Reviews (2)

Worth a 2nd read
After watching "The Aviator," my interest in Hughes was piqued, and I subsequently picked up this book again, after first reading it in the late 70's. I consumed it in a day this time. It hasn't lost its relevance and intrigue after all these years. The story of Hughes remains equally fascinating and tragic. This book captures and relates that atmosphere splendidly. Phelan is a professional writer who crafts his material well.

From Inside Flap
Here - and for the first time - the mystery of Howard Hughe's bizarre life and death is finally resolved in a startling eyewitness account by two of the aides closest to him during his long years of secrecy, hiding and flight. Their story is told by James Phelan, the investigative reporter whose encyclopedic knowledge of Hughes and his empire enable him to expose the Clifford Irving hoax of 1972.
After Hughe's death, the Cockney waiter who lifted the dying billionaire's wasted body onto the plane for his final flight, and Mell Stewart, a Utah barber whose first professional fee for Hughes haircut was a thousand dollars, came to Phelan with their incredible story. These two aides saw hughes day in and day out - as only a handful of men ever saw him in the tiny blacked-out bedrooms where he spent all of his last years.

Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years reveals how and why the once-dashing six-foot four-inch Texan, with the money to live like a maharajah, owned no clothes, had no possessions, lived as a physically wasted recluse, and spent most of his time virtually naked, compulsively watching movies while others ran his vast empire for him.

Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years gives the first authentic account of why hughes suddenly fled his penthouse hideout in Las Vegas and fired his $520,000-a-year chief executive, Robert Maheu. The aide who engineered it recounts Hughes's wild hairbreadth escape from the Britannia Beach Hotel in Nassau. And the book offers an insider's view of the billionaire's bizarre life style - his peculiar eating and grooming habits, his "insulation" against germs, the drugs he injected himself, which he insisted always be kept in a metal box at his bedside.

From the wealth of detail gathered from the aides and from his own twenty years of reporting on Hughes, James Phelan has written an extraordinary book that puts into context the pivotal role Hughes played in American life while keeping from everyone his own deep, dark mystery. ... Read more

Book Description

Already a critically acclaimed bestseller in Germany and in Austria, Hitler's Vienna explores the critical, formative years which Hitler spent in Vienna, painting a fascinating portrait of the development of his ideas and career against the social, cultural, and political climate of the capitol of the Hapsburg Empire.

Hitler's Vienna was not the artistic and intellectual center normally associated with Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Arthur Schnitzler, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Instead, it was a cauldron of fear and indignation, a city teeming with the "little people" who rejected Viennese modernity as too international, too "Jewish," and too libertine. Indeed, Hitler's Vienna was a breeding ground for obscure political theories, usually propagated by disadvantaged men living together inhostels. To them, being "better" in this multinational city meant belonging to the "noble German people." Brigitte Hamann compellingly depicts the undercurrent of disturbing social and political ideologies that permeated this city of civil unrest. Drawing on previously untapped resources, she gives us the fullest account ever rendered of the young fuhrer.

Hitler's Vienna reveals the vital connection between Hitler's indoctrination into the devastating racial politics that swept Germany's multinational state and the hotbed of nationalistic activity that was Vienna in the early 20th century. It is a profoundly important addition to present Hitler scholarship. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

The key to Mein Kampf
Brigitte Hamann has done a remarkable thing with this book. By examining Vienna during Hitler's formative years, she has unlocked a lot of mystery surrounding the great man himself. While it is true that she uncovered discrepancies in Hitler's description of those years in Mein Kampf, her real contribution is in helping the reader to understand what Hitler was talking about, and why he said the things he said.

Particularly useful is Hamann's analysis of the prominent politicians of the day. She first described these leaders and their political ups and downs. Then, with the testimony of the witnesses who knew Hitler during those years, she deftly draws a picture of the formative influences that helped shape the mature dictator. Hitler was obsessed with politics and he learned what worked and what did not work during those early years in Vienna. Many of his later policies first saw the light of day in the Vienna of his youth. There is a chilling passage about the problem of gypsy pickpockets expected for the 60 Anniversary Parade in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph, in 1908. One solution, seriously presented in Parliament at the time, was to tattoo a number on the forearm of every gypsy.

Hamann also provides an in-depth analysis of the Austro-Hungarian attempt at a multi-ethnic parliamentarism, the chaos and the inefficiency that it brought, and the consequent neglect for the common people. The Pan-German movement, which clearly influenced the young Hitler is clearly explained in considerable detail. At times while reading this book, I had to pause and remind myself that the period under review presaged the rise of Adolf Hitler to power by some 20 years!

Out of the murk emerges Hitler as a young man obsessed by politics, hot tempered, forceful in argument, with poor work habits, odd hours, and a penchant for talk. Hamann's decision to look at the politics that helped him to formulate his world view is brilliant history. This fascinating book is very worthy of your attention.

A convincing, fascinating read
Another Hitler book? Aren't there enough already? That's what I thought, til I read this. This is a fascinating story about the Vienna in which Hitler created his vision and plans. This is the Vienna of Adler and Freud, of coffee houses and intellectual debate. But did the young Hitler live in this mileiu from 1908 - 1913? Or was he relegated to Vienna's lower class and working class neighborhoods. What was life like there among the poor, single men? Were there any Jewish professors at the Visual Arts school he attended? (no) With the newly won right to vote, what kind of pan-German politicians caught the attention of the poor masses and of a young Hitler? What books and newspapers would he have read? How did Vienna's architecture influence Hitler's ideas symbolic art? How did Georg Schonerer affect Hitler's later ideas? Is this where he learned about anti-Semitism? A fascinating read that just draws you in.

Interesting narrative of Hitler's early years
Though this book is better in the original German (it loses something in the translation), Hamann is a diligent researcher who has unearthed some new facts about Hitler's period in Vienna. She uses primary sources and archive material without merely rehashing what other biographies have written in the past. The Franz Jetzinger book from the 50's is still the standard, definitive version of Hitler's Vienna years, but Hamann does a nice job and weaves in some new material. She also adroitly dismisses some claims from other German authors who have inaccurately written about Hitler's relationship with early roommate, August (Gustl) Kubizek. Thankfully, Hamann doesn't indulge in psychoanalyzing Hitler, which is sort of a deranged cottage industry amongst more recent Hitler biographers.

One small criticism is that Hamann veers away from Hitler too frequently. There is a plethora of material about Vienna's political climate in the 1910's, its mayor, the origin of anti-Semitism in the city and other ancillary details. Though all of this is relevant to Hitler, one wishes she would have stayed a bit more on topic. Still, the book is interesting, informative and devoid of errors. If you want to learn more about the young Hitler, this is an acceptable choice.

Good book, but the original is better!
I really liked this book as it offered some new facts as opposed to regurgitating the same points already in circulation about Hitler and his youth. Hamann is a great historian of our time, and those of you fluent in German would be well advised to get ahold of this book in the original.

