Review: TheDevils Disciples
Avis de journaliste - Kirkus ReviewsHermann GÖring to Heinrich Himmler, April 1945: "Herr Reich Marshal . . . if anything should prevent you from succeeding the FÜhrer—say you are eliminated—can I have the position?" Adolf Hitler may have been close to the definitive self-made man, but he did not come into or maintain his power single-handedly. Far from it: without the early support of power-hungry men such as Ernst RÖhm and Rudolf Hess, he might never have maneuvered his way from obscurity to Germany's chancellorship. In this very long but unflagging study, English historian Read sharpens the focus on these lieutenants such that Hitler sometimes seems absent from the scene altogether. "Each member of Hitler's inner circle," Read writes, "was deeply and totally besotted, desperate to please him, and bitterly jealous of any attention he bestowed on other suitors"—a rivalry that Hitler found most useful, inasmuch as it prevented his juniors from forming alliances that could be turned against him. One such junior was Himmler, a party stalwart from the first, who asserted that he would shoot his own mother if the FÜhrer commanded. Another was Joseph Goebbels, a genius at telling lies and having them believed; for instance, some 5,000 Jews survived the war in Berlin itself, "protected by sympathetic Berliners," even as Goebbels insisted that the city was "Jew-free." Another was Alfred Rosenberg, theoretician and de facto leader of the early Nazi party while Hitler was imprisoned, who, Read memorably writes, "was cold, arrogant, and boring beyond belief." Yet another was GÖring, the most militarily accomplished of the Nazis, who ordered the murder of his old friend, Hitler's rival RÖhm, in 1934, explaining to his American captors after the war, "But he was in my way . . ." Each was effective in his own way, and Read's narrative gives Hitler's lieutenants their due for their roles in making the Nazi state the efficient death machine that it was—squabbling with one another all the while and endlessly jockeying for position.
Review: The Devil's Disciples
Avis d'utilisateur - Fraser - GoodreadsHaving read quite a few different historical books on Nazism, WWII and various battles I wasn't sure how I would take to this book. Read gets into the mind-set of national socialism, the cult of ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Eddy Allen - GoodreadsThe Nazi regime was essentially a religious cult relying on the hypnotic personality of Adolf Hitler, and it was fated to die with him. But while it lasted, his closest lieutenants competed ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Jason - GoodreadsI've read many Nazi-era books, by many authors--some well known, others not so much. I'll get the niceties out of the way and say Ian Kershaw and William Shirer stand alone. Read, though, writes a ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Blake - GoodreadsAn amazing understanding of how Hitler would never have become HITLER without the right setting created through the harsh restriction placed on Germany after WW1 and a very specific group of ambition ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Rachel - GoodreadsLet me first begin by saying that Anthony Read has done an outstanding job in giving a history about Hitler's most trusted men! A lot of the information is information I had never read before and ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Jason - GoodreadsI picked this up when I started Larson's In the Garden of Beasts. It's a solid academic treatment of the subject and very informative. It really details the personalities of Hitler's lieutenants and helps one understand what kind of mindsets they had in the era of Nazi Germany. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Hadrian - GoodreadsA collection of biographies of several prominent figures of Nazi Germany. Gives a grudging admiration to Goering, and treats most the others as scum. Very interesting. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Rick Hautala - GoodreadsIt took me a while to read this massive book, but it was absolutely worth it. Fascinating (especially if you like rolling over logs and looking at squiggly bugs ... like Himmler ...) Consulter l'avis complet
Review: The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle
Avis d'utilisateur - Isabel - GoodreadsToo many battles and too many details about stuff I didn't want to know about. I really wanted to hear more about their lives and not necessarily about their miliary feats. I guess that is a major part of what they were,but it was hard for me to finish it. Consulter l'avis complet
