Ian kershaw biography hitler
Hitler
A very long, hard, incredibly gruelling slog; and a tome that has worked its way through me as much as I’ve worked my way through it. Despite all the work involved, however, (or perhaps because of it) it is no exaggeration to say that this biography has easily been one of the most important books of my reading journey so far. I’ve carried it around Europe with me over the last two and a half months and it has seen, first-hand, most of the major cities once embroiled in Hitler’s sordid (albeit epic) life. It has seen the hallmarks of bomb damage and many of the countless memorials constructed in the wake of his increasingly frenzied and decoupled descent into destruction. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that when I finally finished it this morning, back home on my bed, I closed my Kindle in a complete flood of tears, tears which came entirely at odds with Kershaw’s deliberately emotionless academic prose, and which caught me by surprise. The weight of history felt crushing. I think, even now, at the very end of my twenties, I’m still trying to grasp the towering magnitude and meaning of World War II (despite its extremely potent standing in our culture).
“The price to be paid — by the German people, above all by the regime’s untold numbers of victims inside and outside Germany — was beyond calculation. The material price was immense. Writing to The Times on 12 November , the left-wing British Jewish publisher Victor Gollancz described his impressions in Düsseldorf: ‘I am never likely to forget the unspeakable wickedness of which the Nazis were guilty. But when I see the swollen bodies and living skeletons in hospitals here and elsewhere… then I think, not of Germans, but of men and women. I am sure I should have the same feelings if I were in Greece or Poland. But I happen to be in Germany, and write of what I see here.’ The moral price was, if anything, even more immeasurable. Decades would not fully erase the simple bHitler (Kershaw books)
Books by Ian Kershaw
Hitler is a two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, written by the historian Ian Kershaw. Its volumes are Hitler Hubris, published in , and Hitler Nemesis, published in An abridged single-volume edition was published in
Kershaw's biography is informed by his "Working towards the Führer" theory. He argues that radicalisation and atrocities in Nazi Germany were often driven by subordinates competing for advancement and aiming to follow Hitler's broadly outlined wishes. In the introduction, Kershaw describes Hitler as an uninteresting character ("an unperson" whose life outside of politics was "a void") and argues that Hitler is instead remarkable because of the power and reverence that he was able to obtain. He warns against using an approach that "personalizes history", instead arguing that social, cultural and economic conditions were more important, while still agreeing that Hitler had a role and culpability in the events.
Reception
The second volume was one of the three winners of the Wolfson History Prize in
The historian David Welch described the first volume as "biographical history at its best by a master historian who has full command of the sources".
Michael Lynch, a historian at the University of Leicester, wrote in that "If any biography merits the epithet 'definitive', it is Sir Ian Kershaw's towering two volume study."
References
Ian Kershaw
British historian of Nazi Germany (born )
Sir Ian KershawFRHistS FBA (born 29 April ) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's foremost experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is particularly noted for his biographies of Hitler.
He was a follower of the German historian Martin Broszat, and until his retirement, he was a professor at the University of Sheffield. Kershaw has called Broszat an "inspirational mentor" who did much to shape his understanding of Nazi Germany. Kershaw served as historical adviser on numerous BBC documentaries, notably The Nazis: A Warning from History and War of the Century. He taught a module titled "Germans against Hitler".
Background
Ian Kershaw was born on 29 April in Oldham, Lancashire, England, to Joseph Kershaw, a musician, and Alice (Robinson) Kershaw. He was educated at Counthill Grammar School, St Bede's College, Manchester, where he was taught by Father Geoffrey Burke the University of Liverpool (BA), and Merton College, Oxford (DPhil). He was originally trained as a medievalist but turned to the study of modern German social history in the s. At first, he was mainly concerned with the economic history of Bolton Abbey. As a lecturer in medieval history at Manchester, Kershaw learned German to study the German peasantry in the Middle Ages. In , he visited Bavaria and was shocked to hear the views of an old man he met in a Munich café who told him: "You English were so foolish. If only you had sided with us. Together we could have defeated Bolshevism and ruled the earth!"—adding in for good measure that "The Jew is a louse!" As a result of this incident, Kershaw became keen to learn how and why ordinary people in Germany could support Nazism.
His wife, Dame Betty Kershaw, is a former professor of n
His books include The Now available in a single, abridged paperback, Ian Kershaw's Hitler is the definitive biography of the Nazi leader. Ian Kershaw's two volume biography, Hitler Hubris and Hitler Nemesis, was greeted with universal acclaim as the essential work on one of the most malign figures in history, from his earliest origins to the final days of the Second World War. Now this landmark historical work is available in one single, abridged edition, tracing the story of how a bitter, failed art student from an obscure corner of Austria rose to unparalleled power, destroying the lives of millions and bringing the world to the brink of Armageddon. 'Supersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write'
David Cannadine, Observer 'The Hitler biography for the twenty-first century'
Richard Evans, Sunday Telegraph 'I cannot imagine a better biography of this great tyrant emerging for a long while'
Jeremy Paxman 'Magisterial anyone who wishes to understand the Third Reich must read Kershaw, for no one has done more to lay bare Hitler's morbid psyche'
Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph 'For the present generation, Kershaw's Hitler stands out as a clear beacon of truth, illuminating a dark age of terror and mendacity'
Mail on Sund 'An achievement of the very highest order'
Michael Burleigh, Financial Times Ian Kershaw (b. ) was Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield from , and is one of the world's leading authorities on Hitler. His books include The 'Hitler Myth', his two volume biography Hitler Hubris and Hitler Nemesis, and Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, He was knighted inSupersedes all previous accounts. It is the sort of masterly biography that only a first-rate historian can write David Cannadine Observer
Ian Kershaw is the author of Hitler Hubris and Hitler Nemesis, which received the Wolfson Literary Award for History and the Bruno Kreisky Prize in Austr