A Valuable Study
I thought I knew a lot about Adolf Hitler's life, even his youth, until I stumbled upon this book. Hitler's Vienna provides a fascinating glimpse into the social, economic, and political milieu in which young Hitler found himself immersed when he came from the provinces to the capital of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian empire in order to pursue his dream of a career in art or architecture.
The book is really less about Hitler himself than about the forces which helped to shape his weltanschauung. Though he reportedly not an anti-Semite as a youth, it was in Vienna that Hitler learned the language of anti-semitism and nationalism.
As I engrossed myself in the book, my thoughts often wandered to comparing the identity politics and quota demands of Austro-Hungarian politicians with the increasing ethnic balkanization here in the United States and wondered whether such a man as Hitler could not one day spring from our political landscape.
One of the chief things I learned is that political and ethnic anti-Semitism was already a very potent force among both the more radical German-nationalist followers of Georg Schoenerer as well as among the more mainstream supporters of the enormously popular mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger. There was also a large groundswell of anti-Czech sentiment due to a heavy flow of Czechs into Vienna and to the mistreatment by Czechs of Germans in Sudetenland, a situation that Hitler was later to temporarily rectify.
The most surprising fact about Hitler brought to light is that he had many Jewish friends during his Vienna days. And I had to laugh at the part where he was described by a former fellow boarder at the men's hostel as having arrived wearing shoulder-length hair and wearing nothing but a coat because he didn't have a shirt.
Though the book adds much to what we knew of Hitler, it comes no closer than any other of really getting inside his head to explain his true motivations. After all, hundreds of thousands of Europeans hated Jews and lived through the same hardships that young Hitler did, but only Hitler took that extra step and made the end of Jewry his life's work. Nevertheless, this book is a very valuable study and is an easy and fascinating read that comes highly recommended to all those who yearn to know more about the life and times of Adolf Hitler. ... Read more

Book Description

The real story of Howard Hughes, aviator, innovative andvisionary inventor and designer, has not heretofore been told.It iseasy to see why.While he lived, it was difficult to write thebiography of a billionaire who adamantly opposed the publication ofanything about him.Would-be biographers were persuaded or forced todesist.Some were offered lucrative positions and disappeared into theranks of the Hughes organizations never to be heard from again.Hughesemployees were forbidden to talk about their boss.In 1965, Hughesconcocted a new weapon to combat his would-be biographers -- RosemontEnterprises, Inc., to whom he granted the exclusive right to use(publish, write, etc.) the name, personality, likeness, biography, lifestory, and incidents relating thereto of Howard R. Hughes.

Evenafter Random House pulled the fangs of Rosemont in a hard-fought andcelebrated court case, and even after Hughes's death, vestiges of theold security barriers remained.Being close mouthed had become a habitin the Hughes organizations.

In Howard Hughes And His Flyng Boat,for the first time, large numbers of former Hughes employees and closeassociates talk about their famous boss.Here are behind-the-scenesstories that lift the veils of secrecy and controversy that havesurrounded Hughes and his works during his lifetime.

This is morethan the story of the world's largest airplane.It is the story ofHughes the aviator and designer of unusual airplanes during afascinating era in aviation history.It is the story of his lifebefore he became the wheeler-dealer of Las Vegas, of the airplanecrashes that changed the course of his life, of his mysterious"disappearance" for nine months, and of his struggle to vindicatehimself and his works during the Senate investigation of his wartimecontracts.

In addition to the first-hand reminiscences of many whoknew and worked for Howard Hughes, this book is based on previouslyunpublished documentary material.

Was Hughes really a brilliantdesigner and builder of airplanes or did he just have the money to hireothers who were?What kind of a pilot was he, really?These are thekinds of questions answered in Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent Book
I was initially put off by the title, thinking that this might be written for junior readers. But once I began reading it I realized that this was far from the truth.

The book is very well written, and very informative. It gives a very mature insight into the HK-1 project, as well as Howard Hughes himself.

I highly recommend this book to anybody wanting a detailed account of the events pertaining to Howard Hughes and His Flying Boat.

BARTON CAPTURES THE GENIUS OF HOWARD HUGHES & SPRUCE GOOSE
During the last 30 years I've had the rare opportunity to read every known autobiography ever published on Howard Hughes, along with incalculable magazine and newspaper articles. In fact, only recently, my "Letter-to-the-Editor", regarding the major overlook as Hughes as one of the Top 20 industrialist of the 20th Century...appeared in the 1998 Man-of-The-Year issue of Time magazine. I guess you may call me a Hughesonian? With this in mind, I must rate Charles Barton examination at the life of Howard Hughes in his 276-page book titled, "Howard Hughes and his Flying Book", as the finest ever published to date. While Barton does not touch on or go into great depth on Hughes' life in motion pictures, Las Vegas, the oil business or any of the plethora of activities the genius of Hughes took on, he does give you an amazing insight into Hughes and the building of the Spruce Goose. It takes a brave writer to delve into the life of Hughes. Few man, if any, have left such a legacy which include multi-billion dollar corporations. I myself have written and published more than 25,000 articles, yet to tackle and succeed with a story on Hughes would be a challenge only worthy of a dedicated and admirable writer like Barton. Not only is Barton a wordsmith but he has done extensive research on Hughes and his association with the Spruce Goose. You are literally taken into the mind and world of Howard Hughes and his associates. Unlike other Hughes biographies which paint just a bizarre human being, we see, true an eccentric man, but one who knew what he was doing and was always one step ahead of the game. While the construction of an enormous airplane like the Spruce Goose might be only of interest to engineers, the reader is brought to believe that the Spruce Goose had a life of it's own...an extension of Hughes. All bases are covered in "Howard Hughes and his Flying Boat" which includes one of the most extensive collection of Hughes photographs ever published along with a catchy book cover drawing of Hughes and his Spruce Goose. Rumour has it that actor Nicholas Cage has in the works to do an epic movie on the life of Howard Hughes. I recommend that Cage, if looking for an Oscar, read over this epic tale of the Hughes, the aviation genius.

More Than The Story Of A Big Wooden Plane
This book was written by, and with, aircraft pilots in mind, but you don't have to be a pilot to enjoy reading it. It covers all aspects of Hughes' brilliance, life at the time, quirks, and headaches with the US Government over the "white elephant" that came to be known as the "Spruce Goose". Terrific reading for anyone who wants to know more about Hughes, or this amazing feat of design. A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying read. This book may still be available at the souvenir stand if you should go to see the Flying Boat in person in California. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Very interesting, but not many answers.
This book is very entertaining. I bought it expecting to get answers on what became of Hitler's blood relations. I was disappointed in the amount of information concerning Hitler's nephew, and what became of him. But, it did have some fascinating evidence about Adolf's mother, father, and siblings. Worth a look, but, it's quite expensive for what you really get. I'd recommend checking it out from a library if you can. ... Read more

Book Description

In the first full, one-volume biography of Alexander Hamilton in more than two decades, award-winning historian Willard Sterne Randall takes a fresh look at one of the most brilliant, conflicted, and elusive of our nation's founders.

Orphaned at thirteen and apprenticed in a counting house, the precocious Hamilton learned principles of business that helped him, as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury, to create the American banking system and invent the modern corporation. But first the staunch, intrepid Hamilton served in the American Revolution, primarily as aide-de-camp to General Washington, acting as Washington's spymaster. Forging a successful legal career, Hamilton coauthored The Federalist Papers and plunged into politics. Irresistibly attractive to women, he was a man of many gifts, but he could be arrogant and was at times a poor judge of character.

