Hitler 1889-1936

Hubris

Ian Kershaw

Ian Kershaw's Hitler allows us to come closer to an understanding of the man and of the catastrophic sequence of events which allowed a misfit to climb from a Viennese dosshouse to leadership of one of Europe's most sophisticated countries. Drawing on a range of sources, Kershaw recreates the world which first thwarted and then nurtured the young Hitler. As his seemingly pitiful fantasy of being Germany's saviour attracted more and more support, Kershaw conveys why so many Germans adored Hitler, connived with him or felt powerless to resist him.

First published:: 1998
Published by:: W.W. Norton
Length:: Hardcover 845 pages

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About the author

Sir Ian Kershaw is a British historian of 20th-century Germany whose work has chiefly focused on the period of the Third Reich. Educated at the University of Liverpool and Merton College, Oxford, Kershaw was originally trained as a medievalist but turned to the study of modern German social history in the 1970s. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is particularly noted for his biography of Hitler. He was the leading disciple of the late West German historian Martin Broszat, and professor at the University of Sheffield until his retirement. His wife Dame Betty Kershaw was a Dean at Sheffield.