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Hitler: The Pictorial Documentary of His Life
Four hundred fifty rare photographs, many of which have never before been published, display moments in the life of one of history's most infamous and powerful men and recreate the rise and fall of the Third Reich
205 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1978
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About the author
John Toland
40 books192 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
John^Toland - 17th century theologian, Philosopher & Satirist
John^^Toland - American writer and historian (WWII & Dillinger)
John^^^Toland - Article: "The Man who Reads Minds"
John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - January 4, 2004 in Danbury, Connecticut) was an American author and historian. He is best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler.[1]
Toland tried to write history as a straightforward narrative, with minimal analysis or judgment. This method may have stemmed from his original goal of becoming a playwright. In the summers between his college years, he travelled with hobos and wrote several plays with hobos as central characters, none of which achieved the stage.[2] At one point he managed to publish an article on dirigibles in Look magazine; it proved extremely popular and led to his career as a historian.
One exception to his general approach is his Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath about the Pearl Harbor attack and the investigations of it, in which he wrote about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base but remained silent. The book was widely criticized at the time. Since the original publication, Toland added new evidence and rebutted early critics. Also, an anonymous source, known as "Seaman Z" (Robert D. Ogg) has since come forth to publicly tell his story.
Perhaps his most important work, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, is The Rising Sun. Based on original and extensive interviews with high Japanese officials who survived the war, the book chronicles Imperial Japan from the military rebellion of February 1936 to the end of World War II. The book won the Pulitzer because it was the first book in English to tell the history of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, rather than from an American perspective.
The stories of the battles for the stepping stones to Japan, the islands in the Pacific which had come under Japanese domination, are told from the perspective of the commander sitting in his cave rather than from that of the heroic forces engaged in the assault. Most of these commanders committed suicide at the conclusion of the battle, but Toland was able to reconstruct their viewpoint from letters to their wives and from reports they sent to Tokyo. Toland died in 2004 of pneumonia.
While predominantly a non-fiction author, Toland also wrote two historical novels, Gods of War and Occupation. He says in his autobiography that he earned little money from his Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Rising Sun, but was set for life from the earnings of his biography of Hitler, for which he also did original research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tol...
John^Toland - 17th century theologian, Philosopher & Satirist
John^^Toland - American writer and historian (WWII & Dillinger)
John^^^Toland - Article: "The Man who Reads Minds"
John Willard Toland (June 29, 1912 in La Crosse, Wisconsin - January 4, 2004 in Danbury, Connecticut) was an American author and historian. He is best known for his biography of Adolf Hitler.[1]
Toland tried to write history as a straightforward narrative, with minimal analysis or judgment. This method may have stemmed from his original goal of becoming a playwright. In the summers between his college years, he travelled with hobos and wrote several plays with hobos as central characters, none of which achieved the stage.[2] At one point he managed to publish an article on dirigibles in Look magazine; it proved extremely popular and led to his career as a historian.
One exception to his general approach is his Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath about the Pearl Harbor attack and the investigations of it, in which he wrote about evidence that President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance of plans to attack the naval base but remained silent. The book was widely criticized at the time. Since the original publication, Toland added new evidence and rebutted early critics. Also, an anonymous source, known as "Seaman Z" (Robert D. Ogg) has since come forth to publicly tell his story.
Perhaps his most important work, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971, is The Rising Sun. Based on original and extensive interviews with high Japanese officials who survived the war, the book chronicles Imperial Japan from the military rebellion of February 1936 to the end of World War II. The book won the Pulitzer because it was the first book in English to tell the history of the war in the Pacific from the Japanese point of view, rather than from an American perspective.
The stories of the battles for the stepping stones to Japan, the islands in the Pacific which had come under Japanese domination, are told from the perspective of the commander sitting in his cave rather than from that of the heroic forces engaged in the assault. Most of these commanders committed suicide at the conclusion of the battle, but Toland was able to reconstruct their viewpoint from letters to their wives and from reports they sent to Tokyo. Toland died in 2004 of pneumonia.