In this meticulously researched, illuminating, and lively account, Willard Sterne Randall mines the latest scholarship to provide a new perspective on Alexander Hamilton, his illegitimate birth, little-known military activities, political and diplomatic intrigues, and sometimes scandalous private life.

From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean island of Nevis to his untimely death in a duel with his old enemy Aaron Burr in 1804, Alexander Hamilton, despite his short and tragic life, left a huge legacy.

Reviews (11)

A good book about a great man.....
After years without a one-volume biography on Hamilton, it was quite exciting to learn that Randall had written this book. Randall is an accessible and supremely entertaining author, and he does right by his subject. He never blows him out of proportion or resorts to distortions; he presents the subject in a fair and balanced way, while understanding his central importance in our nation's history. I learned quite a bit from the book, even though I have read several other less comprehensive works. As far as detail regarding Hamilton's early life and critical years as aide-de-camp to George Washington, few books measure up to Randall's volume. Still, I was left wanting more in terms of Hamilton's later years (primarily 1794-1804). There is little on the Hamilton/Jefferson rivalry, nor is there much of substance regarding the Burr relationship. True, other books have covered these matters in greater depth (and the "duel" is a vast subject on its own), but it seemed a bit irresponsible to devote so much to Hamilton's early years yet resolve the last ten years of his life in less than 100 pages. Because of this, I felt the book was "rushed" near the end, almost as if the author felt compelled to finish while maintaining a marketable length. The books could have easily been 150-200 more pages, I believe.

Still, the book is a fine read and even the economic discussions are treated with care, never becoming too difficult or out of reach for the layman. Still, all lovers of American history should combine readings of McCullough's "John Adams" and Ellis' "Founding Brothers" to get a more complete picture of the times.

The Original American Success Story
Willard Sterne Randall's biography of Alexander Hamilton joins the recent glut of books covering America's colonial period that have either focused on Hamilton or featured him prominently. Randall's highly readable account of Hamilton's life brings into sharp focus the man who was Thomas Jefferson's ideological counterpoint in the two competeing governing philosopys that emerged from the American Revolution. Ironically, while the aristocratic Jefferson became the champion of the "common man," it was the "commoner" Hamilton who came to favor a strong central government at the expense of individual (and state's) rights.

Hamilton's rise from the illegitimate son of a West Indies merchant to the very heights of power at a time when such avenues were normally reserved for nobility make him America's first great self-made man. Most of the other founding fathers were from either the aristocrat or merchantile classes. Hamilton, whose family's entire modest estate was confiscated at the time of his mother's death when he was a boy, was possessed of the unique ambition of an insecure man who spent his life trying to overcome his humble origins. As Randall demonstrates, Hamilton's close relationship with George Washington, who recognized his junior's incredible organizational and intellectual gifts, was of key importance to the latter's success.

The text of the book is quite sympathetic its subject, perhaps overly so at times. Though Randall does not ignore the less noble aspects of Hamilton's character, he strives whenever possible to show him in the best possible light. Thus Aaron Burr, who actually made his own important contributions to the nation, comes off mostly as a despicable villian. Burr will always be infamous for firing the bullet that ended Hamilton's life, but Hamilton was equally at fault for the feud that ended so tragically.

Oveall, Randall's book is an enjoyable and enlightening work that will most appeal to history buffs.

A good review of Hamilton, not as complete as Chernow's book
This is a good solid biography of one of the most under-appreciated Americans of all time, Alexander Hamilton.

It gives you the basic rags-to-riches story and I was happy enough upon completion of the book... possibly even willing to give it as many as 5 stars.

However, about 4 months after I finished this one the attractive volume by Ron Chernow came out, and I couldn't resist purchasing IT as well. Let me tell you, Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton" is superior to Randall's in every way imaginable.

It is much more entertaining, and portrays Hamilton as the dashing young risk-taker that he was. Impetuous, ambitious, etc.

But enough... I'm supposed to be reviewing Randall's efforts here, not Chernow's.

The book is solid but not spectacular. You have to work hard to get 4 stars from me and unfortunately this volume falls just short. Worth the effort, but you can get more bang for your $10 Hamilton-faced buck in the alternative volume.

correcting erosfaust
In his review, erosfaust (who seems to like any book provided it espouses a view of life to the right of Ghengis Khan) makes a serious error.

He claims the residency requirement was placed in the US Constitution to prevent Hamilton from being elected to that post. The US Constitution, in fact, says you must have been born in the country, OR BEEN A CITIZEN AT THE TIME OF RATIFICATION. Hamilton was always eligible for the Presidency.

Oh, and he wasn't "hated by anyone who had anything to do with the founding" of this country, unless you want to eliminate George Washington from that number.

Insightful and Interesting
Reads like the best fiction. A big book that reads quickly and ends too soon. Insight, education and enjoyment. Might be read before "The Real Lincoln" by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, which, you might say, is almost its sequel. ... Read more

Book Description

In this brilliant, strikingly original book, historian John Lukacs delves to the core of Adolf Hitler's life and mind by examining him through the lenses of his surprisingly diverse biographers.

Since 1945 there have been more than one hundred biographies of Hitler, and countless other books on him and the Third Reich. What happens when so many people reinterpret the life of a single individual? Dangerously, the cumulative portrait that begins to emerge can suggest the face of a mythic antihero whose crimes and errors blur behind an aura of power and conquest. By reversing the process, by making Hitler's biographers--rather than Hitler himself--the subject of inquiry, Lukacs reveals the contradictions that take us back to the true Hitler of history.

Like an attorney, Lukacs puts the biographies on trial. He gives a masterly account of all the major works and of the personalities, methods, and careers of the biographers (one cannot separate the historian from his history, particularly in this arena); he looks at what is still not known (and probably never will be) about Hitler; he considers various crucial aspects of the real Hitler; and he shows how different biographers have either advanced our understanding or gone off track. By singling out those who have been involved in, or co-opted into, an implicit "rehabilitationof Hitler," Lukacs draws powerful conclusions about Hitler's essential differences from other monsters of history, such as Napoleon, Mussolini, and Stalin, and--equally important--about Hitler's place in the history of this century and of the world. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Gave me a deeper understanding of Hitler
I have been very intrested in Hitler and national socialism since I was 13. I'm 23 now so I have read quite many books on the subject by now. when I first read this book about two years ago I was stunned by it. The aurthor John Lukacs seem to have a bottomless knowledge of the 20th centurary European history. Although you can criticize his somewhat "was and is always right" attitude, he none the less often presents his case so compelling arguments that I buy most of his thesis. He explains that nationalism, and nationalsocialism not only was a german phenomenon but an universal idea, which dominated th 20th century, and was far more important than communism or even old style UK-US libaral democracy. He also explains Hitlers antisemitism and his place in Germanys history. For me this book was an awakning, and I have read it many times. I understand Hitler and the national socialistic movement much better now. Hitler did not create the national socialism. Even though in Germany he used the radical nationalism in his want for power, he was rather the most central revolutionary figure, of that movement. The only a little bit annoying is that Lukacs takes much time argue against the british history revisionist, and holocaust denier David Irving. This may well be with well intent, but I think its rather unnecessary. It would be better to just ingnore him, this takes needless space from other important insights. Irving has already been repitudated by so many before.

