Rating: 
Summary: Could have been better.
Review: "A concise biography of Adolf Hitler" is the premiere book for people wanting to start learning about the former dictator and tyrant of Germany. The author lays the book out into a series of different topics and within these different sections he gives a complete viewpoint of Hitler. These range from his eating habits, sexual life, as well as his controversial mind set. The author also dispels of some of the myths that we have always heard about Hitler. The book finishes with very short biographies of some of the leader's friends. The one true stenghth of this book is it causes the reader to want to know more about the subject. Even with this said there are some weaknesses with the book. The first is the fact that each chapter is a separate section within itself, which means there is not a unity that flows from chapter to chapter. This in turn, leads to a difficult readability and almost encourages the reader to stop after each chapter instead of wanting to read the whole book. This is compounded even more by the author's need to insert the phrase "See Chapter 3" or "See Chapter 8", which might have seemed helpful at the beginning but after the tenth repetition it became an unwanted and dreaded statement. Secondly, there is a complete absence of pictures, or maps. This forces the reader to count on the author to illustrate images through the use of words. A practice that Mr. Fuchs fails to complete. For example, the author only attempts to describe Heinrich Himmler as the "one with pince-nez glasses" and yet he than tries to give a 4 page biography about the complex German SS captain. Even with these weaknesses the book is still an informative piece of historical data. It must also be noted that the source index stretches out over 80 plus pages. The author justifies this by saying he wishes for the readers to use his book as a "stepping stone" for further research. This leads this reviewer to wonder what Thomas Fuchs could have done if he had expanded his research and maybe had not so hastily rushed to the publisher. Pro: 1) Stepping stone for Hitler research Cons: 1) Fragmented chapters, lack of unity 2) Lack of maps and illustrations 3) Research could have been expanded throughout the book
Rating:
Summary: Adolph Hitler - A to Z
Review: Any book with the name of Adolph Hitler in the title is bound to catch the eye of all Germanophiles - serious and semi-serious - and those people will grab this book off the shelf, automatically. It is only 195 pages, and so, is not really a serious biography of Hitler - but it is, nevertheless, a very readable book , especially for those who are already somewhat familiar with Hitler and German history - which means, I guess, sadly, mainly for just those people over 60.
Nevertheless, there are many people with a sense of history who will remember that Hitler was an Austrian-born megalomaniac with mesmerizing oratorical skills, who after fighting in the trenches in World War I gravitated to politics and eventually - in 1933 - rose to become the leader (eventually the dictator) - the "Fuehrer" - of Germany. Hitler was determined to right all the wrongs he thought Germany had been subjected to following the Treaty of Versailles, to restore the German economy, to establish Germany as the leading country of the world, to establish the German Third Reich (Empire)which was to endure one thousand years (it lasted 12) and to purify the German Aryan race - which, for various reasons, required the elimination of the Jewish population - wherever and whenever the opportunity permitted. While this book contains bits and pieces of that unbelievable saga, it deals with none of those issues in any great detail.
What author Fuchs does focus upon in his little book is certain trivia, personal ideosyncracies and eccentricities of Hitler that he judges will be of interest to fans of Hitler
and German history. Fuchs divides his book into 35 short chapters (5-10 pages per), which makes for easy reading. A sample of some of the chapter headings will illustrate the variety of subjects that Fuchs deals with: Hitler's mustache, his dog, his book ("Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"), Nazi party stuff ( songs, flags, uniforms, greetings, titles, etc.), the "People's Car" (Volkswagen), Hitler, the orator, Hitler's women friends, Hitler, the hypochondriac, Hitler's diet, his dentist, his wardrobe, his reading habits, his tastes in movies, his artistic passions, his money, his anti-Semitism, his relationships with Goering, Goebbles, and Himmler - and more.
The book also contains some 38 pages of notes (but no foot notes), 8 pages of bibliography (containing titles of some more serious biographies of Hitler) and a 26-page chronology of the major events that transpired during Hitler's life - private and
political. The book is in its way entertaining - and reading this book might prompt the reader to move on to other, more serious, more comprehensive books on these matters.
Rating:
Summary: Adolph Hitler - A to Z
Review: Any book with the name of Adolph Hitler in the title is bound to catch the eye of all Germanophiles - serious and semi-serious - and those people will grab this book off the shelf, automatically. It is only 195 pages, and so, is not really a serious biography of Hitler - but it is, nevertheless, a very readable book , especially for those who are already somewhat familiar with Hitler and German history - which means, I guess, sadly, mainly for just those people over 60.
Nevertheless, there are many people with a sense of history who will remember that Hitler was an Austrian-born megalomaniac with mesmerizing oratorical skills, who after fighting in the trenches in World War I gravitated to politics and eventually - in 1933 - rose to become the leader (eventually the dictator) - the "Fuehrer" - of Germany. Hitler was determined to right all the wrongs he thought Germany had been subjected to following the Treaty of Versailles, to restore the German economy, to establish Germany as the leading country of the world, to establish the German Third Reich (Empire)which was to endure one thousand years (it lasted 12) and to purify the German Aryan race - which, for various reasons, required the elimination of the Jewish population - wherever and whenever the opportunity permitted. While this book contains bits and pieces of that unbelievable saga, it deals with none of those issues in any great detail.
