Hitler's Private Library
The Books that Shaped his Life
Published on 4. February 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-09-953217-0 (ISBN)
Description
He was, of course, a man better known for burning books than collecting them and yet by the time he died, aged 56, Adolf Hitler owned an estimated 16,000 volumes - the works of historians, philosophers, poets, playwrights and novelists.
For the first time, Timothy W. Ryback offers a systematic examination of this remarkable collection. The volumes in Hitler's library are fascinating in themselves but it is the marginalia - the comments, the exclamation marks, the questions and underlinings - even the dirty thumbprints on the pages of a book he read in the trenches of the First World War - which are so revealing.
Hitler's Private Library provides us with a remarkable view of Hitler's evolution - and unparalleled insights into his emotional and intellectual world. Utterly compelling, it is also a landmark in our understanding of the Third Reich.
For the first time, Timothy W. Ryback offers a systematic examination of this remarkable collection. The volumes in Hitler's library are fascinating in themselves but it is the marginalia - the comments, the exclamation marks, the questions and underlinings - even the dirty thumbprints on the pages of a book he read in the trenches of the First World War - which are so revealing.
Hitler's Private Library provides us with a remarkable view of Hitler's evolution - and unparalleled insights into his emotional and intellectual world. Utterly compelling, it is also a landmark in our understanding of the Third Reich.
Reviews / Votes
Elegantly written, meticulously researched, fascinating * Ian Kershaw * Lively and entertaining survey of the dictator's reading ... a wealth of fascinating detail -- Richard Overy * Sunday Telegraph * Enlightening -- Clive Sinclair, Book of the Week * Independent * Ryback has made an original and interesting contribution to the study of this monster, not least by showing that, in some respects, he was just like many of the rest of us -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph * Ryback's...volume is unique in its focus on a limited number of books and in the forensic attention he lavishes on them -- Bertrand Benoit * Financial Times Review * the nicely observed snapshots of his private life in which books played so big a part make this biblio-biography far more interesting than it looked when I first picked it up -- Peter Lewis * The Oldie * Ryback has been able to draw a portrait of Hilter the reader, meticulous, critical and compulsive. -- Alberto Manguel * Spectator * A fine analysis of the reading habits of a man whom the historian Ian Kershaw has called 'one of the most impenetrable personalities of modern history * Sunday Telegraph Magazine * A fascinating exercise in historical deconstruction -- Simon Shaw * Mail on Sunday * Thoughtful and oddly intimate book -- Mark Mazower * The Guardian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-953217-0 (9780099532170)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2010
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Timothy W. Ryback is the author of The Last Survivor: Legacies of Dachau, a New York Times Notable Book for 1999, and he has written for The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. He is the co-founder of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague and the Deputy-Secretary General of the Academie Diplomatique Internationale in Paris, where he currently lives.