Somewhat superficial
Lukacs is an emigre Hungarian professor, and is known in the literary community as a historian of moderately conservative Christian Democratic opinions. Several times through this book Lukacs declares that he is writing a history of Hitler, not the Third Reich. Concentrating largely on biographies of Hitler, Lukacs argues that the key experience of Hitler was his experience in Munich during the Bavarian Revolution, not is life in pre-war Vienna. Hitler was sane; he was a nationalist, not a patriot, and he did not really take racism or anti-communism very seriously. His domestic programs were radical, not conservative, and he attacked the Soviet Union largely to remove Britian from the war. His combination of nationalism and socialism makes him the most influential leader of the century.

The book's key flaw comes from its emphasis on biography. No historian would wish to study Roosevelt's life simply by looking at this biographies, while ignoring William Leuctenberg or Robert Dallek. Lukacs spends too much time criticitizing minor quasi-apologetic works by John Toland and David Irving. But he ignores Kershaw's invaluable historiographical guide, The Nazi Dictatorship. Books on foreign policy by Gerhard Weinberg and Noprman Rich, works on the German economy by Harold James and Richard Overy, specific monographs by Tim Mason, Robert Gellately, and Claudia Koonz; all these go unmentioned. Lukacs does not look at the functionalist studies of Martin Broszat and Hans Mommsen, nor at the biographies of other Nazis, such as Richard Breitman on Himmler, Gitta Sereny on Speer and Richard Overy on Goering. Particularly striking is his attempt to argue that Hitler was not really hostile to Communism, in contrast to a large historical consensus that Hitler's expansionist plans against the Soviet Union were at the core of his ideology. He seems to argue that the attack, which Hitler began making plans for as soon as France was defeated, was almost exclusively defined to knock Britain out of the war. He ignores the work of Arno Mayer and Omer Bartov who have found that for German soldiers the concept of "Judeo-Bolshevism" was a very real and very lethal concept." He makes not mention of them, or the Commissar Order, or the whole despoilation of Russia.

Like many historians Lukacs can be hostile to theory, with unsatisfactory results. He makes the emotionally satisfying but intellectual adequate contrast between good, humane, conservative Patriotism and bad modern abstract Nationalism. At one point he suggests that patriotism can be racist but not inhumane, since American Southerners would not deny that blacks are Americans. Apparently he is unaware that plans for deporting African-Americans were common currecny for more than a century after independence. Lukacs makes no reference to the more historical approach to nationalism made by his fellow Central European emigres, Eric Hobsbawm and Ernest Gellner, or by the Czechoslovak historian, Miroslav Hroch. Lukacs praises the military conspirators of 1944 and ignores their anti-democratic and anti-Semitic views, while dismissing worker resistance. At one point he quotes a 1952 account who declares that Nazism was a movement of the "masses of the city," which muddles the fact that the core of Nazi support was in small Protestant villages. After spending ten pages belaboring the obvious conclusion that Hitler was worse than Napolean, Lukacs finally ends with a sententious conclusion meandering on the depths of Hitler's evil. All in all, a rather overrated book.

Not recommended
This book was a disappointment. On the good side, John Lukacs certainly knows all about Hitler, and the body of historical work *about* Hitler. In the introduction he says he will survey the Hitler biographies, pointing out their flaws and virtues, and he's well-equipped to do that.

But after the first chapter --- which goes through every major biography in chronological order --- he divides the rest of the book into aspects of Hitler's life. There's a chapter on Hitler as a statesman, Hitler and the Jewish question, Hitler and Munich, Hitler's apologists, etc. Lukacs uses the main text to describe Hitler's life, then he packs the bottom of each page with footnotes. The footnotes refer to the biographies of Hitler. Some of the notes crowd out the main text, making the book very hard to read.

Lukacs has two fatal flaws in his writing style. One is his habit of telling you which facts about Hitler are right, which are wrong, and never bothering to tell you WHY he thinks so. He quotes a biography, then writes "This is not true." Okay, but why should I take Lukacs' word for it? I'm sure he appreciates a little skepticism, since this book is essentially about being skeptical of the way historians have depicted Hitler over the years. But Lukacs doesn't seem to realize that he can't just say yea or nay to each statement he quotes. It's not convincing.

The second fatal flaw is his need to criticize Marx, communism, Stalin, and the USSR whenever possible. Obviously, these topics should be criticized (especially Stalin). But statements about the bestial nature of Russians and the lunacy of Marx are a little too shrill. Do we need another historian telling us that the commies are bad? Lukacs treats Hitler's life with an admirable degree of nuance. Lukacs chooses his words carefully when he describes the Nazi party, Nazi Germany, Hitler, and even the term "totalitarian." But when the commies are mentioned, that level of sophistication is gone. He just rants.

I can't recommend this book. It has a promising start, but it quickly drops in quality as you go. When I got into it, I looked forward to reading about other books. I wanted to know which Hitler biographies are best, and which should be avoided. But that's not what this book is.

For a deeper look...
Having studied Adolf Hitler intensely for the past six or seven years, I must admit I am torn between liking and disliking this book. I praise the author for attempting to dig deeper into Hitler's background and offering his readers SOME valuable insights that many other historians have overlooked and the book was obviously well-researched, for the most part.
On the other hand, I didn't like the author's style of writing at all, and he tended to ramble quite frequently. Also, some of the things he presented as "facts" (for example he states that Hitler's father was an abusive alcoholic who was more or less hated by his son Adolf-- this was not the case!) have little or no backing, making this just one more of many inaccurate sources. I can only recommend this work to serious students of Hitler who go into it with their eyes open.

Hitler and History, Hitler and Historians
John Lukacs looks at the historiography of Hitler. The Hitler of History is not a biography in any sense of the word although biographical details of Hitler's life are presented throughout and, often, in very illuminating ways. This book looks at the historians and the historiographical problems surrounding Hitler (and there are many of both). It is not necessarily for the uninitiated but will be more useful to those with a little background knowledge of the various theories being promoted and with some of the work already out there. There will be a little (or a lot) to upset any historian but there is also much to consider. The last chapter is a corker both to read and to contemplate and sums up much that has gone before in a well-written, lucid and exciting manner. This book is not the place to first read about Hitler, but it should undoubtably be the second place. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Though he rose to fame after a record-setting flight around the world and the construction of an unprecedented fleet of airplanes, aerospace industry icon Howard Hughes wasted millions of dollars in production, swindled taxpayers through self-serving philanthropy projects and regularly lied to stockholders. In his spare time he worked for Joe McCarthy, was an avid supporter of segregation and nearly destroyed himself through drugs. In this biography of Hughes, authors David Barlett and James Steele reveal the dark, often unlawful, existence that can accompany an American success story. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Unshrouds the mystery with facts, not speculations
The Life, Legend, and Madness offers an in-depth view into the secretive life of Howard Hughes.Unbiased in its writing, the book focuses on all of Hughes accomplishments and successes, as well as some of the darker aspects of his life.After reading this book, one can really see that Hughes is one of the few "larger than life" characters that ever lived.

