The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Paperback)

The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich by William Shirer is based on the Third Reich documents and the various diaries of General Franz Halder, Joseph Goebbels, and the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano.

This book also provides testimonies from the reports of the British Foreign Office, the Nuremberg trials, and other newspaper reports on the Third Reich. Despite the censorship laws imposed on CBS Radio and the United Press International, the author manages to get hold of these accounts and details them in this work.

The author does not merely report but provides his own take of the Nazi era which ranges from Martin Luther’s revolution to Adolf Hitler’s rise in political power. Shirer provides personal insights into how absolute dictatorship was formed in Germany. There are extensive references made to all the sources which may or may not be speculative.

On publication in 1960, The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich sold over one million copies worldwide. This book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1961. The Reader’s Digest in 1962 reported that there were over 12 million readers of this book. This work was well praised for its journalistic approach in exposing the internal policies and discrepancies of the Nazi regime.

About William L. Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer was an American writer, historian, war correspondent, and journalist. His books essentially deal with World War II and Hitler’s regime during that period.

His published works include The Collapse of The Third Republic and Berlin Diary. His three-volume autobiography is called Twentieth Century Journey (3 volumes).

Shirer essentially wrote about the Nazi Dictatorship in Germany and its history. He was a foreign correspondent for the International News Service and the Chicago Tribune. Shirer was also one of the first reporters of the CBS Radio team.