Ian Kershaw.
IAN KERSHAW: adolf hitler biography
HITLER (2008)
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Previously published in two volumes, this ahtoritative biography of Adolf Hitler is now available as an abridged version in a single volume. Kershaw traces the extraordinary story of Adolf Hitler, rising from being a failed art student in Austria to the leadership of Nazi Germany. It charts his rise, his conduct of the Second World War across continental Europe and Russia, the attacks by his U-boats on British and American ships, the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust, the attempts on his life, and his humiliated downfall. Kershaw argues that the driving force of the Nazi regime was not Hitler himself, but the perception of him held by the German population. For Kershaw, what happened in Germany after 1933 was that Hitler’s charismatic authority led to a gradual erosion of ordered authority in Germany, with his subordinates vying to gain favour with him by implementing extreme actions in response to Hitler’s vaguely expressed wishes.
Reviewing the book for the Observer, David Carradine wrote: 'Supersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write'. In the Financial Times, Michael Burleigh described the book as ‘An achievement of the very highest order'.
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Ian Kershaw (born 1943) obtained his degree in history from the University of Liverpool, and his DPhil at Merton College, Oxford. He became a lecturer in history at the University of Manchester, then a professor of history at the University of Sheffield. Initially a medievalist, he later specialised in the 20th century history of Germany, writing several highly regarded books on the subject.