Hughes played an integral role in shaping this country, a role unknown to many of today's younger generations.Donald Barlett and James Steele do an amazing job detailing both his accomplishments and private life.Some of his endeavors are less obvious today than others, such as helping transform Las Vegas into the resort town we know today.Many people are unfamiliar with the Hughes Medical Institute or the creations from the Hughes Aircraft Company.Although the book does show his odd lifestyle behind the darkened windows and closed doors, it is fair in that it also accurately focuses on his important business dealings.

The popular movie "The Aviator" seems to be scripted largely from the first half of this book.To fully appreciate the movie, I recommend reading this particular book first.Not only will it help clarify references that may slip by in the movie, but this book shows that Hughes was much more than a movie producer who flirted with Hollywood's divas of the day.He was a master engineer, expert businessman, and defender of Democracy (he furiously fought Communists).Innovative people like Hughes is what America is all about.

Excellent Insight into the Life and Empire of Howard Hughes
After reading other books on Howard Hughes, I thought this book would be a waste of my time since I'd "read everything else" but little did I know that this book went into such detail of his life, exposing in great detail specifics that other books briefly mentioned.

Howard Hughes, Naked
The story of Howard Hughes, told superbly in this classic bio, is simply magnetic.How else could you describe a tale that begins with young Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. being born into one of Texas's wealthiest oil families (his father's company, Hughes Tool Company, held a virtual monopoly on drill-bits for many years), moving to Califoria to become a movie mogul, pioneering aviation, heading TWA, and then slipping into degenerative obsessive madness that rendered him completely in the hands of his manipulative underlings.Thus in this book we confront both the young, energetic Hughes (romantically linked to both Jane Russell and Katharine Hepburn) and the old, sick hughes - a nudist who left his hair and fingernails uncut for years, chronicly addicted to codeine, flitting between vacuum-sealed hotel rooms in diffent countries (Bahamas, Nicaragua, Toronto, London, etc.), yet whose name continued to command terror and respect among presidents and governors.

As I read this book, there were many Hughes habits that I found deeply endearing, even as the weird details mounted.How can you not like a guy who, in the pre-VCR era, decided to buy the local Nevada TV station, just so they'd play the movies he wanted?Who - upon installing his home entertainment system - had an obsessive-compulsive need to watch the epic 1968 thriller "Ice Station Zebra" over and over again?(It's a good movie, after all.)Who bought up half of the real estate of Nevada in a doomed expectation of a world gold shortage?Or who lent his name to the ocean-dredging vessel, Glomar Explorer, to aid the CIA's covert attempts to refloat a Soviet sub?And there was something genuinely visionary about the way he built his aircraft and electronics empires.Indeed, despite the piles of carefully-compiled evidence of financial disasters at TWA, RKO, Air West and Summa Corporation, somehow I want to believe that Hughes was not the bungling sicko that emerges from these pages, but so what if he was, the story remains magnificent.

As a postscript, every time you see a DirectTV advertisement, remember that it used to be a Hughes company.

The Demise of an Empire
Donald Bartlett and James Steel's book, "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" is an excellent example of journalistic reporting converted into book form. The book is simply fascinating. The authors accomplish the gargantuan task of separating fact from fiction in the very complex life of Howard Hughes. "Empire" is impeccably researched and documented; It is a bona fide biography that reads more like fiction than real life-such was the world of Howard Hughes.

"Empire" traces the rise and tragic fall of Howard Hughes; a man who wore many hats, he was an aviator, Hollywood movie producer, Las Vegas hotel/casino owner ... and a recluse.For one brief shining moment, Hughes was considered one of America's premier aviators, breaking flying records, but then falling out of grace with government and the aviation industry for breaking contract deadlines. In the long run, Howard Hughes would become a grand failure in the world of big business.

Bartlett and Steel show the reader a man who had everything to live for, good looks, fame, fortune, power and prestige, but he was unable to triumph over his social and physical phobias that led to psychological, emotional, and physical illnesses and to his final descent into the dwellings of the insane. Hughes' deep mistrust of all people-even family, worked against him and led to his demise and the lose of his billion dollar empire by the very people whose job it was to safeguard him and his empire.

By the time I finished reading "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes", I was much more accepting of my status as a non wealthy individual. Although Howard Hughes had everything a man could possibly wish for, he was underprivileged in peace of mind.... The authors do a superb job in separating fact from myth in the life of Howard Hughes. The book is worth reading.

The best book on Howard Hughes
"Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" is indeed an empire within itself. This book manages to expose the life of a very seceretive and private man of power who lived in his own unique way in the world. An incredible book about an incredible man... ... Read more

Reviews (3)

structural analysis
This book Focuses on the power structure of the nazi party. It doesn't reveal much about personalities or everyday life, but describes the interrelation between the beauracrats, industrialists, land owners, populace, and nazi party members. It is appropriate for anyone interested in political structures and how they are held together. It gives a fascinating look into the accumulation of power into one charismatic leader and the appointed henchmen/disciples who would literrally do anything to please the whims of their demigod, and thus gain more power for themselves, And how this monopolistic and 'anarchic' power structure ultimately led to such a terribly disfunctional outcome.

Excellent study by the best Hitler biographer
Ian Kershaw is the premier historian on Hitler and Nazi Germany and this book from the Profiles in Power series is an excellent study on the roots, success, and ultimate destruction of the "Fuehrercult." Two schools of thought are used by historians to understand the power of Nazism. "Intentionalists" see the Nazi regime as the embodiment of Hitler as the totalitarian leader. "Structuralists," however, believe the policies and, ultimately, the crimes of Nazi Germany were stumbled upon by underlings working under a loose framework rather than a deliberate program. As one would expect, Kershaw takes from both these theories to develop his comprehensive profile.

Kershaw examines Hitler's worldview of racial struggle, anti-Semitism, and living space for the German empire--how these ideas developed (Hitler's background) and how Hitler used them to create his leadership image. This Fuehrercult unified a fractional party, helped repress opposition, and created a mass following. Through Hitler's charismatic leadership the German people would be prepared to fight the Nazi fight (inevitably WWII). Kershaw also looks at the feudal-like power relations inside the Third Reich; a regime of open-ended decrees that left no "smoking gun" pointing at Hitler for the Final Solution. Finally, Kershaw examines the destruction of Hitler's power during which the irrational optimism that "Providence" (i.e. Hitler's will) would prevail was still believed by many (particularly the 'court' of Hitler's bunker). I recommend this book especially to advanced history students who want an in-depth examination of Hitler's power in a compact 230-page book. The book includes footnotes, an index, a chapter on further readings, and a chronology of events.

