From acclaimed biographer A. N. Wilson, Hitler is a short, sharp, gripping account of one of the twentieth century’s most notorious figures
In this brilliant short biography of Adolf Hitler, acclaimed historian A N Wilson offers a fresh interpretation of the life of the ‘ultimate demon-tyrant of history’.
In 1923, aged thirty -four, Hitler was languishing in prison after leading an unsuccessful putsch to overthrow the German Government. Within a decade he was German Chancellor, one of the most powerful men in Europe. How did he do it?
Had Hitler been a regular politician, Wilson argues, he would have vanished without trace after his prison experience. But he was not a regular politician, but rather a conjurer, seeing politics not as the Art of the Possible but as the Art of the Impossible: ‘Whereas politicians watched the weather and waited for calm, Hitler wanted to ride storms.’ Among the book’s many insights, Wilson shows how Hitler had an intuitive sense which amounted to genius that the spoken word was going to be of more significance than the written word during the twentieth century. In this respect, the Führer is presented as a man ahead of his time, who foreshadowed Hollywood and TV stars and post-war politicians.
In a field dense with lengthy tomes, this brief, penetrating portrait provides a compelling introduction to a man whose evil continues to fascinate and appal.
About the Author :
A. N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. He was a lecturer at St Hugh’s College and New College from 1976 to 1981, and was then appointed Literary Editor of the Spectator. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981. His novels include The Sweets of Pimlico, The Healing Art, Wise Virgin and biographies of Walter Scott, Milton and Tolstoy.
Review :
‘In the best short biography of Adolf Hitler for three decades, A. N. Wilson goes straight to the essentials to explain what made the Fuhrer the phenomenon he was. His conclusions make fascinating, if occasionally uncomfortable, reading even two-thirds of a century after Hitler’s death.’
—Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War
‘A. N. Wilson is a born biographer and has an eye for the telling detail. In a book written with verve, insight, and imagination, he gives us a fresh look at Hitler. The story he tells is bound to interest and surprise even those who think they already know and understand this most curious historical figure, one who against all odds rose to become leader of Germany and then promptly brought about the greatest catastrophe in European history.’
—Robert Gellately, author of Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe
‘brilliantly dissecting Hitler…. a stimulating triumph of the mind’ Sunday Express
‘brims with the author’s customary zip and zing’ The Spectator
‘Wilson…brings a witty, novelist’s insight into what made Hitler tick. He seems to understand Hitler’s character in a way many historians never could.’ Mail on Sunday
