Why Hitler? The Genesis of the Nazi Reich

By Samuel W. Mitcham Jr.

Book Overview

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 the Weimar Republic; the hyperinflation of the early 1920s, when the cost of a dollar exploded to 4.2 trillion marks and the German currency lost 99.3% of its value; the Great Depression, during which nearly a quarter of the German work force was unemployed; the political and economic instability of the times, in which the Nazis thrived; and the evil genius of Hitler, the master politician. This book transports the reader back to the Germany of the 1920s and 1930s, so he or she can experience what it was like to be there as Hitler and his cronies grasped for power and the foundations of the Weimar Republic crumbled.

How did an Austrian tramp named Adolf Hitler become chancellor of Germany, in a position to launch the most infamous reign of terror experienced in the 20th century? Why Hitler? explains the Nazi rise to power in captivating prose and uncompromising detail. Why Hitler focuses on the issue of why and how Hitler and his party attained power in Germany, a question asked by all reflective Americans. Author Samuel Mitcham presents new information, dispensing with the hackneyed theory--presented by Hitler in Mein Kampf and repeated by historians as illustrious as William Shirer and Alan Bullock--that the heroic young Fuehrer struggled to survive against poverty and incredible odds, working as a day laborer and living in a flop house, hunger his constant companion. In fact, Hitler's income from his father's pension was higher than that of a junior postal employee, a teacher with less than five years' service, or a court lawyer with one year's salary.

• 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...

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...