The Nightmare Years 1930-40

20th Century Journey #2

by William L. Shirer

Red boards with Shirer signature impressed in gold. Sewn signature binding. B&W photos. Index.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Memoir, World War II, Germany, Biography, War

682 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1984

About the author

William Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist and historian. He became known for his broadcasts on CBS from the German capital of Berlin through the first year of World War II.

Shirer first became famous through his account of those years in his Berlin Diary (published in 1941), but his greatest achievement was his 1960 book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, originally published by Simon & Schuster. This book of well over 1000 pages is still in print, and is a detailed examination of the Third Reich filled with historical information from German archives captured at the end of the war, along with impressions Shirer gained during his days as a correspondent in Berlin. Later, in 1969, his work The Collapse of the Third Republic drew on his experience spent living and working in France from 1925 to 1933. This work is filled with historical information about the Battle of France from the secret orders and reports of the French High Command and of the commanding generals of the field. Shirer also used the memoirs, journals, and diaries of the prominent British, Italian, Spanish, and French figures in government, Parliament, the Army, and diplomacy.

Reviews

[S.A. Bolich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read, and taken for what it is--part of Shirer's memoirs--it is excellent. If you are looking for a dry, straight-up analysis or history of the lead-up to WWII, this isn't it. If you are looking for a first-person, "I wuz there" account from a guy who was lucky enough to be everywhere history was being made in Europe in the 1930s, this is it. He kept a detailed personal diary from which this is drawn, supplemented by much material from the captured Nazi archives and personal interviews and information given him by surviving participants on all sides. He is not shy about expressing his opinion of the people he was observing. This is, after all, his memoir and he is entitled. It covers a lot of the same ground as his "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", which is more of a careful history. I find this one fascinating because it is so very personal, one guy's odyssey into the nightmare that was Nazi Germany. He spent six years watching that cultured country devolved into the most hideous travesty of civilization ever, and mourned its passing. He came in as more or less a neutral observer, a foreign correspondent for more than one major newspaper and later one of the pioneer on-air radio news correspondents for CBS. He left when a) he realized he was no longer impartial and that could not put up with the Nazi censorship of his reporting anymore and b) he was warned that the Nazis were building an espionage case against him, convinced he was passing information out in code (he wasn't). His increasing loathing and fright come through clearly and honestly.

The fact that he was johnny-on-the-spot for so many pivotal moments such as the Anschluss in Austria and the takeover of Czechoslovakia is marvelous. He was, however, taken in by the Germans in Poland, when he reports with a straight face that the Poles had charged tanks with horses. They didn't. The scene he saw of a thousand dead horses and hundreds of dead Polish cavalrymen was staged by the German commander. The Poles had actually charged his infantry and were winning until the tanks arrived. But a good superman admit to losing to guys on horses? Never. In this regard, Shirer's willingness to believe was greatly aided by his disdain for the Poles, whom he believed lived in a political fairyland (perhaps so, but it colored his judgment about everything Polish). He did, however, ably spot when the Germans were attempting to use neutral correspondents to convince the British that invasion was imminent during the Battle of Britain. He refused to broadcast when a couple of his more gullible colleagues did.

Shirer was bright, well-trained, and a true reporter, willing to chase the story wherever it took him and report the facts as he saw them, not as he wanted them to be. When he realized he could not do that, he got out. This is a priceless account from a guy who really did know, meet, or observe nearly all the major players in Germany at that time.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this breezy account of life as a foreign correspondent living through the tumult of 1930s Europe, et al. Shirer lived a fascinating life...seemed to be in the right place at the right time and....I think he is adequately objective, given the emotional subject matter.

When I say 'breezy,' I say so only as compared with true scholarly historical accounts....as bloated as the historiography is, I am refreshed by this primary source. As an American reader that has spent a good amount of time overseas, I appreciate Shirer's intellectual honesty....although it can be a bit boorish. He really captures the emotional confusion of a stranger living in a strange land....and returning 'home' to America, only to feel out of place.

I really enjoyed the sometimes harsh appraisals of the whole Nazi leadership, as well as colleagues, diplomats, friends, and pretty much everyone except his wife!

At any rate, I cannot think of a more 'entertaining' read of early Nazism and interwar France than this book.

[Wendy Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read. It is primarily the autobiography of the author, a former American foreign correspondent. Much of the political climate of the time, including India's battle for and the rise of the Third Reich, is, because of the author's occupation, interwoven with the author's personal journey.

[Shashank · Rating 5 out of 5]

A page turning memoir that gives a detailed account of Germany through the 1930's and a little beyond. Shirer is always readable, and he shines when writing about the events around him with a clear moral passion. For a memoir we get relatively little of Shirer's interior life, but he was a great observer and reporter. The best of the three memoirs but all three are well worth reading.

