The Coming of the Third Reich

There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evans’s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historian’s art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged.

Customer Reviews:

Overview With A Different Angle

By Kurt Harding "bon vivant" - April 20, 2004

I have read perhaps more than a hundred books on the Third Reich from almost every angle possible. This morning, I finished the Coming of the Third Reich then I read the reviews posted here to see just how different perceptions affect other readers' understanding of the material. After digesting some of the commentary, I wondered if we had read the same book.
This is the first time I've read a book by Richard Evans so I can't compare and contrast with his other work on the same subject. At no point did I detect excessive moralizing or self-congratulatory passages. I would urge those who have not yet read the book to read the preface. Its very important. Evans explains that he is breaking no new ground but that this book is primarily for the edification of those who know little or nothing about Hitler or the Third Reich. It is an overview with different angles than those of Shirer, Kershaw, and Burleigh and that is part of what makes this book so useful. Rather than dwell on the... read more

First Rate Historical Account

By Brian D. Rubendall - February 6, 2004

Many historical works about Nazi Germany focus on the cult of personality that surrounded Adolf Hitler. And while it is true that without Hitler there would have been no Nazi movement, it is equally true that Hitler as a leader could only have flourished in the hothouse political environment that was post-World War I Germany. Historian Richard Evans?s ?The Coming of the Third Reich,? the first in a trilogy about the Nazis that takes the movement up to Hitler?s 1933 ascension to power, concentrates on those qualities of the German nation that made it susceptible to his virulent brand of fanatical nationalism and racism. This is an important historical work that will soon take its place alongside the best books ever written about the subject.Evans is a meticulous researcher, but even more importantly he is a good storyteller whose easy prose brings the subject matter to life for the reader. He begins his story in the days of the legendary Otto von Bismark, the so-called ?Iron... read more

Masterful First Volume Of Planned Trilogy On Nazi Germany!

By Barron Laycock "Labradorman" - May 29, 2004

As Karl Marx once wrote, people make their own history, but not under conditions of their own choosing. So it is that academic Richard J. Evans from Cambridge University approaches the superb first volume of the planned trilogy of a complete history of the rise and fall of the Third Reich, ?The Coming Of the Third Reich?, recognizing the existential constraints people living in the era of National Socialism faced. As Professor Evans puts it, not only are men constrained and shaped by the unique and quite specific web of cultural and social conditions in which they are enmeshed, but they also view these particular conditions through a particular perspective, and through the prism of a socially prescribed set of values, beliefs, and ideologies. Thus, the author argues that in the vast bibliography of works covering the history of the Nazi era, no one has yet covered the epoch in a fashion that does justice to the complex welter of ways, as sociologist C. Wright Mills would phrase it, in... read more

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