The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Infobox Book
name = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich


image_caption = 30th anniversary cover
author = William L. Shirer
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = History, Nonfiction
publisher = Simon & Schuster
release_date = 1960
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 1,245
isbn = ISBN 0-671-72868-7 (1990 paperback)

"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by journalist William L. Shirer was the first definitive history of Nazi Germany in English.

Shirer, an American radio reporter for CBS, covered Germany for many years until December 1940, when increasing Nazi censorship of his broadcasts made work impossible for him. This 1,245 page book, first published in 1960 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. and still in print, colors its historically accurate information with denunciation of Nazism and tyranny.

The book is based largely on the captured documents of the Third Reich, including the diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and General Franz Halder. Additional major sources include testimony and evidence from the Nuremberg trials, British Foreign Office reports, and the detailed diary of Ciano, Mussolini's son-in-law and Italian Foreign Minister. Other sources include confidential speeches, conference reports, taped transcripts of telephone conversations, as well as Shirer's personal recollections during the six years he reported on the Third Reich as a journalist.

At the time the book was written, only a part of the diaries of Goebbels was known. Other documents have been discovered and many documents have since become available from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The book was adapted into a television program for the ABC network in 1966. It was one of the first programs to be marketed as a miniseries.

"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" received the National Book Award for nonfiction in 1961.

Content and themes

"Rise and Fall" was the first book to present a comprehensive synthesis of the Nazi era. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 102] Shirer argued for the view that German history proceeded logically from "Luther to Hitler""The notion that 'rectitude and authenticity [were] integrally German attributes in contrast to Roman or Latin influences which were degrading' held to have originated with Luther developed with German Romanticism in the 19th Century and culminated with National Socialism." Johnson 2001] , seeing Hitler's rise to power as an expression of German character, rather than of the international phenomenon of totalitarianism. [Rosenfeld 1994, pp. 101-102] Shirer encapsulated this view with the passage, "...the course of German history... made blind obedience to temporal rulers the highest virtue of Germanic man and put a premium on servility." [Shirer, pg. 1080] This point of view was widespread in the United States at the time, but critics of the book generally considered this interpretation of Nazism to be its worst flaw. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 106]

uccess and acclaim

Upon publication, the book quickly reached the US bestseller list, and remained there for over a year, selling over a million hardback copies (two thirds through the Book of the Month Club) and then over a million paperback copies. In addition, it was condensed and serialized by Reader's Digest in 1962, thus reaching another 12 million readers. [Rosenfeld 1994, pp. 100-101]

Shirer himself was surprised by his book's reception. Neither his agent nor his publisher thought there was much interest in Hitler or Nazi Germany in 1960; only 12,500 copies were made in the first printing. "Rise and Fall" also did well in Britain, France and Italy. [Shirer, p. 1145] It also sold well in West Germany, although there, its fame and success were due to a long stream of editorial attacks. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 96]

The book was widely hailed as a great work of history. [Epstein 1961, pg. 230] It won the National Book Award and the Carey-Thomas Award in 1961. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 101] In the "New York Times Book Review", Hugh Trevor-Roper praised the book as "a splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions." [cite book|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich|author=William L. Shirer|year=1990|page=p. 1146|edition=3rd Edition|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York]

Criticism

Whereas nearly all American journalists praised the book, academics were split. Some of these acknowledged Shirer's achievement, but most condemned it. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 101] The harshest criticism tended to come from those who disagreed with the "Luther to Hitler" thesis mentioned above.

Klaus Epstein listed "four major failings": a crude understanding of German history; a lack of balance, leaving important gaps; no understanding of a modern totalitarian regime; and ignorance of current scholarship of the Nazi period. [Epstein 1961, pg. 230]

Elizabeth Wiskemann stated in a 1961 review that the book was "not sufficiently scholarly nor sufficiently well written to satisfy more academic demands ... It is too long and cumbersome... Mr Shirer, has, however compiled a manual ... which will certainly prove useful." [Wiskemann 1961, pp. 234-235.]