"Over the years as I listened to scores of Hitler's speeches I would pause in my own mind to exclaim: 'What utter rubbish! What brazen lies!' Then I would look around at the audience. His German listeners were lapping up every word as utter truth" (page 128)

"Yet the Nazi terror in those early years, I was beginning to see, affected the lives of relative few Germans. The vast majority did not seem unduly concerned with what happened to a few Communists, Socialists, pacifists, defiant priests, and to the Jews. A newly arrived observer was forced, however reluctantly, as in my own case, to conclude that on the whole the people did not seem to feel that they were being cowed by an unscrupulous tyranny. On the country, and much to my surprise, they appeared to support it with genuine enthusiasm. Somehow Adolf Hitler was imbuing them with a new hope, a new confidence and an astonishing renewed faith in the future of their country.
What seemed to matter to them the most was that the Fuhrer was setting out to liquidate the past, with all it's frustrations and bitter disappointments. He was promising to free Germany from consequences of its defeat in 1918: the shackles of the peace treaty imposed on a beaten nation. He was assuring the people that he would make Germany strong again...
This was what most Germans, even those lukewarm toward Nazism or even opposed to it, wanted, and they accepted the sacrifices that the leader demanded: the loss of freedom..." (pages 147-148)

[Nick Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in the 1980's, well after Shirer's place in journalistic history had been cemented with The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Reads largely as an expanded, annotated version of his Berlin Diaries, which are at times extensively quoted. Given that some of this material was also reproduced in Rise and Fall, this is the third time reading it for the dedicated Shirerist. This book covers almost the same period as Berlin Diaries (the first fifty pages or so, covering Shirer's early Chicago Tribune work in Kabul, is entirely new), and follows that text fairly closely, primarily adding background regarding the nascent radio broadcasting industry, some gossip about CBS/Hearst affiliates, and a generous helping of leftist hokum that wouldn't have flown in Shirer's earlier, more rigorously journalistic work.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something very powerful about texts written by an eyewitness to dramatic historical events; especially when that eyewitness is a professional journalist with great storytelling abilities. I had read Shirer's major historical works, about the third reich and the fall of France, so his writing skills were not a surprise. This book gives us a glimpse into his personal context to the events and let us view their effects on his professional and personal life. How it was difficult to report events from within a violent police state where everyhing and everybody is monitored and censored. How it was difficult also to keep an even keel emotionally in the face of the early successes of the nazi juggernaut and the corresponding weaknesses of the democracies. The pendulum seems to swing between totalitarian and democratic governance; the thirties were the nightmare years which led to the destruction of millions of lives during the second world war. Nowadays we see illiberal leaders and totalitarian states gaining influence and like that period of the thirties democracies are under attack from within. Shirer would find plenty to write in a similar vein about the events of today in Russia (Ukraine, Baltic States), China(Hong-Kong, Taiwan), Hungary, Turkey. The nazis excelled at the big lie and disinformation; nowadays Xi-Jiping , Putin and Trump display similar behaviors. History does not quite repeat itself but it certainly does run into cycles.

[Watchdogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was much more engaged by this book than the first in the series. As a foreign correspondent during the entire rise to power of the Nazi movement, the author provides a first-hand look at the rise of Adolph Hitler in a country still reeling from its' loss during the Great War. Furthermore, once WW2 began and progressed the author's accounts were even more striking as he was embedded in the Nazi regime as a reporter. A new look at this time period from a unique point of view. I learned a lot from this volume.

[Ray Grasshoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an eyewitness account, by former American foreign reporter William L. Shirer, of Europe and Germany as Hitler and the Nazis came to power and began World War II. As such, it offers some great insights into how Hitler twisted facts or even made them up for a gullible German public and spineless leaders of England and France during that period. Shirer also offers personality sketches of German and other European officials whom he met and knew over the course of the decade. All in all, it's a great study of this "nightmare" period in world history, and offers great lessons for later times.

[Charlie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually, I re-read this book, which I do periodically in order to remind myself of the whirlwind that swept Europe and Asia in the 1930s.

In the early thirties Shirer traveled and reported events in India and Afganistan. Shirer lived primarily in Germany between 1934 and 1940. He observed (as a journalist) the appeasement of Hitler. He observed the Battle of Britain from the German side, and followed the German Army into France. He was present at Compiegne when Hitler accepted the French surrender in the same rail car in which the armistice that ended WWI was signed in November, 1918. He counted among his friends George Kennan and John Carter Vincent, two of the brighter stars in the foreign service constellation. The names of Kennan and Vincent, along with John Paton Davies, Colonel David Barrett, Alger Hiss, and others would surface again during the McCarthy era.

