Reviews

The Third Reich at War by Richard J. Evans

mrpants's review

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

bcope84's review against another edition

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3.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. The final book in this trilogy. Again, it doesn’t go into great detail but I did find it interesting. One part was the amount of people who committed suicide instead of having to face the consequences of their behavior. Also, so many citizens were affected by the bombings in Hamburg, London, Dresden. If you need a basic knowledge on Nazi Germany, I would recommend this trilogy. But I wouldn’t recommend for a history fanatic.

anti_formalist12's review against another edition

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5.0

It took me years to read this, largely because after finishing a volume I wanted to spend some time away from the Third Reich. Evans covers them in exhausting detail, and does something very important: he makes them human. It's far too easy to demonize these men, to turn them into the evil empire. But when we do that, we forget that these men were human. They were cowards, fools, drunks, deviants, monsters, and perhaps most frighteningly of all, normal. They had normal, human motivations. What animated them animates many people in this world. No one should ever forget that for all of their crimes, for all of their offenses against basic human nature, it does not make them any less human than us. Evans never forgets that, making this long portrait of their rise and rule especially tragic. His writing on The Holocaust left me in a deep depression. He also never forgets that the Nazis had mass support, and that support took a long time to die. At the end of most long series, I would usually have a deeply emotional reaction. At the end of the Third Reich trilogy, I felt empty. It seems almost impossible to believe that their crimes were a scant 70 years ago. This book, and this series, should be read. It explains one of the most momentous crimes in human history, and why it happened.

tarmstrong112's review against another edition

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5.0

A fantastic book dealing with the history of Nazi Germany from the invasion of Poland in 1939 until its ultimate defeat in May 1945. The book covers all aspects of life in Nazi Germany and focuses more on that instead of military matters, which I found to be immensely interesting. There was a lot of focus on the atrocities committed by the Nazi's and that was the most interesting aspect of the book for me.

Altogether, this was a great book.

fourtriplezed's review against another edition

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5.0

I genuinely ask the question, what more could anyone ask for in a 3 volume history of the Third Reich? Exceptional.

superfiggy's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

firerosearien's review against another edition

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5.0

Haunting, and unsparing in it's breadth. Nazi Germany was humanity at it's very worst.

doruga's review against another edition

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5.0

What a trilogy, what a trilogy! All three books incredible in detail, analysis, insight and historical excellence. This is how you write history. Also the last sentence of this book is pure fire. Look it up if you dont want to read it (you should though cause its amazing and important)

aquinas's review against another edition

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4.0

Decent book, but again like the previous two in the series, lots of bias from the author. As long as you keep that in mind while you read it, its well worth reading.

kathykekmrs's review against another edition

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4.0

Although this is a disturbing book to read because of content it was well worth the long read. I learned a lot about what life was like in Germany and its Eastern European Allies during the long decade of World War II. This is not a tight, chronological read so it may be difficult for someone who knows nothing of the war to grasp in some places. Evans concentrates on Hitler's relationship with Stalin so the book is more focused towards Eastern Europe than towards Western Europe.