Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography

by John Toland

Book Overview

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian John Toland's classic, definitive biography of Adolf Hitler remains the most thorough, readable, accessible, and, as much as possible, objective account of the life of a man whose evil effect on the world in the twentieth century will always be felt. Toland's research provided one of the final opportunities for a historian to conduct personal interviews with over two hundred individuals intimately associated with Hitler...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385420536
• ISBN13: 9780385420532
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 1120 Pages
• Weight: 2.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Only Volume Two

This is Volume 2. I’ll need to order Volume One too. I understood “First Edition”, to mean the first year of print. Be sure to correct this, or sell both volumes together.

Only volume one!

No where do you mention this is NOT the complete book! I am very disappointed!

The Real Hitler

Despite the pervasive left-wing propaganda engendered by the Soviets and leftists everywhere, Mr. Toland has managed to take all the hand-wringing kerfuffle out of the picture and portray Hitler as he was: a socially inept, narcissistic, oedipal, multi-faceted, brave, extremely nationalistic, charismatic, romantic, half-mad artist. A nearly flawless tome, nothing in this work can be factually refuted. The footnotes are superb and back up his assertions with facts, not conjecture or assumption. If time is taken to study the extensive footnotes, this will be abundantly clear. The only valid criticism anyone could possibly offer would be that some incriminating details or episodes were left out - such as Hitler's callous abandonment of his troops on the eastern front. There are many other omissions which some may view as egregious, but nothing in the book, unless stated as conjecture, could possibly be construed as anything other than factual. Although it is your ultimate choice as to whether or not you make a fool of yourself, please limit any negative feedback to specifics, not ad hominem attacks. BTW, if you want all the hand-wringing surrounding Hitler, may I suggest, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," by William Shirer.

Most unique figure of the 20th Century

In most biographies of Adolf Hitler, the "monster of evil," the "madman," the "mass murderer" have loomed so large that the man has been obscured, if not completely submerged. This is one point among many where John Toland's book parts company with most that have come both before and after. This is not just the best Adolf Hitler biography I've ever read - it's the best biography of ANYONE I've ever read. I never would have believed such a long book could be such an enjoyable read, yet be so totally informative, well-researched and well-documented. Toland makes no apologies or excuses for the monstrous crimes Germany committed at Hitler's behest - nor do I. I firmly believe that Adolf Hitler stands condemned before the bar of history, and on Judgment Day, with responsibility for those crimes. But there is more to any man than just whatever evil he has done. This book shows Hitler the loving son, who mourned his mother from the day of her death until the day of his own, 38 years later; the lover of animals who befriended a homeless dog on the front lines in World War I, and was heartbroken when the dog was stolen by another soldier some months later; the man who was very fond of children, and who was "Uncle Adi" to numerous young offspring of high members of the Nazi Party; the powerful national leader who put on no airs, wearing only a regular officer's uniform with one medal pinned on it - the Iron Cross, First Class, he had earned in World War I. According to Toland's well-researched book, Hitler treated the "little people" around him - secretaries, valets, chauffeurs, and the like - with unfailing respect and graciousness. It all reminded me of an editorial I once wrote for the newspaper where I work, concerning the death of one of the Soviet leaders who came just before Gorbachev. TV news had shown the visitation for this leader, and standing by his casket were his son and daughter, the woman weeping, the man looking as if he had just lost his last friend. I wrote something like, "It showed that even a dictator can have a family who loves him, and who deeply mourns his loss." John Toland shows us in this book that monster, evil genius or whatever one chooses to call Adolf Hitler, he was the most unique historical figure of the 20th Century.

