostalgic/apocalyptic pan-Germanic dreams, anti-Semitism, quirky eugenics theories, an uneven economy, and general frustration with ineffectual bureaucratic government led to the rise of energetic but scattered right wing political movements prior to World War I. Bombarded by but very congenial to such influences, Hitler's political philosophy of German preeminence began to form, and the outbreak of international hostilities seemed to galvanize and energize him. Hitler volunteered for military service in Munich [though legally he was required to do so in Austria and barely escaped prison.] He served primarily as a messenger to the front lines, an unglamorous but respectable tour of duty, and at one point he was temporarily blinded in the line of duty. After hostilities ceased, a thoroughly demoralized Hitler was ordered to work as a teacher in a program to indoctrinate German soldiers to the dangers of Bolshevism, now a major threat to Germany's east in the wake of the Russian Revolution. In actuality such indoctrination was a closet rallying of German nationalism in the military under the restrictions of Versailles. Hitler surprised himself, and many of his influential superiors, with his rhetorical prowess. Throwing his lot with the German Workers Party, a collection of right wing militarists/socialists, Hitler gained national recognition as a spokesman of discontent with the economy and post war shame. His message was hardly unique, though-72 other such parties crowded for influence. In 1921 he became his own party's leader, and in this capacity led a 1923 ill-timed and poorly conceived revolt against the sitting Reich government known today as the "Beer Hall Putsch" [named for its place of proclamation, not conception.] Kershaw examines the Putsch as a prime example of the way that Hitler himself was used by discontented men of influence from a variety of interest groups. By rights the Putsch should have cost Hitler his life-a treasonous act that killed several. But before a sympathetic judge, Hitler used his trial-with the judge's compliance-as a national podium to articulate his vision of a reformed and restored Germany. Here he broke ahead of the pack of other like-minded rivals for national influence. He received a ludicrously brief prison sentence in quarters that allowed him to write, receive and entertain guests, and continue to expand his political influence. After release, he was banned from speaking for a time [outdoors!] Any chance to beard the lion by the state was now lost forever.
Hitler's nationalist party, easily the loudest of Germany's political parties in the early 1930's, never captured more than a third of the popular vote, but on January 30, 1933, with Hindenburg's government in crisis, Hitler himself wrangled the position of Chancellor, second only to Hindenburg. Upon Hindenburg's death in 1934 he seized full control of the government, with the help of extensive street violence and a propaganda machine second to none. Immensely popular with the masses, he embraced wholesale rearmament and survived the resulting economic upheaval by the dramatic Rhineland venture. Kershaw discusses Hitler's notorious anti-Semitism at considerable length, though at the conclusion of this first volume there are no clear indications of the genocide that lie ahead. Hitler spoke of segregation and exportation of Jews in private and public addresses and diplomatic meetings through 1937. The death camps, with many other horrors, were not in focus just yet.
Rating:
Summary: "Everybody Loves a Winner"
Review: The Rise In this first of two volumes, historian Ian Kershaw portrays how a disaffected loser through diligence, and with more than a bit of good fortune, transformed himself from an embittered Veteran of World War I to a beer-hall orator, political leader, and eventually the dictator of Germany. The prose is workmanlike, without emotion or flash. The annotations are extensive. The story is cautionary.
Rating: 
Summary: another in a long line of ill researched hitler biographies
Review: Ian Kershaw's biography of hitler is just another example of hopping on the hitler bio band wagon.it is increadibly long winded,using the typical terms such as monster,wich in actuality is nothing more than a needless opinion,as the information in this book is so inacurate it cannot back up this statment.you could also read fest,or bullock,as they are all pretty much the same as kershaw's work;although not as long winded.it is just another poorly researched biased account,pretty much copied from the last guys work.for the best account of hitler,read hitler's war by david irving.
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Summary: Hitler: 1889-1936 Hubris
Review: We surely need books like Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners that examine German society as a whole in an effort to understand how Hitler came to power and held it for so long. But we also need classic, political biographies that focus on the dictator himself. Kershaw's book, the first volume of a projected two-part biography, pays some attention to how ripe a demoralized Germany was for demagoguery after the Treaty of Versailles, but the author's focus is on Hitler and his political career'the decisions he made as he rose to power and those he made once he attained it. What distinguishes this effort is the extent of documentation as Kershaw, a professor of history at the University of Sheffield, exploits the full Goebbels diaries and texts of early Hitler speeches only recently made accessible. Also notable is the portrait Kershaw draws of Hitler as surprisingly remote from the thuggery, greed and corruption of his followers, high and low, even as he actively encouraged the development of a cult of personality. Kershaw closes with an examination of Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland, a fait accompli made possible by the timidity and disarray of Germany's supine neighbors. Had the French marched, Hitler said later, "we would have had to withdraw... with our tails between our legs." By 1936, Kershaw writes, events had substantiated Hitler's hubris. A "nemesis" (subtitle of the next volume) would in reality not emerge before 1941. Kershaw's massive work (made somewhat too massive by some repetition) is valuable for the rigor with which it portrays Hitler not as some supernatural evil force ejected into history from beyond but as a thoroughly natural figure'evil, surely, but historically evil.
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