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Hitler: Volume II
Hitler: Volume II
Oct 3, 2024 5:26 PM

Author:Volker Ullrich,Jefferson Chase

Hitler: Volume II

'Meticulous... Probably the most disturbing portrait of Hitler I have ever read' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

By the summer of 1939 Hitler was at the zenith of his power. Yet despite initial triumphs in the early stages of war, the Führer's fortunes would turn dramatically as the conflict raged on. Realising that victory was lost, and with Soviet troops closing in on his Berlin bunker, Hitler committed suicide in April 1945; one week later, Nazi Germany surrendered. His murderous ambitions had not only annihilated his own country, but had cost the lives of millions across Europe.

In the final volume of this landmark biography, Volker Ullrich argues that the very qualities - and the defects - that accounted for Hitler's popularity and rise to power were what brought about his ruin. A keen strategist and meticulous military commander, he was also a deeply insecure gambler who could be shaken by the smallest setback, and was quick to blame subordinates for his own disastrous mistakes.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources and scholarship, this is the definitive portrait of the man who dragged the world into chaos.

Reviews

Smoothly written and splendidly translated, Ullrich’s book gives us a Hitler we have not seen before, at once cold-blooded and idealistic, chillingly narcissistic and cloyingly sentimental. And precisely because he seems so much like the rest of us, it is probably the most disturbing portrait of Hitler I have ever read

—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times

Ullrich is a fine writer

—— David Aaronovitch , The Times

The reader who plunges in is rewarded with insight, understanding, fine judgements and read-me narrative drive... [This] biography of Hitler makes essential reading, especially one as deeply researched, beautifully written and finely judged as this one

—— Tony Rennell , Daily Mail, *Book of the Week*

Ullrich’s work is much more than just a biography. It is a work of synthesis, certainly, but a thorough and thoroughly readable one nonetheless, which stands muster alongside Hitler’s most significant earlier biographers: Bullock, Toland, Fest and Kershaw. Elegantly written, engaging and insightful, it is a new standard work on its subject

—— Roger Moorhouse , BBC History

A fine and meticulous historian with a true command of archives and secondary sources… Ullrich has his own angle, and that is to recover the personality of the man… this is one of the most impressive Hitler biographies…you will find it compelling

—— Anthony Cummins , Daily Telegraph

Excellent

—— Richard Overy , Times Literary Supplement

Ullrich's account stands out for its brilliant psychological portrait of Hitler

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

A compelling portrait

—— Daily Telegraph

A brilliant overview of the war in Italy from the perspective of the female partisans

—— Clare Mulley , Spectator, *Books of 2019*

Moorehead skilfully weaves…threads of individual stories together to create a web of interconnected lives… broad narrative is dotted with flashes of detail; the colour of a piece of clothing, the wording of a letter… Moorehead captures a sense of hope and vitality among the women of the Resistance, fighting with courage and determination for a future they believed in

—— Elsa Maishman , Scotland on Sunday

Moorehead … takes up the story of four friends in Turin who decided passive resistance was no longer enough [against Mussolini’s reign] and joined a growing partisan movement based in the remote valleys of Piedmont. This is a bittersweet tale, not of betrayal, exactly, but of subtle excision from the script

—— The Tablet

A House in the Mountains is a page-turner… This book is to be welcomed as a highly readable story in its own right, and as an accessible introduction to the role of women in the Resistenza

—— Christian Goeschel , BBC History

A deeply-researched, fast-paced account of the Italian Resistance, a story not widely known to the general reader

—— History of War

This is a highly satisfying conclusion to the author's series. Excellent, well-presented evidence of the incalculable strengths and abilities of women to create and run a country

—— Starred Review , Kirkus

[A] moving finale of a quartet of books on resistance to fascism

—— Economist

[An] encyclopedic new account... a vivid, meticulous tapestry, densely weaving the threads of German and Soviet military strategy, political calculation from Washington and London to Moscow, and war's pitiless human cost

—— Julian Evans , The Telegraph

[Dimbleby] skilfully tracks the shifts and turns of the campaign, sparing no detail . . . a riveting account

—— Tony Rennell , Daily Mail, Book of the Week

Dimbleby tells the story of strategic miscalculation and (self-)deception on all sides, and then Hitler's 'war of extermination', magnificently

—— Allan Mallinson , The Spectator

Amazing . . . fascinating

—— Jeremy Vine

My best history book of 2021 -- a masterful account of maybe the biggest event ever . . . essential!

—— Lee Child

A very open and honest account of a centenarian's life . . . You cannot help but be amazed

—— Who Do You Think You Are?

Embark on an enchanting journey into our country's past hundred years through the remarkable life of Captain Sir Tom Moore

—— Eastern Daily Press

This minute-by-minute retelling tackles the big questions, but also - by drawing on the letters and diaries from the Dresden City Archive - never loosed sight of the experiences of people who witnessed, and suffered, the attach first-hand

—— BBC History Revealed, Book of the Month

It's a wonderful book, so absorbing, thoughtful and thought provoking, I didn't want it to end

—— Maureen Waller, author of London 1945: Life in the Debris of War

The story of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945 is well known, but McKay's searing account is in a league of its own. His research is first-class, his writing elegant and emotive. He is brilliant at portraying the city's prewar beauty, grimly powerful on the horror of the firestorm, and moving and thoughtful about Dresden's rise from the ashes. By the end, I was itching to jump on a flight to Germany. That tells you about the skill and spirit of this terrific book

—— Dominic Sandbrook , The Times/Sunday Times Books of the Year
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