https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019B6TVZI/?tag=neogaf0e-20
There's a book review that is making the rounds on social media because it, while it is about Hitler and never mentions any living politician, the review appears to be designed to draw parallels between the rise of Hitler and the rise of another politician.
The review can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html
Here are some choice quotes from the review that the Washington Post picked out:
Thanks to the Washington Post for pointing out this review.
There's a book review that is making the rounds on social media because it, while it is about Hitler and never mentions any living politician, the review appears to be designed to draw parallels between the rise of Hitler and the rise of another politician.
The review can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html
Here are some choice quotes from the review that the Washington Post picked out:
Some have focused on the social and political conditions in post-World War I Germany, which Hitler expertly exploited bitterness over the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles and a yearning for a return to German greatness; unemployment and economic distress amid the worldwide Depression of the early 1930s; and longstanding ethnic prejudices and fears of "foreignization."
Mr. Ullrich, like other biographers, provides vivid insight into some factors that helped turn a "Munich rabble-rouser" regarded by many as a self-obsessed "clown" with a strangely "scattershot, impulsive style" into "the lord and master of the German Reich."
His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler's shrewdness as a politician with a "keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people" and an ability to "instantaneously analyze and exploit situations."
Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a "bottomless mendacity" that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message.
A former finance minister wrote that Hitler "was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth" and editors of one edition of "Mein Kampf" described it as a "swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts."
He peppered his speeches with coarse phrases and put-downs of hecklers. Even as he fomented chaos by playing to crowds' fears and resentments, he offered himself as the visionary leader who could restore law and order.
Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising "to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness," though he was typically vague about his actual plans.
The unwillingness of Germany's political parties to compromise had contributed to a perception of government dysfunction, Mr. Ullrich suggests, and the belief of Hitler supporters that the country needed "a man of iron" who could shake things up. "Why not give the National Socialists a chance?" a prominent banker said of the Nazis. "They seem pretty gutsy to me."
Early on, revulsion at Hitler's style and appearance, Mr. Ullrich writes, led some critics to underestimate the man and his popularity, while others dismissed him as a celebrity, a repellent but fascinating "evening's entertainment."
Politicians, for their part, suffered from the delusion that the dominance of traditional conservatives in the cabinet would neutralize the threat of Nazi abuse of power and "fence Hitler in." "As far as Hitler's long-term wishes were concerned," Mr. Ullrich observes, "his conservative coalition partners believed either that he was not serious or that they could exert a moderating influence on him. In any case, they were severely mistaken."
Thanks to the Washington Post for pointing out this review.