Why Hitler?: The Genesis of the Nazi Reich

by Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.

Adolf Hitler attained power in 1933 as the result of a complex set of factors, some of which were complementary and some of which were mutually exclusive. This book describes and analyzes the reasons Hitler became chancellor of Germany, which included the harsh Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I; the Germans' lack of faith in democracy and the reasons behind it; the corruption and political and economic mismanagement which characterized...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0275954854
• ISBN13: 9780275954857
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Why Hitler

This book is extremely well researched. Its what you might expect from a professor. It is better documented than Rise and Fall of the Third Reich that is considered the Bible on the subject but is shorter in length. Some of the intricate details however seem dubious, such as, the reference to the Soviet autopsy report on Hitlers body that states that Hitler had only one testicle. I don't doubt that the Soviets wrote such but there has never been DNA proof that his body was ever identified. As a result of the authors research it does seem to refute the notion that Hitler, in his early years, was a bum with relatively no financial resources compared to others during that period. His book is nevertheless spellbinding for those in search of Why Hitler, the high school dropout, rose to lead a nation with 12 Nobel Prise winners in Berlin and the worlds greatest opera, a nation that was elitist by any standard.

Can history repeat itself?

"Reasonably happy and prosperous people", Mitcham notes at the outset, "regardless of nationality, do not elect extremists like Hitler to high office in normal times". Normal times were but a memory to the hard-pressed Germans, with economic chaos, daily political violence, and an inept government which compounded their misery. Into this political maelstrom strode Hitler, with plausible answers - and hope. Mitcham's very readable history makes it clear that the advent of Hitlerism was the product of a particular set of circumstances; not so mysterious, and not so unusual as to rule out the possibility that another desperate people might risk dancing with the Devil. (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)