Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939

Volume 1 of 2

A major new biography - an extraordinary, penetrating study of the man who has become the personification of evil.

The enormous historical significance of Adolf Hitler, indisputably the most studied, infamous, and reviled person ever to live, has overshadowed the man behind the public persona. For decades, misconceptions about Hitler have percolated, with a common notion emerging that he was unintelligent, merely a political animal, with no normal social or romantic relationships to speak of. But to cast Hitler as purely a psychopathic monster is to ignore the facets of his personality that help explain his enigmatic hold on the German populace. With unprecedented nuance and insight, Volker Ullrich recounts Hitler's personal journey from childhood to his failures as a young man in Vienna to his service during the First World War to the missteps and successes in his consolidation of political power. In doing so, Ullrich deftly captures Hitler's canniness, instinctive grasp of politics, and gift for oratory as well as his megalomania, deep insecurity, and repulsive worldview.

In all the literature about Adolf Hitler, there have been just four seminal biographies; this is the fifth, a landmark work that draws on previously unseen papers and a wealth of recent scholarly research to shed important new light on Hitler himself. Many previous biographies have focused on the larger social conditions to help explain the rise of the Third Reich. Ullrich paints a vivid and comprehensive portrait of a postwar Germany humiliated by defeat, wracked by a Weimar political crisis, and starved by an economic depression, but his real gift is to show vividly how Hitler used his ruthlessness and political talent to shape the Nazi Party and lead it to power. For decades the world has grappled with how Hitler and the Third Reich were possible. By illuminating the man at the center of it all - how he experienced his world, formed his political beliefs, and wielded his power - this riveting and chilling biography brings us closer than ever to the answer.