Unique investigation of Hitler and his rise to power.
It is not your typical biography of Hitler. It is a thorough examination and analysis of Hitler's rise to power. It examines how he got power, how he maintained power, how he used power, and, finally, how he lost power. Quite an interesting book. Be sure to check out other books in this "Profiles in Power" series. ... Read more

Book Description

Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler:each put his mark on an era.In this study, Seward examines the lives of these remarkable men and demonstrates the striking parallels between their careers and their roles in shaping the destiny of Europe.Napoleon and Hitler were both outsiders of humble origins.Both struggled to be accepted by society - Napoleon finding success in the military, Hitler finding self-esteem through a fringe political group.And, once they achieved power, the conduct of their political and military careers proved improbably similar.For each man the grand design was the conquest of Europe, and for each the dream would turn into a nightmare in a disastrous Russian winter campaign.NAPOLEON AND HITLER shows, in a remarkable way, how history can repeat itself

"Well composed, interesting, and with solidly founded conclusions."(Amazon.com) ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent anlaysis
The great and prolific people of the world are always defined by the times in which they live, a fact which we cannot escape. To understand Hitler one must understand what came before, especially the legacy that Napoleon left upon the European continent. While a straight comparison/contrast of the two leaders is a core theme in this analysis, Desmond Seward transcends that, attacking the interrelational cause-and-effect relationship between the two conquerors. The enormous complexity of these two personalities, of which numerous, exhaustive studies have been made, preclude Seward from exploring each too deeply in one text. His exploration, as with most works of this nature, raises more questions than it solves, but he, quite thoroughly, includes direct references to his sources and admirably provides the reader directions for further study. While his comparison could use more focus on the thematic analysis rather than simply event-related parallels, it was well composed and quite interesting with solidly founded conclusions. ... Read more

Book Description

The fascinating but little-known true story of an aborted coup to eliminate Hitler, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hans Oster of German Military Intelligence

In September 1938, Hitler had been in power for more than five years and had unilaterally dismantled the Treaty of Versailles, provision by provision, daring Britain and France to stand up to him. Earlier that year he had forced Austria into his Third Reich without firing a single shot. Now his sights were set on Czechoslovakia.

It was in this dangerous climate that the first anti-Nazi coup was born. The plot was spearheaded by Oster, and its members included top German military leaders, the Berlin police, local troop commanders, civil authorities, religious leaders, and a group of resisters whose names have somehow been wiped from the pages of history. Their mission was to kill Hitler and to overthrow the Nazi regime.

Historian Terry Parssinen, using British and German sources and previously unknown documents in the Military History Institute of the U.S. Army War College, has documented the fast-paced story of this developing conspiracy. Revelatory, peopled with a rich cast of characters, and highly provocative, this is narrative history at its best. The author assesses the plot’s chances for success and speculates about the consequences if the conspirators had been able to seize power in Berlin in 1938, thus averting World War II.

Reviews (4)

The failure of appeasement and the coup that wasn't.
Professor Parssinen has written a great read of the conspiracy by the German Army for a coup de etat against Hitler. The stage was the Sudetenland crisis of 1938 and the German generals were against a new war. They were hesitant against launching some thirty odd divisions against the Czechs and having to defend the Western Front with nine divisions. If the French and British had stood their ground, the German military would have overthrown and killed Hitler. Instead Chamberlain backed down, the Sudetenland was taken over, and six months later, the Germans completed the occupation of Czechoslovakia. The German generals were in no mood to overthrow the government since all had gone well with Hitler. Colonel Oster was the Abwehr second in command who organized the elements who would have overthrown Hitler.
Parssinen feels the coup would have taken place. I am not so sure Hitler would have been so easily overthrown. At this stage, people still believed in the Nazis and Hitler. Parssinen feels that German people were antiwar and would not have supported the government if there was an alternative. However, the book shows the extent of the Nazi resistance in Germany.
A great read.

It Might Have Been
As a professor of history, Terry Parssinen was asked by a student, "Professor, what was the last time that Hitler could have been stopped from starting the Second World War?" He could only speculate; he had heard about a 1938 German military plot to bring Hitler down, but he had to spend time in the library to find out more about it. Most historians had neglected or scorned the little-known plot. Eventually Parssinen was lucky enough to find the papers of Harold Deutsch, a historian who had interviewed participants in the plot and their family members, but had died before writing up his results. Parssinen took over, and has produced _The Oster Conspiracy of 1938: The Unknown Story of the Military Plot to Kill Hitler and Avert World War II_ (HarperCollins). It was a failed conspiracy, just as was the much more famous bomb that failed to kill Hitler in 1944 (there were other failed plots as well), but it is worth examining as a check against the picture of Hitler as universally popular among Germans at the time, and as a point of reflection. How might the world be different now if Hitler had been killed before starting hostilities? After all, Parssinen writes that the evidence "... shows that the 1938 conspiracy was well planned and had reasonably good prospects for success."

Parssinen has built up the drama concerning the conspiracy by a meticulous, sometimes hour-by-hour, reconstruction of events in London and Berlin. Except for the ending of the plot, the tension is considerable even though we know the outcome. The chief conspirator, Lieutenant Colonel Hans Oster, was second-in-command at Abwehr, the intelligence division for the German military. He was shocked by the imprisonment of religious figures and political dissidents, and by the first concentration camps. It was not until the "Czech Crisis" of 1938, however, that significantly more officials began to agree with him. The generals knew that Russia and France were pledged to defend Czechoslovakia, and that if Germany tried to take it, the British would probably come in as well. They despaired that they would be deployed in a war they could not win. The conspirators knew that they could only rely on popular support if Hitler were about to start a war for which the German people had no enthusiasm, and they tried to have their contacts in England keep up the pressure so that no appeasement happened. Eventually Chamberlain accepted Hitler's pledge that no further European territories would be demanded; in the words of a conspirator at the Department of the Interior, "Chamberlain has saved Hitler." The conspirators could not act. They made several later assassination attempts, foiled by bad luck. In 1943 the Gestapo discovered Oster's scheme to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland; he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. In 1945, a few days before the American troops liberated his camp, Oster was hanged.

_The Oster Conspiracy of 1938_ is a detailed examination of a particular period and chain of events that led up to the war. It is exciting at times, and of course sad. Parssinen indulges in some speculation about what might have happened. The conspirators were interested in setting up a government based on Britain's; it might have been conservative, but it would have been broadly representative of German popular opinion. No war, no Holocaust, no Cold War are among the contingencies that might have occurred (although of course some other horrors would have erupted). But above all, fifty million people died in the war, and they would not have. "It might have been" has never been sadder.

A book that should be read.
The Oster Conspiracy is an informative and compelling book. It carefully details the complexities of a pre-World War II conspiracy within the upper ranks of the German military while skillfully applying a portion of its energies to the fragile political climate in a Europe haunted by the specter of World War I. Many other depictions of pre-World War II Nazi Germany leave us with the impression that nationalistic hysteria pervaded almost every mind, that this was a nation of Adolph Eichmanns blindly following their fuhrer. This book focuses on individuals who in the middle of the Nazi madness assert their individuality and honor--resisting Hitler's suicidal tidal wave for the sake of their nation and humanity. It also emphasizes the initial reluctance of the German populace to enter into another war.

Moreover, it is the paralyzing fear of another war that helps render Britain's leadership inept in dealing with Hitler. In treating the actions of Chamberlain and Halifax, Mr. Parssinnen is especially skillful. With a well crafted narrative he delineates Britain's tragic role in the failure of Oster's plan to overthrow Hitler's regime. He tastefully handles the 'what if' factor of this moment in history giving the reader space to let his imagination search the possibilities of a 20th century with only one World War.

Insightful Analysis of the Overlooked Plot to Unseat Hitler
Mr. Parssinen has written a succinct and exciting account of the 1938 plot by a small group of German military officers, civil servants and civilians to remove Adolf Hitler from power. Colonel Hans Oster, the deputy to Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence, the Abwehr, inspired and coordinated this effort. For whatever reason, many historians have overlooked the significance and heroic quality of this plot. Some prior authors, such as Anthony Cave Brown in Bodyguard of Lies, have looked at the subject, and the "Schwarze Kapelle" (Black Orchestra) consisting of German military officers and conservative anti-Nazis has been the subject of prior literature. No author that I am aware of, however, has focused so specifically upon the 1938 plot or argued as persuasively as to its potential for success in a Germany not necessarily as enamored of Adolf Hitler as many think (because of concern over another war more than the immorality and barbarous conduct of the Nazi regime). Mr. Parssinen uses the materials gathered by another historian that he found in storage in military archives to make his case.

A significant element of the book is the short-sighted and ignorant nature of the British leadership, so devoted to the policy of "appeasement" that it ignored the multiple requests of Oster's representatives (including German diplomats) to stand against Hitler's plans for an invasion of Czechoslovakia. The author makes a strong and persuasive case for the position that, if Neville Chamberlain, Horace Wilson, Neville Henderson and the like, had done as the German conspirators requested, the downfall of a shaky Nazi regime might have occurred. Indeed, Mr. Parssinen even notes that in late September a team of commandos stood ready to storm the Reich Chancellery and capture or assassinate Hitler, when the British derailed Oster's plans with the Munich Accord.

The book, however, does not fully develop or convey the strength of character and conviction possessed by Oster or other members of the conspiracy, such as Abwehr attorney Hans von Dohnanyi. The author really only addresses the humanitarian impulse driving some members of the conspiracy in the Epilogue. A more extensive exploration of their personalities and motivations would be most welcome. I hope Mr. Parssinen will cover this in a follow up to his excellent work. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

WWII viewed from another, highly controversial, perspective.
By consulting unpublished wartime documents and diaries of german officials, rather than relying on the available post-war bibliography, british historian David Irving presented a different picture of Adolf Hitler than the one it was universally accepted - and with it started a controversy that has not stopped since the book­s first publishing. Loathed by some but respected by others, Hitler­s War, besides being a monumental research work, provides a new perspective of WWII Germany that can not simply be ignored. A must read for any contemporary history scholar or enthusiast

Irving is hardly a 'Holocaust Denier'
Like all of Irving's books, "Hitler's War" reads like a novel, and could be mistaken for such, were it not for his amazing source documentation. This book is based on the author's actual research and examination of original source documents. It is not just another re-write of books that have gone before. Irving presents the evidence and then lets the reader draw his own conclusions. As to the 'Holocaust Denier' malarky, he does NOT deny that it occurred. He simply states that to date no document has been found to show that Hitler directly ordered it. That is a statement of fact. He does, however, make it clear that the Nazis killed, by various direct and intentional means, well over a million Jewish people. And that the only logical inference that can be drawn is that Hitler had to know and approve - 'smoking gun' document or not. Hardly a denial of the Holocaust by Mr. Irving.

Unrivalled History
This is quite simply the best book on the subject of the Second World War I have ever read. Although David Irving is an intellectual historian of the highest order, his prose style is eminently accessible to the layman.
The genius of the work is the position the author adopts; Irving takes away the tiresome moralising that many historians feel compelled to adopt and appraises (...) the man: the dictator, the Human, the Leader and the warlord. From such a position, Irving manages to assess the most fascinating and influential man of the century without the prejudices of other historians which inevitably impair historical judgement.

If you were to buy one book on WWII, buy this one.

The Power of Primary Sources
The once well-respected historian David Irving got himself into trouble with the establishment with his book Hitler's War. Mr. Irving thinks he is more clever than the average historian because he has examined primary sources from archives and has not, like some other historians, relied on other historians' books to write his own history of World War II. Getting his material from these primary sources, he has come up with a different sort of history than the standard version of World War II.

His detractors claim that he has an ideological pre-disposition sympathizing with Hitler and the Nazis and this bias has tainted his work and made it a propaganda piece to soften our view of the Nazis. I have seen a convincing show on PBS with such a viewpoint; a TV channel well-known for being left-wing much of the time.

From what I have gathered about Irving personally, he seemed to be a careful, hard-working historian more interested in getting the record straight than being politically correct, despite the costs to his career and personal life. He thinks that a hundred years from now he will be vindicated and his history will be the standard history given to college students.

At any rate, it has been an interesting controversy.

Hitler's War itself is a fairly interesting reading experience; mildly interesting in the first half covering mostly preparation for war and early conquests and very interesting when it covers Hitler's attack on Russia. It is also very LONG; at one time this book was split up into three books and I think that would be the way to read it. Battle after battle and strategy after strategy is dissected by Irving and one can get a little war weary just reading it after awhile. Battles and strategy from Hitler's viewpoint are the main emphasis of the book with a few interesting personal anecdotes about the Fuerer thrown in for good measure.

The most amusing anecdote involved his tart-tongued secretary Fraulein Schroeder about appointing Himmler to replace Hitler, if Hitler died, which was very possible since the allies were now closing in on Berlin. "The man has no artistic sense at all," Hitler protested against Schroeder's suggestion. "In our present straits artistic sense hardly matters!" replied his secretary.

Regarding the war itself, Hitler seemed to want to conquer the territories that Germany had lost in the Versailles treaty and territory which Germans predominated in. He also had plans to take over the Ukraine in the east for Germany and make the Ukrainians slaves to the new German Empire. When he took the Polish corridor, he made some serious attempts to seek peace with England, but England was not in the mood for peace. He invaded the west to strike first and gain strategic advantage in the coming war with England, an enemy which he always wished he could have made into an ally, especially against Russia. He claimed that it was impossible to make peace with England because its foreign policy was heavily influenced by "Jewish Bolsheviks" in Britain.

As far as the war with Russia goes, Hitler gathered from intelligence reports that Stalin was planning to invade his neighbors on its western front to take out the bourgeois societies of the West and make them into enlightened communist states. Since Hitler knew that Russia was going to attack, he decided to attack first to gain the element of surprise and to wipe out what he claimed was "Jewish Bolshevism" in Russia. After his initial successes in Russia, he claimed that he had started out a nationalist, but now he had become an imperialist.

As far as the Holocaust goes, in this earlier version of Hitler's War, Himmler is said to have been in control of their liquidation and Hitler did not know. Hitler favored a plan to relocate the Jews out of Germany, either in Madagascar or Eastern Europe. I think Irving took out references to the Holocaust in the new edition because he is a firm believer in the Leuchter Report, a lab test of the cyanide levels at the concentration camp where the gassings allegedly took place. It comes to the conclusion that the Jews weren't really gassed or killed purposely on a large scale; the gas was used to kill lice instead.

Hitler is presented in the book as a leader who did not have total control over his often rebellious underlings and since they did not follow his strategy at key times during the war, Hitler claimed that that was the reason why they lost. For instance, he wanted to take over Stalingrad before Moscow, but this wasn't done and possibly caused Germany to lose in the eastern front.

Hitler never gave up in the direst of straits, hoping that there would be split between Russia and the rest of the allies and then he could join with the allies in defeating Russia. Many Germans supported him until the end and did not consider him a madman.

I still did not think that Irving is as controversial as A.J.P Taylor as a historian. In Taylor's Origins of the Second World War, he claims that Hitler was not even intending to fight a war and that he did not intend to conquer the Ukraine. --Wow, are these guys studying the same war? There are about as many versions of the war as there are historians, I suppose.

bengaligirl is right
The other reviewer, bengaligirl, has expressed it well. Irving cannot, in any way, claim that Hitler was a puppet. Just watch old film clips of Hitler giving a "speech" and you immediately know that this tyrant was well in charge, a fanatic, and possibly totally mad. Hitler spoke for himself. Documents and other evidences are secondary to his insane rantings. ... Read more

Book Description

This updated edition of a NEW YORK TIMES best seller includes a final chapter, which chronicles the last years of his life and examines his enduring legacy.Included are quotes and tributes from many of golf’s greats such as Byron nelson and a perceptive assessment of the life and legend of the man who may have been the greatest golfer ever—Ben Hogan. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A great book for the lazy golfer, who needs to work at golf.
In Curt Sampson's biography of Ben Hogan, he tells the true story of a young caddie who becomes the world's best golfer. Curt Sampson seems to be telling the reader that through hard work you can achieve your goal. Mr. Sampson wrote this book to show the good, bad, and the ugly sides of Ben Hogan's life. Curt Sampson is right on with his characterization of Hogan. Hogan is tough as nails and this is truly portrayed throughout the book. This book could help the average golfer, learn how to work at their game "until his hands bled." HOGAN will always be of great importance to the reader, because it shows the trials and tribulations of the poor boy who makes it big. Anyone who wants to see a person who earned their living and survived through the tough times, should read HOGAN by Curt Sampson.

Solid
This book really only confirmed what I had thought for a long time, behind Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan was a tremendous golfer who was way ahead of his time. Hogan nearly won the grand slam, and could not compete in the PGA because of the fact it started almost the same time the British Open was finishing. As we all watch Tiger Woods try for the grand slam, let us not forget Ben Hogan who was as close as anyone has ever come to doing it. The most amazing part of Hogan's story was the fact he won the US Open after almost dying in a car crash.

Sampson does a nice job with this book, telling about Hogan like he was, stearn and driven, and definitely not writing a fluff piece like some biographies can be. Hogan was tough, and I would equate him as the "Ted Williams" of golf, so good it was hard for him to teach anyone because he set such high standards for himself. I recommend this book to golfers and people who want to read about a remarkable man.

Hogan the man, the golfer, and business founder
When I was growing up the names of Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino, Player, and their generation were the top competitors. Ben Hogan was a revered name, but one of past glory. His great year of 1953 was in the past. I had heard about his auto accident and his amazing comeback, but this book helped me see the man who "dug it out of the dirt" through hard work, discipline, and ferocious tenacity.

Mr. Hogan started out with less than most. His father's suicide and the family's subsequent poverty didn't leave him with many open paths to success. He found golf and found that it not only matched his physical skills, but was an even better match for his nearly obsessive temperament.

The swing he developed has become the pattern millions of us try to emulate, although he would find our haphazard approach to the game less than useless. Why we love being duffers would be beyond him. He knew how to work and to practice. I still cannot fathom the kind of internal strength it would take to come back from that terrible leg shattering accident when his Cadillac was struck by a bus. He played in great pain for the rest of his life and had four surgeries on his left shoulder. When I realize that his greatest achievements and most of his wins at major tournaments were after the accident I am simply dumbstruck.

Mr. Hogan was a very private and enigmatic figure. Mr. Sampson does a good job in teasing what facts we know into a good story. We get interesting stories from the golf side of his life (mostly stories told about Hogan by others) and those are very enjoyable. However, I like the way Mr. Sampson puts all that in the context of a real person - a real man. Ben Hogan wasn't a fictional character even though the media version of him was a distortion of the actual hard working man who practiced, practiced, and then practiced some more, who loved his wife, Valerie, and built a successful golf equipment business.

Ben Hogan made a long journey through life and I think this book tells the story well.

Best so far...
This is the best biography of Ben Hogan I have yet read. Curt Sampson does a wonderful job, and his writing is very smooth and enjoyable. I like the shot-by-shot drama of golf, and especially when the topic is one of the greatest - perhaps the greatest - golfer of the 20th Century. Sampson knows the game well enough to write an excellent book, and has a more than impressive resume as a player to boot. Don't let any negative reviews deter you from the book - its a classic.

A Great Read
Ben Hogan was a no nonsense, focused champion who realized early in life that hard work was the path to success. Curt Sampson does a great job in presenting the real Hogan, not just the golf legend. This book should be required reading for all golf fans.
Especially the goofs who scream "You da man!" everytime Tiger hits a shot. There will never be another Ben Hogan. ... Read more

Book Description

Rising to a great challenge in this remarkable study, Bruce Pauley compares the origins, development, and demise of all three forms of European totalitarianism, explaining why the old regimes that preceded the dictatorships failed, how the totalitarian movements arose, and how they captured, consolidated, and eventually plummeted from power.

Although its vivid portraits of the dictators' youths, early careers, relationships with women, management styles, and cults of personality--that they and their propaganda machines crafted--are certain to fascinate all readers, Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini is much more than a triple biography; it is a unique, interpretive comparison of the economics, culture, education, and health-care systems of all three dictatorships. While more conventional subjects such as diplomacy and war are by no means neglected, Professor Pauley goes further to explore the regimes' treatment of women, young people, and their terroristic oppression of religious institutions and minorities. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The totalitarian trio: the U.S. connection
Great idea to put all three into one well-written book. Needs more coverage of whether U.S. socialists created the straight-armed "Roman salute" and caused WWII, the Holocaust and the Wholecaust? In 1892, Francis Bellamy was a national socialist in the U.S. and created the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag using a straight-armed salute. Bellamy wanted the government to takeover all schools and create an "industrial army" of totalitarian socialism as described in the book "Looking Backward" (a bestseller written in 1887 by Edward Bellamy, cousin of Francis Bellamy). Government-schools spread and they mandated racism and segregation by law and did so through WWII and beyond.

Edward Bellamy's best-selling book was translated into 20 different languages, including Russian, German, Italian, and Chinese. It was popular among the elite in pre-revolutionary Russia, and Lenin's wife was known to have read the book, because she wrote a review of it. John Dewey and the historian Charles Beard intended to praise the book when they stated that it was equaled in influence only by Das Kapital.

25 years later, Bellamy's totalitarian ideas continued. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began in 1917. The National Socialist German Workers' Party came into existence in 1920 (with electoral breakthroughs in 1930 and dictatorship in 1933). In 1922, Mussolini gained power. The People's Republic of China began in 1949.

The socialist Wholecaust followed shortly after the worldwide impact of Bellamy's totalitarian ideas. While the Holocaust was monstrous, it was part of the bigger Wholecaust. Under the industrial army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 62 million people were slaughtered; the People's Republic of China, 35 million; and the National Socialist German Workers' Party, 21 million (numbers from Professor R. J. Rummel's article in the Encyclopedia of Genocide (1999)).

Benito Mussolini was the leader of the Socialist Party of Italy. Like many modern media Mussolinis, he was a socialist and a journalist. Between 1912 and 1914 he was the editor of the Socialist Party newspaper, "L'Avanti." In 1914 he started his own socialist newspaper "Il