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 | | Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941 by William L. Shirer, Gordon A. Craig (Foreword) ISBN-10: 9780801870569 ISBN-10: 0-8018-7056-9 ISBN-13: 9780801870569 ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-7056-9 Paperback 2002-04-17 The Johns Hopkins University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description By the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is now available in a new paperback edition. CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany. Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, the electricity in it were palpable. The book was an instant success, and it became the frame of reference against which thoughtful Americans judged the rush of events in Europe. It exactly matched journalist to event: the right reporter at the right place at the right time. It stood, and still stands, as so few books have ever done—a pure act of journalistic witness. | ||
Reviews | ||
HE IS NOT CALLING BALLS AND STRIKES AT A LITTLE LEAGUE GAME! He was there at the nazi rallies;He followed the invasons,and most importantly, heard and saw the writing on the walls of the average german as the madness grew..The proaganda by goerbells is commented on regularly, etc. I have the original spring 1941 edition before the US declaration of war,so it appears even more valid somehow.Every WW2 history buff must read this book to round out any education. I also recomend it to all journalists,and history teachers.I recall his comment in 1938 (as the nazis annexed Austria)that 20 or more Jews committed suicide that day as a german army entered(Salzburg or Vienna? It's a book I couldn't put down.Some reviewers shouted "he's prejudiced". Ha! Shirer was not an umpire calling games at Yankee stadium" in 1938,-these 'thugs'were sending all opponents to concentration camps or worse, Shirer comments how by 1940 these bas_ards were going into the hospitals to remove the mental cases and send them to death camps.Thank g_d he was 'prejudiced enough' to write it down. | ||
Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer A well-written contemporaneous account of a correspondent's life in Nazi Germany up to 1940. Shirer is almost prescient in his assessment of Hitler's actions and their consequences. It is unfortunate that he could not continue his reporting after 1940, because an account of this caliber of the years when Germany was at war with America, made from inside Germany, would have been a valuable historical record. Shirer is a true journalist; while he offers opinions, they are clearly labeled as such, and do not get in the way of dispassionate reporting of the events he witnesses. | ||
good observer The author makes a large number of observations about what is happening and how it is done. This is along with the historical recording of events. These observations have stood the test of time. They explain the German's rapid success in the early years. | ||
good introduction to world war 2 This book is an excellent account of the early years of WWII from the perspective of Mr. Shirer who was stationed in Germany as a print and radio journalist. There is quite a bit of history in this book and I found that it functions as a good introduction to the early history of WWII. It is also enlivened by some of Mr Shirer's personal anecdotes regarding broadcasting. Mr Shirer's close access to many of the leading figures in Germany and his observations of some of the war torn areas of the early German invasions gives a very realistic and graphic portrayal of how the war evolved in Europe. It is also fascinating to hear the speculation about which path the war would take. This is one factor that makes Mr Shirer's book much more interesting than a standard history text which has the benefit of hindsight. In the Berlin Diary, the reader sees history literally being created and develops a better understanding for the difficult choices the allies faced at that time. | ||
Eye witness to evil This is a great book on a number of levels. You know how WW2 came out, the author does not. This book was completed months before Pearl Harbor (last entries were December 1940). So it is a great page turner watching mediocre politicians blunder their way to war. Also the inside story of the founding of broadcast journalism. The only type liberal most Americans know is a "Make love, not war" stereotype. Shirer was a different type. The type that was willing to fight facism in any form straight up, blow for blow, shot for shot. (Yet, he also personally knew Ghandi and was a great admirer. I guess Shirer could recognize the limits of non-violence.) Some other reviewers were upset by Shirer's opinions of Nazis and Germans. I recently read "My Four Years in Germany" by ???? Giraud who was the USA ambassador to Germany from 1913 to 1917. His observations dovetail and add validity to Shirer's observations about the mindset of Germans and their ambitions to dominate Europe, if not the world. He also had chapters on the German education system and Prussiaism which explains the Kaiser Cult. Nazism was a direct descendant of Kaiserism and Pan-Germanism. I spent ten days in Germany and Austria in 2004. While at the Dachau concentration camp I observed 100s of 16 year old German students. One of them told me all German students are required to go to a concentration camp. My son's school field trips are to Disneyworld or Busch Gardens, theirs is to walk through gas chambers. I doubt those bright, active German children regard Slavs as subhumans to be treated like cattle, but that does not mean their grand parents and great grand parents did not. Another reviewer slammed Shirer for describing with relish the food he ate on short trips outside of Germany before the War in contrast with the rationed poor food in Berlin he had to live on. Obviously that reviewer has never missed a meal in his life. This is going to turn some people off, but I was also struck by similarties between Nazi propaganda and Fox news. (Techniques, not Jew baiting.) Keep up a particular slant for years and that perception becomes people's realities. This is a great book which drives home Jefferson's observation, "The natural manure (fertilizer) of the Tree of Liberty is the blood of patriots." This book diary entries shows how Austrians, Checks, Dutch, Danes, Belgiums, French, and (except for the English Channel) the British one by one all refused to fight for freedom and lost all. | ||