Shirer, with Edward Murrow, pioneered radio as a news medium. After the war he wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". He saw the events through the eyes of an American, but one that had lived in Europe for most of his adult life.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the first volume of Shirer's autobiography, The Start, is primarily personal, the second, The Nightmare Years, has his personal life almost submerged in the events he covered as a journalist, these being primarily the Indian struggle for independence and the Nazi rise to power in central Europe, much of which was also described in his Berlin Diary. In addition to his eyewitness accounts of political events he was also, with Edward R. Murrow, a creator of real-time radio news reporting, the rather exciting story of which is told concurrently.

[Dpwarzyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

For all of Shirere's academic restraint in writing the totally objective Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, here he lets all spill out like guts on the floor. He is 180 degrees opposite and resorts to name-calling, insults, and strong opinions of the despicable Nazis he met and worked with while he was a radio correspondent there. Interesting.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I had mistakenly listed the Berlin Diaries -- which I have not read -- when I meant to list this book)

Fascinating, largely first-hand account by one of America's foremost war journalists. Recommened.

[Rob McClintock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, but long (654 pages) book which is taken from journalist Bill Shirer's personal diaries from the years leading up to World War II. He bounced around Europe and India a bit before getting a correspondent assignment in Berlin. In his work, Shirer was able to get up close to many of the main leaders of the Nazi regime and in many cases shared meals and had other interactions with them. He gives first-hand accounts of many of the famous speeches by Hitler and provides excellent descriptions of their delivery as well as the reaction to them. As much as anything, the book shines a really bright light on the tools and techniques used by the Nazi Party to twist reality and engage in outright media manipulation and sheer propaganda to achieve and expand power. We see the clear betrayal by the West of Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Balkans, and even see how the West could have turned back the German blustering and even military advances at virtually every step of the way. The Chamberlain-led British government looks even worse than I had imagined. One of the treasures he uses that came out of the ultimate Allied victory was a huge volume of heretofore secret Nazi documents, which came to light during the Nuremberg post-war trials, which clearly showed the doubts, bluffing, and outright risk-taking occurring by the Reich - and the West cowered. He was able to give some good insights into his journalistic partnership with Edward R. Murrow with CBS as they both were radio war correspondent pioneers. Excellent history and well documented in footnotes throughout.

[Douglas Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book to be both fascinating and mundane. The author certainly led an exciting and extraordinary life as a foreign correspondent in pre-WW2 Europe but at times his story seemed to drag on with insignificant detail. To be fair, I really wanted to read his “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” but discovered this book at the bookstore instead. My interest was in learning from his eyewitness account of how the German people fell for Nazism. This book is more of his life during the pre-war years while residing in Europe and ultimately Berlin. I will still read his more popular book. This book likely gives a better perspective of his relationship with the Nazi regime and the tightrope he encountered trying to report what he witnessed and what he was allowed to report. Overall a good book, just not what I really wanted.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, having read Shirer's Berlin Diary, The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, The End of A Berlin Diary and now this, I think I've completed the Superfecta and heard what he has to say about Nazi Germany. He quotes extensively from his diary, so it's good that I read that long ago.

Pro: a good account of one of the most interesting and important eras in 20th Century history, well written and colorful while being deadly serious

Con: no bibliography and very little citation of sources, although since Shirer himself is the main source, perhaps that's OK. I love memoirs, and this certainly is that . . . not a history.

Now, on to Shirer's book on the collapse of the French Third Republic.

[Richard Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Shirer lived and worked in Europe (most notably the growing German Reich) through the buildup to World War II. His day to day experiences provide a unique perspective of the events that drove the world to its greatest tragedy in the modern era.

This book allows the reader to look through Shirer’s window into history.

The experience is made more chilling by today’s events in Ukraine. Let’s hope for a more happy ending.

[Elizabeth Theiss Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary personal account of Germany in the years leading up to World War II by a reporter with a fine eye for both detail and context. I can’t think of a more insightful book on the rise of the Third Reich.

William Shirer reported from Germany during Hitler’s rise to power from an uneducated nobody to the leader of a militarized nation that overran Europe. Working from his diaries and reporting, Shirer recounts the steps from democracy to authoritarianism in the decade of 1930 to 1940. Lies and appeals to German nationalism were his major tools. He scapegoated Jews and Bolsheviks, but then made a non aggression pact with Russia. He built too-down administration that was capable of winning battles and deporting Jews and dissidents to concentration camps and the “final solution.”

The writing is excellent and the story is compelling. Well worth the reader’s time.

[Jeff P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating memoir written by an American reporter stationed in Berlin at the start of WWII.

[Jeff B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows the author through the 1930s. He starts as a foreign correspondent for my hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. he kind of bums around Europe as small fascist groups pop up here and there. As the decade progresses, he switches to radio and begins a family. As Hitler and his Nazi party rises to power, the author goes to Berlin and reports solely on what’s happening there. This book gives us a front row seat to the rise of the third reich and it’s fascinating. My knowledge on World War 2 is pretty basic and I learned a lot. This book goes through the French Armistice.

