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Summary: The book against which all Hitler bios will be measured
Review: This is the definitive biography of the maniacal dictator, the best since Robert Payne's "The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler." All other books on Hitler pale in comparison to this one. John Toland is probably the foremost historical author in the US, and his typical attention to detail is evident in this book, as in all his others. No other book on Hitler since has even come close to this one.
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Summary: ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
Review: This politically incorrect subject has left the details and origins of Nazism untouched. One would believe that the gates of hell simply opened up to burp out the Hitler cartoon of the mass media. Unfortunatly, this over-simplification leaves many questions unanswered about one of the most complex and critical personalities in history . John Toland answers anything you would ever want to know about Hitler, his colleages, and his motivations. Why did they do it? Who sorrounded and supported Hitler? Who were his close supporters? Where were his family and friends during this catastrophe? What events in his youth affected and molded his world view? ----- Toland leaves no stone unturned. Toland posses very few theories. He does not try to taint history with viewpoint. He meticulously gives a chronological account filled with direct accounts from all the family, friends, and confidants of Hitler.
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: To understand the Second World War one must begin with Adolf Hitler and to understand Hitler one must begin with John Toland's classic Adolf Hitler. This is the definitive biography of Adolf Hitler that all others should be based.
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Summary: Superbly interesting
Review: Toland has created a highly readable account of the man who is quite probably the most evil man of the century - and perhaps the millenium. Deeply revealing and meticulously researched, the picture painted here for us of Hitler is earth shaking in its breadth. Anyone who hopes to truly understand the man and the tragedy of Nazi Germany should read this book, and read it well.
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Summary: Superlative history, well documentated, reads like a novel.
Review: Toland provides, as he always does, a remarkable look inside a dark and complex world. He interviewed participants from the highest to the lowest of levels. In many cases these were Nazis who had hidden themselves completely from the outside world. However, this book is far more than a history. It provides us with a look into Evil in one of its most massive displays in history. Anyone interested in Hitler and/or the nature of evil should read this. "Hitler" reads as a novel yet leaves one with tremendous knowledge and many keys to understanding the darkest side of human nature.
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Summary: A serious historical work-
Review: Toland's book is a well documented serious historical book. Full of fsacinating details which help explain the context of the anti-communist movements of Europe. This is not the typical Hollywood version of WWI and Hitler. The book is remarkably objective and sure to be despised by those who gloss over the much more monumental crimes of communism against Christian Russia and ukraine and the forced famine which killed 25% of the ukranian population. William Conquests Harvest of Despair is another good book for those that wish to move beyond the political correctness and buffonic thinking of most american historians.
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Summary: Used to be in two volumes...
Review: When this book was released in 1976 it came in two volumes. The first pertained to hitler's early years to his rise to power, the second pertained to the war years. It was perhaps the best biography of hitler available in the english language. You could actually read it as two seperate books!I wish it still was offered that way but this version provides the reader with a more concise history and still makes for interesting reading. The quality of research still comes through. Toland's wrote beautifully about hitler's early days and provides some insight into how hitler became the monster he was and why so many believed in him. ..............socks
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Summary: FROM SOUP TO NUTS!
Review: Whew! This was quite a long biography, but how can a person like Adolf Hitler be written in a short and sweet version. This is without a doubt, one of the best biographies I have ever read, this book deals with Hitler from before birth until after his demise. We are not just shown the war time Hitler, we are shown Hitler the Artist, Poet, Architect, the homeless man (yes he was broke living on the streets at one point folks) and Hitler the demigod. There are no sides taken in this novel it plays out to you like a whirlwind of information getting stories from various people within his inner circle.
This book is very easy to read, and not too heavy with names nor does it dwell on just one topic of his life. I thought it was a very good depiction of the dictator. I especially liked how Jon Toland would describe Hitler's demeanor when he would receive news of victory or defeat.
After reading this book I can see parallels between Hitler and Saddam Hussain. These men have been in power so long that they come to believe that they are Gods to there people and that only they can lead them to glory, despite the obvious doom and destruction that will eventually occur.
After reading the book, I have to say, the early Hitler had some good points, had he only stayed in Germany and made it a great nation he would have gone down in history as one of the greatest leaders. However what he later did can never be forgiven. Well, the guy never got a college degree, what can you expect. He died a madman no doubt about it.
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Summary: National Socialists: The definitive biography
Review: Wow! John Toland's book "Adolf Hitler: the definitive biography" is a great read. Toland deals with the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from womb to tomb. The reader is shown much more than just the war-time National Socialists. The book is a blitzkrieg of information from various people within the inner circles. After reading this book it is easy to see parallels between the socialist leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (21 million slaughtered) and the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (62 million slaughtered) and the leader of the Peoples' Republic of China (35 million slaughtered). No wonder the socialist trio of atrocities caused the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part). Socialists gain so much power that they come to believe that they are Gods to their people and that only they can lead them to glory, despite the shortages, poverty, misery, starvation, and atrocities that occur.
Toland's book lends support for the historian Rex Curry, who exposed the swastika as two "S" shapes overlapping to represent "socialism." On page 86 Toland writes "Drexler [Anton Drexler] suggested calling their group the German Socialist Party (the same name of a similarly motivated party founded a year earlier [1916?] in Bohemia [Czeckoslovakia], whose emblem incidentally, was the swastika). Toland provides no footnote or reference for his claim, and it is unfortunate that Toland died in 2004 and cannot be asked for details about the earlier Party, however another entry in the book (p 183) makes reference to Han Knirsch, founder of the National Socialist Workers Party in Czeckoslovakia.
Toland also notes that the swastika was long a symbol of the Teutonic Knights and had been used by Lanz Von Liebenfels, the Thule Society and a number of Free Corps units before it took on it socialist symbolism.
The author fails to explain the influence of National Socialists in the U.S. as far back as 1892. The author of the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag was Francis Bellamy, a self-proclaimed National Socialist. The original salute to the flag was a straight arm salute. If you're reading this sentence - there's a good chance you are - it is probably the first time you have read about the original salute to the U.S. flag. The book has no historic photo of the original straight-arm salute to the U.S. flag. The author's neglect in this area is one reason why he did not make the news-breaking discovery that the pledge of allegiance was the origin of the salute of the horrid National Socialist German Workers' Party, as exposed by the journalist Rex Curry. The common claim that it was an old Roman salute is a myth. It would make more sense to say that it was "Roman" in the sense that Francis Bellamy was from Rome, N.Y. and sometimes used the term "Roman" to refer to his hometown. More likely, it was a product of Hollywood in old movies that depicted ancient Rome and the salute, with no basis in reality.
The author is weak in explicating how Francis Bellamy and his cousin and cohort, Edward Bellamy, wanted government to take over all schools as a socialist monopoly, end all of the better alternatives, and use government schools to produce an "industrial army" (a Bellamy term) explicitly modeled upon the military in order to nationalize the economy and create a society of totalitarian socialism as described in the book "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy. It explains the modern Military-Socialist complex. The Bellamy boys actively promoted what they called "military socialism" (another Bellamy term).
The government forced children to attend segregated schools where they recited the Pledge using it's original straight-arm salute. The practice began three decades before it was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and the government school racism continued through WWII and beyond, and the government schools still exist to this day.
If the government had taken over all churches then the same horror would have resulted, with government-mandated racism in government churches. The libertarian solution would have been to end socialized churches. It is fortunate that the Constitution prevented government churches. It is unfortunate that the Constitution did not prevent government schools, though they are no where authorized.
During World War II, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed an alliance with the National Socialist German Workers' Party to invade Poland and divide up Europe. The National Socialist German Workers' Party invaded Poland first (Sept. 1), followed shortly thereafter (Sept. 17) by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
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Summary: One of the best and most thourough biographies ever written
Review: Written in 1976 when many of Hitler's key contemporaries and friends were still alive, Toland carefully and thouroughly utilizes first person oral histories and a vast myriad of sources to craft one of the most compelling biographies ever written. Toland works effortlessly through his prose to paint a human face on the individual who left perhaps the greatest imprint on the 20th Century. Hitler not only perfectly defined and personified Evil in both the modern and contemporary mind, but also changed the way politics are conducted. His use of multimedia propaganda lives with us still The brilliance of Toland's writing is that while he remains completely objective and true to his subject, he lets history and the facts speak for themselves.For anyone interested in studying the second world war or the 20th century, I truly reccomend beginning with this book. Five stars out of five.
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