Volume 22, Number 5 · April 3, 1975
Some New Books on Hitler and National Socialism
By Geoffrey Barraclough
The fortieth anniversary of Hitler's so-called 'seizure of power' was greeted by the appearance of a spate of popular biographies, of which the more important were Colin Cross's Adolf Hitler (Berkley, 1973), Robert Payne's The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (Praeger, 1973), and Joachim C. Fest's Hitler (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974). Fest's book was discussed at length by Neal Ascherson in The New York Review on April 18, 1974. In spite of Ascherson's reservations, it seems to have been accepted as the definitive 'life'—in my view, with little justification. Fest's Hitler may be a journalistic tour de force, but it does not match Alan Bullock's classic biography and adds nothing substantial to knowledge. All in all, if the sudden spate of new writing proved anything, it was that biography is no answer to so complex a problem as the Nazi revolution.
Feature, 964 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |