Author:Laurence Rees,Jonathan Keeble
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Holocaust by Laurence Rees, read by Jonathan Keeble.
This landmark work answers two of the most fundamental questions in history - how, and why, did the Holocaust happen?
Laurence Rees has spent twenty-five years meeting survivors and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Now, in his magnum opus, he combines their enthralling eyewitness testimony, a large amount of which has never been published before, with the latest academic research to create the first accessible and authoritative account of the Holocaust in more than three decades.
This is a new history of the Holocaust in three ways. First, and most importantly, Rees has created a gripping narrative that that contains a large amount of testimony that has never been published before. Second, he places this powerful interview material in the context of an examination of the decision making process of the Nazi state, and in the process reveals the series of escalations that cumulatively created the horror. Third, Rees covers all those across Europe who participated in the deaths, and he argues that whilst hatred of the Jews was always at the epicentre of Nazi thinking, what happened cannot be fully understood without considering the murder of the Jews alongside plans to kill millions of non-Jews, including homosexuals, 'Gypsies' and the disabled.
Through a chronological, intensely readable narrative, featuring enthralling eyewitness testimony and the latest academic research, this is a compelling new account of the worst crime in history.
Anyone wanting a compelling, highly readable explanation of how and why the Holocaust happened, drawing on recent scholarship and impressively incorporating moving and harrowing interviews need look no further than Laurence Rees's brilliant book
—— Professor Ian KershawYou might have thought that we know everything there is to know about the Holocaust but this book proves there is much more...
—— Andrew Roberts , Daily MailAbsorbing, heart-breaking...he has drawn skilfully on speeches, documents and diaries of the Third Reich, and on the vast library of secondary literature, to weave together a powerful, inevitably harrowing revelation of the 20th century's greatest crime
—— Nick Rennison , Sunday TimesThis is by far the clearest book ever written about the Holocaust, but also the best in explaining both its origins and grotesque mentality, as well as its chaotic development
—— Antony BeevorA fine book. Rees is a gifted educator, who can tell a complex story with compassion and clarity, without sacrificing all nuances...it comes alive through the voices of victims, killers and bystanders.
—— Nikolaus Wachsmann, author of 'KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps' , GuardianThe interview material is largely compelling, always illuminating and on occasion, very moving . . . Like all of Rees's work, it is accurate and carefully researched
—— Richard Evans , New StatesmanRees has distilled 25 years of research into this compelling study, the finest single-volume account of the Holocaust. It is not a book for the faint-hearted. Some of the first-hand testimony is both shocking and heart-rending. Yet it has important things to say about human nature - what our species is capable of doing if not prevented by civilized laws - and demands to be read
—— Saul David , TelegraphA masterpiece. Laurence Rees's best book yet . . . In compelling prose, Rees tells the full story of the most shameful period in the story of Mankind
—— Andrew RobertsWith The Holocaust he has set himself the task of writing an accessible chronological account of the murder of six million Jews in conditions of scarcely imaginable horror. He's done it excellently. There is no shortage of books on the Holocaust but Rees's stands out as a readable and authoritative exposition of how and why it happened, and the barbarous methods by which it was pursued. The amount of ground it covers in 500 pages is remarkable - from the anti-Semitism of popular German literature of the 19th century to Hitler's suicide and the surrender of his regime. It's excellently written and skilfully interweaves narrative history, sound interpretation and the recollections (through interviews, listed in the notes as "previously unpublished testimony") of survivors. Rees provides an exemplary account of how the greatest crime in modern history came about.
—— The TimesA masterpiece. Laurence Rees's best book yet. This riveting book traces every aspect of the Holocaust from its inception through to the liberation of the extermination camps. In compelling prose, Rees tells the full story of the most shameful period in the story of Mankind
—— Andrew RobertsSo good and so much more than the boys own adventure you might think it will read like. Ben is a brilliant writer
—— Dermot O'LearyDid Passchendaele mark the moment when German morale collapsed on the Western Front? Nick Lloyd makes a compelling case . . . both as narrative and analysis, this book is masterly
—— Allan Massie , ScotsmanMasterly . . . He argues convincingly
—— Allan Mallinson , The Times Literary SupplementThe Nazis were all on drugs! So far, so sensationalist but German writer Norman Ohler's absorbing new non-fiction book, Blitzed, makes the convincing argument that the Nazis' use of chemical stimulants... played a crucial role in the successes, and failures, of the Third Reich
—— EsquireAn audacious, compelling read
—— SternEnthralling
—— Mitteldeutsche ZeitungA revelatory work that considers Hitler's career in a new light. 'Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich' is that rare sort of book whose remarkable insight focuses on a subject that's been overlooked, even disregarded by historians
—— The San Francisco ChronicleBlitzed is a fascinating read that provides a new facet to our understanding of the Third Reich
—— BuzzfeedIt's as breezy and darkly humorous as its title. But don't be fooled by the gallows humor of chapter names like 'Sieg High' and 'High Hitler': This is a serious and original work of scholarship that dropped jaws around Europe when it was published there last year
—— MashableA juicier story would be hard to find
—— The WeekDelightfully nuts, in a 'Gravity's Rainbow' kind of way.