William O. Shanahan in 1962 wrote that "Shirer's history of the Third Reich is woefully inadequate. Shirer's monumental narrative does not rise above the most commonplace level of understanding. The inadequacies of Shirer's account could be dismissed...if his book had not found an enormous audience. Shirer's [writing] facility.. does not compensate for this book's essential weakness as history." [Shanahan 1962, pp. 126-128] .

Richard J. Evans concedes that "Rise and Fall" is a "readable general history of Nazi Germany". His issue with Shirer is that he worked outside of the academic mainstream, and that his research was not informed by the historical scholarship and academic fashions of the time (1960). [Evans 2003, pg. xvii]

While it is criticized for not being academic enough for purposes of academic research, the text does include extensive references and footnotes. The book also includes several speculations (clearly marked as such), such as a footnote that theorizes that Heinrich Müller, an SS chieftain, later went to serve in the NKVD, for which Shirer had no evidence.

Karl A. Wittfogel wrote to the West German publisher of "Rise and Fall":

I view the book as very damaging, politically, and as intellectually ... contemptible. How, more than fifteen years after the fall of Hitler, does one want to explain National Socialism for us by claiming that there are good and bad peoples -- the bad people, this time, not the Jews, but the Germans? The attempt to promote a ... rational, scientific, serious analysis of Fascism (as a part of totalitarian power) has been seriously harmed by his pathetic work. [Rosenfeld 1994, pg. 108]

In West Germany, the "Luther to Hitler" interpretation was almost universally rejected in favor of the view that Nazism was an instance of totalitarianism, which arises in various countries. "Rise and Fall" was unanimously condemned, and considered dangerous to relations between America and West Germany, as it could inflame anti-German sentiments in the US.

Publication

Infobox Television Film
name = The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich


image_size =
caption =
format = Documentary
director = Mel Stuart
producer =
writer =
narrator = Richard Basehart
starring =
music = Lalo Schifrin
cinematography =
editing = John Soh
distributor =
released = 1968
runtime = 120 minutes
country =
language =
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 41503
imdb_id = 0063507The book has been reprinted many times since it was published in 1960. Current in-print editions are:

* ISBN 0-671-72868-7 (Simon & Schuster, US, 1990 paperback)
* ISBN 0-09-942176-3 (Arrow, UK, 1990 paperback)
* Folio Society Special Book Club Edition (2004 Hardback)

ee also

*"Berlin Diary"
*List of Adolf Hitler books
*"The Collapse of the Third Republic", also by Shirer
*List of Holocaust films

Notes

References

*Wiskemann, Elizabeth. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 37, No. 2. (Apr. 1961)
*Shanahan, William O. The American Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 1. (Oct. 1962). [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDB1730F932A25751C1A966958260 William O. Shanahan]
*Epstein, Klaus. The Review of Politics, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr. 1961). "Shirer's History of Nazi Germany."
*Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. Penguin Books, New York, 2003. ISBN 0-14-303469-3
*Johnson , Lonnie R. "Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors and Friends" (2001) Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0195148266
*Rosenfeld, Gavriel D. Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jan., 1994). "The Reception of William L. Shirer's the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in the United States and West Germany, 1960-62."

External links

* [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=genpub;view=toc;idno=ABZ0764.0001.001 Digitalized version of the 1960 edition] at the University of Michigan Digital General Collection
* [http://ww2db.com/read.php?read_id=75 Review of the book by Bryan Hiatt]
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/ Online WWII references] Online collection of many original WWII documents, including some of Shirer's sources (e.g. British/French "Color" books, captured German Foreign Office docs, various Nuremberg and NCA documents).
* [http://www.thirdreichruins.com Third Reich Ruins] Geoff Walden's then/now photo-essay collection of many sites mentioned in Shirer's book, early Hitler locations featured.
* [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0094%28199401%2929%3A1%3C95%3ATROWLS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23 The reception of William L. Shirer's 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' in the United States and West Germany, 1960-62] (fee-based jstor link). by Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, in: Journal of Contemporary History v29.n1 (Jan 1994): pp95-128.