William L. Shirer

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

1. IDEA 1

   A reporter's history of Nazi Germany

   Shirer, an American journalist who reported from Germany in the 1930s, wrote a detailed history of Nazi Germany. He drew on his own observations and on vast archives of captured German documents released after the war.

2. IDEA 2

   Hitler rose from obscurity

   Shirer traces Adolf Hitler's early life as a failed artist and soldier, and his rise in nationalist politics after the First World War. He shows how economic hardship and resentment helped Hitler gain support.

3. IDEA 3

   A failed coup taught Hitler

   In 1923 Hitler led the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed attempt to seize power in Munich. Shirer explains how Hitler then chose to gain power through legal means. Prison gave him time to write.

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