Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil | Ron Rosenbaum

Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil | Ron Rosenbaum | Understainding evil

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Explaining Hitler:...

	Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil Ron Rosenbaum Harper Perennial, 1999 - 496 pages average customer review:based on 92 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

When Hitler's war ended in 1945, the war over Hitler--who he really was, what gave birth to his unique evil--had just begun. Hitler did not escape the bunker in Berlin but, half a century later, he has managed to escape explanation in ways both frightening and profound. Explaining Hitler is an extraordinary quest, an expedition into the war zone of Hitler theories. This is a passionate, enthralling book that illuminates what Hitler explainers tell us about Hitler, about the explainers, and about ourselves.

Great Information, Egghead Writing

The information in this book is excellent. That being said, the prose is at times absolutely outlandish. The introduction gives you a cue of what's to come as the author gives you a "Dennis Milleresque" outline of the facts. After he used the term "Heathcliffian" I knew I may be in over my head. I ended up keeping my Franklin electronic dictionary next to the book to define the plethora of odd synonyms used.

It's worth the dollars. Just prepare to feel uneducated.

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Understainding evil

This book does not really explain Hilter. Rather it highlights what the various explanations for Hilter reveal about the people or societies attempting the explanations. Rosenbaum offers a balanced assessment of the various opinions commonly offered to explain what happened in Germany in the 1920's through the 1940's and the European reaction to those event. Explaining Hitler is not a full history of the Nazi era but it is a fascinating social analysis of our response to that era.

Intelligent and provocative

This is a book quite different to any other book I have read before. It is probing, controversial and, speculative. It has a philosophical bent to it and will make you think.

The book revolves not only about Hitler but also about the Holocaust and the Germans. Before reading this book, I happened to read Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's "Hitler's willing executioners". Goldhagen puts the Holocaust's responsibility squarely on the Germans but "Explaining Hitler" goes deeper and entertains the additional possibility that "no Hitler, no Holocaust".

The book has somewhat long chapters that sometimes feels were written in a haphazard fashion and, as a result of this, it is not a reader friendly book as far as reading mechanics go.

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Good book, but not for beginners.

When I picked up this book, I did not know very much about the life of Adolph Hitler; after reading it, I'm not sure that I know very much more than bare facts. This is a really excellent account of the mind of Hitler (or rather, what scholars THINK the mind of Hitler must have been like), but it is definitely not for someone who is just starting to learn about the man. The book is densely written and sometimes quite difficult to understand. I appreciate the effort that was put into researching the book, but found that I really should have started out with a more "basic" book on Hitler before picking this one up. I would recommend the same for anyone who is just starting to learn about Hitler.

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