The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich  
TheRiseandFalloftheThirdReich.jpg
30th anniversary cover
Author(s) William L. Shirer
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) Nazi Germany
Genre(s) History, nonfiction
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date 1960
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 1,245
ISBN ISBN 0-671-72868-7 (1990 paperback)
OCLC Number 22888118

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a 1960 non-fiction book by William L. Shirer chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The book is based upon captured Third Reich documents, the available diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, General Franz Halder, and of the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, evidence and testimony from the Nuremberg trials, British Foreign Office reports, and the author’s recollections of six years’ of Third Reich reportage, for newspapers, the United Press International (UPI), and CBS Radio, ended by Nazi Party censorship in 1940.[1] In 1961, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich earned a National Book Award,[2] and was adapted to television as a sort of miniseries and broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company network in 1968. Three hours long, the program was telecast one hour a night over three nights.

Contents

[edit] Content and themes

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany is a comprehensive historical synthesis of the Nazi era, positing that German history logically proceeded from Martin Luther to Adolf Hitler;[3][4][page needed] that Hitler’s ascension to power was an expression of German national character, not an expression of the totalitarianism in ideologic vogue during the 1930s.[5][6][7] Author William L. Shirer summarised his perspective: “...the course of German history... made blind obedience to temporal rulers the highest virtue of Germanic man, and put a premium on servility.”[8] This reportorial perspective, the Sonderweg (Special path) thesis of German history, was then common to American scholarship; yet, despite extensive footnotes and references, some academic critics consider its interpretation of Nazism flawed.[9] Moreover, the history also includes (identified) speculation, such as the theory that SS Chief Heinrich Müller afterwards joined the NKVD of the USSR.

[edit] Success and acclaim

Upon publication on 17 October 1960, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany sold more than one million hardback copies, two thirds via the Book of the Month Club and more than a million paperback copies. Its critical recognition as a great history book, and its popular success, surprised Shirer.[10] At that time, fifteen-years removed from the end of the Second World War, neither Shirer nor his publisher thought there existed much historical interest in either Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) or Nazi Germany (1933–45) and had commissioned an initial print run of only 12,500 copies.

The book sold well in Britain, France, Italy,[11] and in West Germany, because of its international recognition, bolstered by local German editorial attacks.[12] In 1961, it won the National Book Award[2] and the Carey-Thomas Award for non-fiction.[13] In 1962, the Reader's Digest magazine serialization reached some 12 million additional readers.[14][15] In the New York Times Book Review, Hugh Trevor-Roper praised it as “a splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.”[16]

[edit] Criticism

Whereas nearly all American journalists praised the book, academics were split. Some of these acknowledged Shirer's achievement, but most condemned it.[13] The harshest criticism tended to come from those who disagreed with the Sonderweg or "Luther to Hitler" thesis mentioned above.

Klaus Epstein listed "four major failings": a crude understanding of German history; a lack of balance, leaving important gaps; no understanding of a modern totalitarian regime; and ignorance of current scholarship of the Nazi period.[10]

Elizabeth Wiskemann stated in a 1961 review that the book was "not sufficiently scholarly nor sufficiently well written to satisfy more academic demands... It is too long and cumbersome... Mr Shirer, has, however compiled a manual... which will certainly prove useful."[17]

Historian Richard J. Evans, author of The Third Reich Trilogy (2003–8), concedes that Rise and Fall is a "readable general history of Nazi Germany" and that "there are good reasons for [its] success." His issue with Shirer is that he worked outside of the academic mainstream, and that his account was not informed by the historical scholarship of the time (1960).[18]

In West Germany, the "Luther to Hitler" interpretation was almost universally rejected in favor of the view that Nazism was an instance of totalitarianism, which arises in various countries. One commentator asserted that Rise and Fall had been unanimously condemned, and considered dangerous to relations between America and West Germany, as it could inflame anti-German sentiments in the United States.[19]

[edit] Publication and adaptation

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Genre Documentary
Directed by Mel Stuart
Narrated by Richard Basehart
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Editing by John Soh
Release date 1968
Running time 180 minutes (counting the commercials)

The book has been reprinted many times (but not updated) since it was published in 1960. Current[when?] in-print editions are:

There also exists an audiobook version.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Evans 2004, p. xvi
  2. ^ a b "National Book Awards – 1961". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  3. ^ Rosenfeld 1994, p. 102
  4. ^ “The notion that ‘rectitude and authenticity [were] integrally German attributes, in contrast to Roman or Latin influences which were degrading’ held to have originated with Luther developed with German Romanticism in the 19th Century, and culminated with National Socialism.” Johnson 2001
  5. ^ Shirer p. 236
  6. ^ Rosenfeld 1994, pp. 101–2
  7. ^ Evans 2004, p. xxiv
  8. ^ Shirer, p. 1080.
  9. ^ Rosenfeld 1994, p. 106
  10. ^ a b Epstein 1961, p. 230
  11. ^ Shirer, p. 1145
  12. ^ Rosenfeld 1994, p. 96.
  13. ^ a b Rosenfeld 1994, p. 101
  14. ^ Cedar Rapids Gazette, 9 October 1960, p. 47
  15. ^ Rosenfeld 1994, pp. 100–1
  16. ^ William L. Shirer (1990). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (3rd Edition ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 1146. 
  17. ^ Wiskemann 1961, pp. 234–35.
  18. ^ Evans 2004, pp. xvi–xvii
  19. ^ Rosenfeld 1984, pp. 95–6, 98

[edit] References

  • Epstein, Klaus. The Review of Politics, Vol. 23, No. 2 (April 1961). "Shirer's History of Nazi Germany."
  • Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich (2004) Penguin Press HC. ISBN 1-59420-004-1
  • Johnson, Lonnie Rf. Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors and Friends (2001) Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-514826-6
  • Rosenfeld, Gavriel D. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 29, No. 1 (January 1994). "The Reception of William L. Shirer's the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in the United States and West Germany, 1960–62."
  • Shanahan, William O. The American Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 1. (October 1962).
  • Siemon Netto, Uwe. The Fabricated Luther: Refuting Nazi Connections and Other Modern Myths (2007) Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 0-7586-0855-1
  • Wiskemann, Elizabeth. International Affairs, Vol. 37, No. 2. (April 1961)

[edit] External links

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