1924 Lib/E: The Year That Made Hitler

The dark story of Adolf Hitler's life in 1924 -- the year that made a monster. Before Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, there was 1924. This was the year of Hitler's final transformation into the self-proclaimed savior and infallible leader who would interpret and distort Germany's historical traditions to support his vision for the Third Reich. Everything that would come -- the rallies and riots, the single-minded deployment of a catastrophically evil idea -- all of it crystallized in one defining year. 1924 was the year that Hitler spent locked away from society, in prison and surrounded by co-conspirators of the failed Beer Hall Putsch. It was a year of deep reading and intensive writing, a year of courtroom speeches and a treason trial, a year of slowly walking gravel paths and spouting ideology while working feverishly on the book that became his manifesto: Mein Kampf. Until now, no one has fully examined this single and pivotal period of Hitler's life. In 1924, Peter Ross Range richly depicts the stories and scenes of a year vital to understanding the man and the brutality he wrought in a war that changed the world forever.

About the Author :
Peter Ross Range is a world-traveled journalist who has covered war, politics and international affairs. A specialist in Germany, he has written extensively for Time, the New York Times, National Geographic, the London Sunday Times Magazine, Playboy, and U.S. News & World Report, where he was a White House correspondent. Paul Hodgson holds a BA in English language and literature from Durham University in England and an MFA in performance from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Wales. An accomplished audiobook narrator and voice artist, he is also a freelance writer with a regular column in Responsible Investor and Fortune. He lives in Maine.

Review :
A lively account... Range tells his story well, offering choice details.-- "Andrew Nagorski, Washington Post" Range "let[s] this all-too-human but unique story tell itself... Successfully recreates the atmosphere of postwar Bavaria that helped to "make" Hitler, and charts the unprecedented impact this engineering, enigmatic figure was making.-- "Anthony Mostrom, The Los Angeles Review of Books" Descriptive and portentous, Range's is an excellent account of perhaps the critical period in the Hitler saga.-- "Gilbert Taylor, Booklist" How did it happen? That's the fateful question that veteran journalist Peter Ross Range asks. With verve, he takes us into the diabolical rise of Adolf Hitler in the pivotal year of 1924, by turns a horrifying yet important story.-- "Jay Winik, author of 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History and April 1865" Occasionally, a year draped in defeat becomes a year of personal triumph that alters the course of history. Peter Ross Range deftly argues that 1924 was such a year for Adolf Hitler, with catastrophic results for the world.-- "Walter R. Borneman, author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War" Range deserves credit for brilliantly and concisely bringing this important slice of history to visibility.-- "Bill Hughes, Baltimore Post-Examiner" Range's deep knowledge of the figures and events enables him to narrate clearly without being sucked into excessive explication. A lucid description of a year that made all the horror possible, even inevitable.-- "Kirkus Reviews" "Hitler seized the chance to form his derivative thoughts into a simplistically consistent ideology. Detailing the memoir's composition, Range shows Hitler's solidifying resolve to be Germany's destined leader. Descriptive and portentous, Range's is an excellent account of perhaps the critical period in the Hitler saga." -- "Booklist" "Providing superb detail and background, 1924: The Year That Made Hitler focuses on the few months he actually served at Landsberg, during which he was treated royally rather than punitively. Freed from the daily demands of party politics, Hitler was able to put his thoughts on nationalism and strong-man governance into a book that would become the first volume of Mein Kampf--and the grand rationale for the murderous Third Reich." -- "BookPage" "Range's deep knowledge of the figures and events enables him to narrate clearly without being sucked into excessive explication. A lucid description of a year that made all the horror possible, even inevitable." -- "Kirkus Reviews" Hundreds of historians, perhaps thousands, have set out to explain how Hitler became Hitler -- but none have succeeded nearly so well, or so brilliantly, as Peter Ross Range. 1924: The Year That MadeHitler now stands front-and-center among those great works that, through a narrative that is both granular and compelling, finally explains one of the great mysteries of our era. Range's deft portrait clicks into place the final necessary nugget in one of our time's darkest eras and provides us with a biographical portrait that is chilling to read -- but that we dare not ignore.-- "Mark Perry, author of The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur" This book could not be more necessary, as Germany prepares to re-publish Mein Kampf for the first time in 70 years. Range gives us a fluent narrative of Hitler's 13 months in prison, where he wrote his political testament. Eminently readable.-- "Ronald Rosbottom, author of When Paris Went Dark"