While predominantly a non-fiction author, Toland also wrote two historical novels, Gods of War and Occupation. He says in his autobiography that he earned little money from his Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Rising Sun, but was set for life from the earnings of his biography of Hitler, for which he also did original research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tol...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 11, 2017
Started this two years ago, finally returned and breezed through in two or three days. Many photos I hadn't previously seen, including quite a few personal shots of the Hitler inner circles. Text is brief and not always crystal-clear but good enough for those familiar with the history of the period. All photos have IDs or captions. A companion book to Toland's two-volume bio of Hitler, which I've owned for many years but haven't read.
June 20, 2013
Interesting book with many obscure photos of Hitler during various stages of his life and some commentary, but it is rather strangely arranged with some photos out of sequence and many memorable photos not included. Not sure who helped Toland edit this book, but it could have been done better.
November 7, 2023
"I hope everyone is appalled and I chose the most shocking examples I could locate." That statement says it all. This is propaganda. It works hard to ignore anything positive about Hitler, including one of the medals he received during WWI. When the author is forced to acknowledge some detail about Hitler, he often puts a completely unfounded spin on it. There are no references or works cited for the text. Opinion is laced throughout the work. His goal is to force the reader into a specific conclusion, not to present history as itself.
The text would receive 1/5 stars for a variety of reasons, but odds are, the text is not the reason you have an interest in this book. As far as the pictures go, it is wildly fascinating and covers the majority of Hitler's life. The quality of the photos are good, and the captions are usually more informative than confrontational in their presentation. I'm glad I own this one, but if I were lending it to someone to actually read, I would have to give a ton of disclaimers about the content and spend way too much time providing additional details to make it worth it. For actual information about Hitler and not just pictures, I would never recommend this book, at least not until several other books had been read first.
The text would receive 1/5 stars for a variety of reasons, but odds are, the text is not the reason you have an interest in this book. As far as the pictures go, it is wildly fascinating and covers the majority of Hitler's life. The quality of the photos are good, and the captions are usually more informative than confrontational in their presentation. I'm glad I own this one, but if I were lending it to someone to actually read, I would have to give a ton of disclaimers about the content and spend way too much time providing additional details to make it worth it. For actual information about Hitler and not just pictures, I would never recommend this book, at least not until several other books had been read first.
December 20, 2022
Packed with Pictures
This book was meant as a supplement to John Toland's biography of Hitler. It contains 465 photographs, 11 of them in full color. It is hard to describe the pictures to you. Some are candid shots and others are exquisitely staged. They pretty much line up in chronological order and they also show the people that were on Hitler's periphery. Photograph 155 is the next day Hindenburg died. Photograph 176 shows Bormann at the wheel with a Frau Hess. In photograph 228 a member of Sir Oswald Mosley's black shirt is with the brown shirts.
We could go on forever, however, let me say the photographs cover the time from 1899 through 1944. Many of these pictures are not seen in newsreels.
This book was meant as a supplement to John Toland's biography of Hitler. It contains 465 photographs, 11 of them in full color. It is hard to describe the pictures to you. Some are candid shots and others are exquisitely staged. They pretty much line up in chronological order and they also show the people that were on Hitler's periphery. Photograph 155 is the next day Hindenburg died. Photograph 176 shows Bormann at the wheel with a Frau Hess. In photograph 228 a member of Sir Oswald Mosley's black shirt is with the brown shirts.
We could go on forever, however, let me say the photographs cover the time from 1899 through 1944. Many of these pictures are not seen in newsreels.
April 23, 2023
Nice companion book for Toland's popular two volume biography of Hitler. Strong supporting text keeps this from being a simple Coffee Table book.
May 22, 2025
There is some interesting pictures I haven’t seen before. The text is very succinct and a bit too overlooking details? But like the author said it is more to be used as a complement.
July 4, 2011
It is a general picture type book on HItler. There are several photos in the book I have never seen anywhere else. If you are a student on this subect it is a good addition.
January 9, 2016
The book had several interesting pictures that I had not seen before. All in all this is worth a look for all interested in the subject.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews