Rating: 
Summary: Should be Required Reading for Every Student
Review: (...) This book analyzes Adolf Hitler's life in a complete fashion without wild interpretations.
Rating: 
Summary: Same old wine new label..
Review: I was taken in by the great reviews this book received in various magazines etc. However,Ian Kershaw's book adds nothing new to the study of Hitler. I found myself reading the same material that one could have found in other books about Adolf Hitler. If you have never read a biography of Adolf Hilter this book might be of interest to you. If you are a student of the subject you will find yourself greatly disappointed. Kershaw does not present any new material or research to the reader. He makes no attempt to get into the mind of Hitler or explain in a new way how he(Hilter) was the product of his age.
Rating: 
Summary: Loads of facts...
Review: Let's be honest: evil is always fascinating, and Hitler is Evil with a capital E. If you want to know everything of Hitler's life, here is your chance. This book is loaded with facts, describing everything from the paintings Hitler made during his time as an "artist" to all the names of the different small ultra right wing parties in Germany in the 1920s. ...The book is really scientific and is more a reference book than a book which you can read in one go like other biographies. The book is a rather dry description of an enormous number of facts followed by an enormous list of notes and references, but because Hitler is such a fascinating subject and his influence on world history is still so immense, it is a very readable and interesting book, even though "entertaining" may not be the right word.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Adolph Hitler may well be the most influential individual of the 20th Century. Perverse though it may seem, he set a standard defining evil that was almost universally accepted and that every society could hold as a lens for self-examination. This book will not answer the question of how this man came to power and why people followed him. The truth is we will never really know the answer. I commend Kershaw, however, for an excellent well research book that is almost sure to become the standard against which other biographies are judged. Highly recommended to any interested in this subject.
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Summary: BUY IT NOW!!! You won't regret it.
Review: This biography is EXCELLENT! Ian Kershaw did the impossible! He demistifies Hitler. Where he's not some great leader. I have read a lot of books. Ian Kershaw wrote this book in a way that makes it more intresting and educating (fun to read). I wish I could write him. I guess Oxford helped out there. I'm not only learning about Hitler also about writing (this is a college student). This is a great book about an awful but intresting man. This is a must for an (WWII) history buffs library. Forget about the other bios this is the only one you need! Here's the first paragraph from Chapter 1. --- I The first of many strokes of good fortune for Adolf Hitler took place thirteen years before he was born. In 1867, the man who was to become his father changed his name Alois Shicklgruber. Certainly, 'Heil Schicklgruber' would have sounded an unlikely salutation to a national hero. Copyrighted 1998 by Ian Kershaw --- To read the rest. Your going to have buy this book. Sorry :-) BEWARE WHO YOU PUT IN POWER!!! EX: Hitler | HATE = HATE GOD BLESS AMERICA
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Summary: How a "normal man" walking the streets became "the" dictator
Review: I am from Argentina, south america, 3rd world, and i had the bad luck of getting and spanish copy, very badly translated, something like if you americans get an english copy. But the book is superb, you got ALL the points of view, and Kershaw, in the preface separates himself from Hitler, but when u get to read it, u see it's impossible not to admire Hitler. The book is about how an anonymous artist, walking the streets of Munich, slowly became the most powerful dictator in human history.
Rating:
Summary: Revealing, Critical and Surprising
Review: I am an avid reader of biographies featuring the political leaders who shaped (with or without trying) our world, and Hitler is among the characters that got my attention. I had the occasion to read many biographies about him, and none of them was as eloquent and critical as Kershaw's account of the authoritarian ruler's life. He allows the reader to realize what went on when one virtually unknown soldier went from the status of a nobody to the head of one of the world's largest countries. Ian Kershaw rightly points to the roots of Hitler's power, a mix of his persona coupled with the German social (and political) circumstances after the Great War. In this first tome, he dismisses many sources that are widely used by other biographers and is very critical. Kershaw is very judgmental, but in a way that only adds to his work. I found this book to be the most reasonable account of Hitler's life from 1889 to 1936. I find Ian Kershaw's writing, in this book, superior and more comprehensive to that of other biographers. With this biography's first part, Mr. Kershaw is definitely becoming the new top authority on Hitler, and I cannot wait until I start reading the second tome. It is a shame that Mr. Kershaw doesn't write about Churchill and the others figures of the 20th Century, because his work is amazing.
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Summary: Heil Hubris!...
Review: ...the book, not the attitude. The incredible arrogance of Hitler, when we read here, what he said to the German people: "that you have found me...among so many millions is the miracle of our time! And that I have found you, that is Germany's fortune!" Before we reach this moment of utter self absorbtion that took place in 1936, we have to read through this brilliant biography, HITLER 1889-1936: Hubris. Keeping with the recent tradition exemplified by Peter Fritzsche's GERMANS INTO NAZIS, the new view of Hitler is that he can no longer be seen as the author of his own destiny. Mr Kershaw says plainly that modern biographies of Hitler cannot answer questions about the man by focusing exclusively on him, but only by analyzing German society. He does not go as far as Daniel Goldhagen did in HITLERS WILLING EXECUTIONERS where, unintentionally, Hitler is 'excused', by blaming rabid anti-semitism on the ordinary German. Mr Kershaw has little interest in psychological theories (particularly psychosexual ones), as explanations for Hitler's behavior. He refers to them but generally says that they are incidental to any true understanding, especially since there is insufficient information available. One such theory is that Hitler's anti-semitism stemmed from the illicit liaison of his grandmother which produced Alois - Hitler's father. Proponents say that Hitler's grandfather may have been a Jew, Kershaw simply says that the "baptismal register left a blank in the space allocated to the baby's father. The name of Hitler's paternal grandfather was not disclosed and, despite much speculation, has remained unknown ever since." Some of the themes that are developed by Mr Kershaw are as follows: POLITICAL GOOD FORTUNE and OPPORTUNISM. Hitler's portrayal of himself as a man of political convictions in MEIN KAMPF, is meretricious as, Mr Kershaw shows, rather than acting with intent, or being a triumph of the will, Hitler was simply the master of taking advantage of opportunity. The revolutionary incidents in Munich in 1919 and Hitler's attempted revolt against the national government in 1923, are actually "shaped by circumstance, opportunism, good fortune and, not least, the backing of the army...Hitler did not come to politics, but politics came to him." GOVERNANCE. One of the consequences of this opportunism is that it had an effect on how Hitler governed. The greatest feat of Hitler's political career was his maneuvering himself into the position of Reich Chancellor in 1933. Precipitously "the 'nobody of Vienna', 'unknown soldier', beerhall demagogue, head of what was for years no more than a party of the lunatic fringe of politics, a man with no credentials for running a complicated state machine...had now been placed in charge of government of one of the leading states in Europe." The result was that there was a state "without any central coordinating body and with a head of government, largely disengaged..." POWER is the central thread that runs throughout HUBRIS and connects all of Mr Kershaw's themes together. He says, "what has continued in the writing of the book to interest me, is not just how this initially most unlikely pretender to high state office could gain power, but how he was able to extend that power until it became absolute." 'WORKING TOWARDS THE FUHRER.' Mr Kershaw is at his brilliant best in developing this theme. The words were spoken by Hitler's agriculture minister in a speech in 1934. In arguing that it was not possible for Hitler to order from above, everything that was required, the people should therefore cease to await such orders. Mr Kershaw states what was said next. "Rather, however, it is the duty of every single person to attempt, in the spirit of the Fuhrer, to work towards him." This spurred a new type of voluntarism by the people, and also set off a struggle between state agencies in the competition for influence. There was a concomitant progression towards the primacy of politics and politics also became increasingly violent. This setting "invited radical initiatives from below." The origins of the final solution for the Jews can be seen in this context. In general, and in conclusion, working towards the Fuhrer enabled Hitler to accomplish things he wanted done without relying on institutional apparatus. This only served to strengthen his personal mastery and power over party, state, and the people. Biography should be written by an acute enemy (Arthur James Balfour) We all qualify as enemies of Hitler but only a few could write a biography to match this one.
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Summary: Masterpiece of in-depth analysis
Review: The first tome of Kershaw's huge biography of Adolf Hitler covers the lesser known period of the man's life before becoming a broad-scale murderer. The whole point of the book is to to sort out the different elements in the course of Hitler's life (Vienna, WWI, Landsberg..) that triggered his rise up to the leadership of the NSDAP and his accession to the Chancellery in 1933. In the 800 pages+ of the biography we fully dive into Hitler's world that he began to build progressively around himself and made the others (ie 80 million Germans) believe that international Jewry was pure evil. What I found extraordinarily well analyzed was the different steps of Hitler's personality and the building of 3d Reich society through many of its key characters, amongst which we could name Himmler, Goering, Hess, etc... In brief, if any serious Hitler biography should top the rank, it's gotta be this one. Thank you Pr.Kershaw!
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Summary: He thought he could gamble and win forever
Review: Ian Kershaw's "Hitler 1880-1936 Hubris" is one of the best and most relevant biographies of Hitler to date. As the title suggests, this book examines the social context from which Hitler was able to rise to power. Much of this information is already quite well known. For example, Kershaw discusses, Germany's staggering military defeat in the First World War, and its refusal to hold the responsible military authorities accountable for it. This resulted in the rise of the Volkish movement and the blaming of the Jews for all of Germany's woes. The importance of this book is not the superb recounting of these already well-documented historical facts, but Kershaw's exciting new argument about why Hitler chose to remilitarize the Rhineland. According to Kershaw, the French occupied portion of the Rhineland was already scheduled to be returned to Germany and that this was a well known fact to Hitler. But at this time, Germany suffered staggering economic setbacks, and even a charismatic leader such as Hitler began to see his popularity decline. What Hitler needed was a military and political victory to reinvigorate his popular appeal and he obtained this by appearing to take by force what was bound to be returned to him. Hitler's immense gamble paid off, but it also put Germany on a course toward inevitable defeat. Hitler's popularity now depended on sustaining a constant context of emergency and of producing a series stunning victories. His hubris lay in the belief that he could mirror his success in the Rhineland forever.
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