A wonderful read, a great biography on Hitler

I have just completed this book after purchasing it about 1 1/2 years ago. I made a choice after recieving the title, to read the book little by little before I go to bed at night to "serialize" the drama of Adolf Hitler's rise to power, his rule, and his ultimate downfall. I found that this book was very much suited for this type of reading. I have read 2 other Hitler biographies, both of which were many times shorter then this one and after compraison, suspiciously biased. The one biography was George Victor's "Hitler : The Pathology of Evil." Unlike that book, Toland does not have a grand theory[ies] on what made Hitler tick, and whats more, Toland does not forward any perposterous theories (such as one that stated Hitler had "smaller" or "deformed" sex organs, a claim that is refuted with evidence by Toland. Or the completely bizzare account claimed by some, that Adolf Hitler forced Eva Braun to defecate on him durring some intimate moment) that are obvioully stated to dehuminize or embarass the "historical man." Toland does however hint at certain possiblities or explanation of action, buy, in the most part, it is obvious that Toland very much wants his reader to make their own opinion on the events and the man. The works cited and notes in the end of the book are simply amazing. Although I have not read too many biographies of this length, I must say that the extensive notes and works that are refrenced is simply staggering (I have not as of yet been able to validify any of the works cited, but I have no doubt they are accuruate). This book would make a great introduction to World War 2 in the viewpoint of hte German political high command. The modus operandai is drawn out concisely and thoroughly in the 890+ pages of text. One will be completely amazed on both fronts. First how dynamic and amazing a political leader Adolf Hitler really was, yet, one will also be amazed at the stupidity and reckless gambling Adolf Hitler often resorted too in his dealings with international leaders. Toland corroborates Victor's observation of Hitler's obsession with "fate" or "providence" to carry him forward from one crisis to another. Indeed, according to Toland, the collosal blunder of overplaying his hand and taking Poland was a complete gamble that Hitler chalked to "providence" to bring him to safety. Whereas Victor's biography offers a "Freudian" analysis of this decision-behavior, perhaps, stating it was a residule of infantile behavior from Hitler's obsession with his mother (or some other psycho-babble like this), Toland makes no such reach and merely states the facts as far as he can determine them. This book pays Hitler his dues when deserved, and shows his many flaws when they are apparent. It shows that one does not need to be blatently biased to demonstrate that Adolf Hitler was far from a super-man. I cannot account for others who have read this book, but I came away from the biography feeling that Adolf Hitler was somewhat naive

A Remarkable View of Adolf Hitler

It is easy to write off Adolf Hitler as a monster, or a man of pure evil, but these labels only serve to hide what Hitler truly was- A human being. John Toland's facinating biography is must reading for anyone interested in just how one man could be responsible for such horror. From dispelling myths surrounding the death of Hitler's niece, Geli Raubal, and his involvment in the Reichstag fire, to his ghastly orders to carry out the final solution, we see Hitler the man. And while his motives often times seem unthinkable, Toland nevertheless manages to convey the feelings and emotions that led to Hitler's unrelenting policies of destruction. What truly makes this work remarkable is Toland's presentation of the facts seemingly without bias. The facts are presented as they happened and the reader is left free to come to thier own conclusions. For decades people the world over have tried to understand the madness of Nazi Germany. Toland's biography will no doubt educate and help to give a measure of understanding to anyone who reads it. Truly a great work.

The Single Best Biography of Hitler Yet Written!

For anyone truly interested in finding and reading a definitive biography of Adolph Hitler, this is the book. This work is at once carefully documented and scholarly yet is also eminently readable and entertaining. Although there is no single volume that adequately explains the mysterious truth of Adolph Hitler the phenomenon, author John Toland delivers a most informative and exhaustively researched manuscript that does help us to understand Adolph Hitler the man. Toland spent several years researching this book with intensive interviews by surviving principals, and had access to a wide range of archival data and previously unpublished data and facts. The result is this magisterial work.This is a book much like Toland's previous efforts in that it concentrates heavily on interviews with a literal torrent of people who had significant contact and knowledge of Hitler, from those who surrounded him in his rise to power, and who followed him into the ash and ruins of the embattled and besieged Third Reich. From his early days in Austria, to his school boy experiences and the discouraging failures of his early adulthood, through the heady but painful days as a volunteer in the front lines during World War I, Toland faithfully traces the rise and growth of this strange young man as he falls prey to a variety of venomous and unfortunate ideas and prejudices that mark him for life, and set the path to the kind of pathological aberrances that characterized his beliefs and behaviors from that point on. Yet Toland makes a painful effort to be non-judgmental, and carefully presents all the facts as he can best determine them. This sometimes makes him err on the side of presenting personal and perhaps subjective opinions of others as fact, and this is typical of the Toland approach. While recognizing the dangers in presenting a lot of information into the record that might be inaccurate, twisted, or fanciful, he also wants us to hear the whole story from all of the participant's viewpoints so we can make our own informed judgment. In this sense Toland has a somewhat archaic belief in the historical reader's critical skills and to be well-enough formed as thinkers that he lets us judge for ourselves based on our interpretation of the `facts' he presents rather than pre-digesting and coming to his own conclusions for us. The busman's tour he takes through pre-war Germany, observing and describing the collection of rag-tag malcontents accompanying Hitler in his rise to power is quite interesting, as is his casual and matter-of-fact presentation of what is certainly a horrifying plethora of unbelievably provocative, ruthless and despicable acts on the parts of Hitler and the national Socialists. Yet this is also history at its best, unblinking, without comment or sentiment, and in-your-face. Much of what you will read you can find elsewhere, but nowhere else can you find it presented in the style and grace that Toland brin