What author Fuchs does focus upon in his little book is certain trivia, personal ideosyncracies and eccentricities of Hitler that he judges will be of interest to fans of Hitler
and German history. Fuchs divides his book into 35 short chapters (5-10 pages per), which makes for easy reading. A sample of some of the chapter headings will illustrate the variety of subjects that Fuchs deals with: Hitler's mustache, his dog, his book ("Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"), Nazi party stuff ( songs, flags, uniforms, greetings, titles, etc.), the "People's Car" (Volkswagen), Hitler, the orator, Hitler's women friends, Hitler, the hypochondriac, Hitler's diet, his dentist, his wardrobe, his reading habits, his tastes in movies, his artistic passions, his money, his anti-Semitism, his relationships with Goering, Goebbles, and Himmler - and more.
The book also contains some 38 pages of notes (but no foot notes), 8 pages of bibliography (containing titles of some more serious biographies of Hitler) and a 26-page chronology of the major events that transpired during Hitler's life - private and
political. The book is in its way entertaining - and reading this book might prompt the reader to move on to other, more serious, more comprehensive books on these matters.
Rating: 
Summary: Still An Enigma
Review: Learning 'little details' about Hitler the man doesn't really seem to make him seem any less enigmatic. He seems to have been an odd person to say the least based on his habits and personality quirks, but in my opinion, even though the author's purpose is to make him seem more 'human', to me learning all these wierd little details about the life of Hitler makes him as enigmatic as ever.... That aside, it is a fascinating book. cold hard facts on Hitler without a 'spin' are interesting, but there is not much examination of Hitler, just a collection of details and anecdotes.
Rating: 
Summary: Reader beware..
Review: The author of this book set out to write about a subject he apparantly didn't understand. I don't know what his sources were, but if his readers actually believe most of the things he has written here as "facts", then they are as naive as he is. It is a small book full of hearsay and fabrications, making Fuchs's so-called "Concise Biography" anything but. This book is sad proof that anything can be published nowadays. This is definitely one to avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Reader beware..
Review: The author of this book set out to write about a subject he apparantly didn't understand. I don't know what his sources were, but if his readers actually believe most of the things he has written here as "facts", then they are as naive as he is. It is a small book full of hearsay and fabrications, making Fuchs's so-called "Concise Biography" anything but. This book is sad proof that anything can be published nowadays. This is definitely one to avoid.
Rating:
Summary: The Lone Wolf
Review: The life Of Adolph Hitler is a facinating journey which has become riddled with myths by our popular culture. While adjectives such as evil and maniacal accurately describe Hitler, he was also a very intelligent man. Thomas Fuchs attemtps to dispell many of the myths, and bring out the truth with this book.
Hitler seems to have be obsessed with creating poltical change since his career in art failed. Hitler also had other fascinations aside from anti-semitism (which was not his original idea). The book suggests Hitler to be a hypochondriac, which is somewhat beleiveable whether or not you believe that he had syphillis and bad teeth. Also, Fuchs discusses Hitler's obsession with wolfs, often seeing himself as sort of a lone wolf.
My only objetion with this book is that it tends to be redundant at times. However, this is mostly due to the encyclopedia-like format of the book.
For a reader that desires to learn more about perhaps the most hypnotically potent speaker in the history of humankind, this book is an excellent place to start. Many of the other Hitler biographies carry on far to long.
Rating:
Summary: Stay away from this book!
Review: This book was a poorly compiled regurgitation of Allied World War II propaganda. The author had an incredible bias against Adolf Hitler and it gushes out in every chapter. According to this book, anything that Hitler did was the most evil, demented or terrible thing in all of history. When Hitler did ordinary things, or showed kindness, the author criticizes these as well. Unless you want to read a book that is dedicated to Hitler bashing, I would stay away from this one. You will learn absolutely nothing, except disproven lies, from it. I am not quite sure how people can get away with publishing such discredited information and call it history.
Rating:
Summary: Stay away from this book!
Review: This book was a poorly compiled regurgitation of Allied World War II propaganda. The author had an incredible bias against Adolf Hitler and it gushes out in every chapter. According to this book, anything that Hitler did was the most evil, demented or terrible thing in all of history. When Hitler did ordinary things, or showed kindness, the author criticizes these as well. Unless you want to read a book that is dedicated to Hitler bashing, I would stay away from this one. You will learn absolutely nothing, except disproven lies, from it. I am not quite sure how people can get away with publishing such discredited information and call it history.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT!!!!!!!
Review: This book was great it is a good way to get the German perspective on the war. If your in to WW2 you should read this book!!!!!
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