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jeffcass's review against another edition
5.0
I've read a lot of Hitler literature over the years; some good, some bad. This, along with the accompanying first volume, stands with the best ones.
It's been almost 80 years since his death, but Hitler continues to arouse the curiosity of countless readers throughout the world, myself included. Germany's atrocities during the war were truly indescribable, but McDonough does a good job at conveying this to the reader.
I actually preferred McDonough's approach compared to Shirer's in the latter's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. McDonough doesn't get lost too much in presenting his own personal opinion, and states pure facts, which is the way I prefer it when reading this sort of book.
As Moorhouse of History Today described it:
"Rarely has the odious story of the Third Reich been so elegantly presented"
It's been almost 80 years since his death, but Hitler continues to arouse the curiosity of countless readers throughout the world, myself included. Germany's atrocities during the war were truly indescribable, but McDonough does a good job at conveying this to the reader.
I actually preferred McDonough's approach compared to Shirer's in the latter's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. McDonough doesn't get lost too much in presenting his own personal opinion, and states pure facts, which is the way I prefer it when reading this sort of book.
As Moorhouse of History Today described it:
"Rarely has the odious story of the Third Reich been so elegantly presented"
arsenic_and_old_lace's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
lucifer_the_cat's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
thedeadwoods's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
binstonbirchill's review against another edition
4.0
A solid account of the war years of Hitler’s Germany, basically a summary of a handful of accounts, the book is packed full of color photos and worth picking up.
cgoode2000's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Really puts it into perspective of the sheer scale of the war crimes of the Nazis and their atrocities across Europe.
achoward's review
5.0
The Hitler Years: Disaster 1940-1945 is the companion to The Hitler Years: Triumph 1933-1939, which I previously reviewed.
As with 'Triumph', Disaster is a strict, chronologically presented layout of the events from 1940, when Hitler was at the apex of his power, to 1945, when Germany was defeated and Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.
I'll caution that this is not a narrative nonfiction work. The two books taken together could form a large collection of references about what was happening on what day in what year in (primarily) Germany's sphere between 1933 and 1945. If you haven't read the first volume,it isn't a huge issue as long as you have some kind of base understanding as to how the world got to where it was in 1940.
It's a terrific addition to the field, and I'm giving it five stars, just as I did with the first volume.
One note I will make is that the e-ARC was a terrible mess. Letters are missing from words, entire dates are left out, and it was a tremendously difficult and tedious read to get through it. I'm not dinging it for this, as it is an advanced copy, and it comes with the territory. It was, however, disappointing that it was so very, very bad in this regard.
Thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.
As with 'Triumph', Disaster is a strict, chronologically presented layout of the events from 1940, when Hitler was at the apex of his power, to 1945, when Germany was defeated and Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.
I'll caution that this is not a narrative nonfiction work. The two books taken together could form a large collection of references about what was happening on what day in what year in (primarily) Germany's sphere between 1933 and 1945. If you haven't read the first volume,it isn't a huge issue as long as you have some kind of base understanding as to how the world got to where it was in 1940.
It's a terrific addition to the field, and I'm giving it five stars, just as I did with the first volume.
One note I will make is that the e-ARC was a terrible mess. Letters are missing from words, entire dates are left out, and it was a tremendously difficult and tedious read to get through it. I'm not dinging it for this, as it is an advanced copy, and it comes with the territory. It was, however, disappointing that it was so very, very bad in this regard.
Thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.