—— The New YorkerTransforming meticulous research into compelling prose, Ohler delves into the little-known history of drug use in Nazi Germany
—— Entertainment Weekly[A] fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich
—— The Washington PostThis heavily researched nonfiction book by a German journalist reports that the drug was widely taken by soldiers, all the way up the ranks to Hitler himself, who received injections of a drug cocktail that also included an opioid
—— NewsdayThis is in part a work of reconstruction, unravelling Tom's life, partly a family history, and it's fascinating
—— Alan Massie , i magazineThis is a story of journeys, love, loss, memory and family and Boy's Own daring... beautiful, nostalgic, moving, shocking, swashbuckling and simply unputdownable
—— Family Tree MagazineI’m halfway through Dadland by Keggie Carew and OH THIS BOOK. Beautiful and fierce and brave. Memory and war and family and loss and, well, wow.
—— Helen Macdonald, author of H is for HawkI loved Dadland for its tenderness, humour and candour. It has begun to open the door for me to what may well lie ahead in my life, in so many of our lives, in terms of ageing parents. And it has also taught me something deeply moving about tolerance, and about love
—— Robert MacfarlaneA wonderful, haunting and beautifully written memoir... I found myself laughing out loud at times and, at others, unable to hold back the tears... An absolutely stunning book
—— James HollandDadland has the weight of family love but fizzes along in accessible and dynamic prose, highly recommended
—— Andrew McMillanA mesmerising performance by a natural storyteller gifted with the most seductive material possible, in the wild and wonderful life of her exasperating Irish father. Pain and annoyance is transmuted into pure narrative gold, as Keggie Carew interrogates the legend of this wartime adventurer and the bitter comedy of his domestic relationships and his late decline. A brave, risk-taking tale that alarms, delights and moves. As soon as you come to the end, you want to start again, to see if those things really happened
—— Iain SinclairYou love these people from the first page ... As Tom's life falls apart memory by memory, Keggie is picking it up again and her storytelling is spell-binding. Effortlessly readable, this is a delight combining laughter - and tears, yes, quite a few of those.
—— ConnexionCompelling
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily ExpressA moving memoir-cum-biography.
—— Molly McCloskey , Irish TimesBy some margin my Book of the Month... A detective story, a family history, a thrilling tale of derring-do, and the most distinctive and affecting memoir I’ve read since H is for Hawk.
—— BooksellerUtterly remarkable, and beautifully evoked… Dadland is a completely riveting, deeply poignant “manhunt” for which I predict great things.
—— BooksellerDadland, by Keggie Carew, is being tipped for award-winning breakout success in the vein of H is for Hawk
—— Jon Coates , Sunday ExpressIt’s an exorcism, ghost-hunt and swim through the archipelago of her father’s shattered self… The author’s descriptions have an easy lyricism.
—— Ed Cripps , Times Literary SupplementThe old question 'what did you do in the war, Dad?' has never had a more surprising or moving answer.
—— David HepworthWarm and funny, sometimes regretful and sad, but overall a read like a rollercoaster. Wonderful.
—— Western Morning NewsYou know the saying that everyone has a book in them? Well, unless your book is as good as this, I'd give up right now
—— Daily Mail , Markus BerkmannYou know the saying that everyone has a book in them? Well, unless your book is as good as this, I’d give up right now… This gripping book, written with real verve and a narrative expertise that wouldn’t shame a veteran.
—— Sally Morris , Daily MailA brilliant, bittersweet biography.
—— Cornelia Parker , ObserverKeggie’s writing is immersive… She writes with a warmth and generosity about her father, a man who was a genuine character and hero.
—— Paul Cheney , NudgeDadland is deeply personal. But it is also the story of our generations: people touched by war and by Alzheimer’s
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily Express