The Hitler of HistoryKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1998 M11 3 - 304 pages "A valuable service . . . serious, entertaining, provocative and distinctive." --Cleveland Plain Dealer In the fifty years since his suicide amid the ruins of Berlin, Adolf Hitler has been the subject of more biographies than any comparable figure of our time--and at the center of a crucial historical debate over the nature of evil and moral responsibility in the twentieth century. In this brilliant and original book, the historian John Lukacs climbs above the fray to produce a definitive "history of a history: the history of the evolution of our understanding of Hitler's life and our debates about its meaning." Like an expert attorney, Lukacs puts the biographies on trial, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and hidden agendas. And through their intersecting and conflicting accounts, he addresses the enduring enigmas surrounding the demiurge of the Third Reich. Was Hitler a revolutionary or a reactionary? How successful was he as a statesman and a strategist? What was his primary motive for the extermination of the Jews? The Hitler of History answers these questions as fully as any modern work can hope to, with an intellectual boldness that makes it absolutely essential to any understanding of the post-Hitler world. "Lukacs is a shrewd historian and an engaging writer . . . a sharp and sober portrait." --Philadelphia Inquirer |
Contents
HISTORIOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS | 1 |
THE CRYSTALLIZATION VIENNA ANDOR MUNICH? | 52 |
REACTIONARY ANDOR REVOLUTIONARY? | 76 |
The insufficient category of totalitarianism | 113 |
STATESMAN AND STRATEGIST | 128 |
7 | 178 |
CHAPTER OR EPISODE? | 197 |
hierarchy of its proponentsTheir argumentation | 223 |
9 | 240 |
| 269 | |
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Common terms and phrases
achieved admiration Adolf Hitler Albert Speer Allies American Andreas Hillgruber anti-Semitism anticommunism army Austrian believe Berlin biography of Hitler British career Catholic chapter Churchill cited Communist conservative convincing course David Irving debatable decision democratic Deuerlein duality element enemies entirely especially Europe European evidence example Fest Fest's Final Solution French Friedrich Heer Führer German historians Geyl Goebbels Haffner Heer hereafter HF/AN Hillgruber Himmler Historikerstreit Hitler biography human ideas ideology important inclination Irving Irving's Jäckel Jewish Jews Kampf kind knew later leader least Lebensraum Maser mass means Mein Kampf ment military modern Munich Mussolini Napoleon National Socialism National Socialist nationalist Nazi Nolte opponents party perhaps political popular populist problem question remained respect revolution revolutionary Russia Schramm SCHRB significant Soviet speech Speer Stalin statement statesmanship struggle Third Reich tion Toland twentieth century Vienna word World War II wrote ZIT/A Zitelmann