I found the story of Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia fascinating. It further cemented how the policy of appeasement and capitulation doomed the world for war. I never knew that there was a coup in place (by German Generals) ready to take Hitler out if he invaded Czechoslovakia as long as the French and English stood up to him (spoiler alert: they didn’t). It helped me understand why everyone thinks so highly of Churchill after reading what a disgrace his predecessor, Chamberlain, was. Of course, Hindsight is always 20/20 and no one in Europe wanted war, including the Germans - at least according to the author. The author says the German people had no appetite for war, but Germany’s invasions came quick and without bloodshed, at least in the early battles of World War 2 - so the German people were okay with it.

Of course, I couldn’t help but compare Hitler to Trump. I mean, it’s part of the reason I’m reading this now (April 2025). Much like Hitler and his henchmen, Trump and his cabinet is like the Dunning-Kruger party (so dumb they think they’re smart). While both Hitler & Trump let their power cravings interfere with strategic planning, they both had the instinct of a bully. When they started they would often be right over the naysaying experts, but hubris catches up with the arrogance in time.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book. I've previously read Shirer's famous book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I'd also read his Berlin Diaries, which was just the publication of the diaries he kept during the time period he lived in Berlin under Nazi rule.

This book falls somewhere in the middle. It isn't just diaries. There's more of a narrative, combining info from his diaries, his own memories (the book was written decades the Nazi era ended), and information that wasn't known until after Nazi documents and other historical facts were learned.

One of the most interesting things about Shirer's works on the Nazis is the fact that he was there, covering them, observing them, meeting them. It gives him a perspective that you rarely get in historical works. There's obviously a downside to that too, but here I think it works well. It's interesting to see Shirer and Edward Murrow helping to establish radio news broadcasts.

There is a very short section at the very beginning where Shirer travels to Afghanistan. This is interesting, but given that the rest of the book is focused on Nazis, and this is book 2 in his 3 book autobiography, he should've just put that chapter in the first book.

[Harold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a teenager when "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich" by this author was first published. My parents, being in the Book Of The Month, Club purchased it immediately and I read it then. At the time I thought it dry but forged through it. After reading this, and more than a half century later, I think "TRAFOTTR" deserves a rereading. Shirer has an engaging style and while it sounds like a cliche, the fact that he kept detailed diaries and the vast bulk of "The Nightmare Years" takes place while he is broadcasting from Berlin, almost daily in the years leading up to, and in the beginning, of WWII, makes you feel like you were there. This is the best book on that subject I have read (pending my reread of "TRAFOTTR"). Shirer had daily contract with all the top rank Nazis and we see a side of them that is usually not present in historical accounts, with the possible exception of the books written about The Nuremberg Trials. There is a difference. The Nuremberg Trial books deal with defeated men. Most of their bravado is gone. This is before the war and defeat and they reveal to Shirer all their arrogance, bravado, duplicity, treachery and stupidity. Shirer is not taken in by any of it. If you have any interest if WWII in Europe...read this.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although written by a journalist rather than a historian, this hefty book does a great job of making history come alive -- in terms of both characters and events. His see-it-now coverage of the making of the Nazi machine is priceless. I wish that schools used books like this rather than the dry, dull textbooks that put us all to sleep!

[Fran Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Shirer writes another excellent book about his experience as a newspaper man and an announcer in the new field of radio news. He's in Berlin , Germany during the awful years of World War Two, covering the years of 1030 to 1940. He then comes back to report on the Nuremberg Trials. It's a very good book about a very bad time in the world.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," but certainly a great achievement.

[Sherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

#HolocaustRemembranceDay
We must never forget how it started.

[Julien Saint-Clemente · Rating 5 out of 5]

The debut of the radio reportage , one of the best book i ever read , masterpiece !

[Terry Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for the Kindle "unlimited" Edition. The book is divided into 4 parts for a total of 17 chapters, plus epilogue, endnotes, and pictures - unpublished - from the authors personal collection; there are a total of 11452 kindle locations

The tumultuous decade -1930 - 1940. These were the nightmare years. The author was a 26-year-old American foreign correspondent. He had arrived in Paris from mid-west America - Iowa. He not only experienced the crumbling decay and global breakdown, but he also documented it and he reported it; first with the Chicago Tribune and then later with Edward R Murrow and CBS. His diary entries are fascinating and of historical importance. I can't stress enough how important and singular that this book is; especially in this turbulent 2nd decade of the 21st Century. Our present condition in 2025, like the period of 1930-1940, can only be understood in terms of what transpired in the decade and years prior. History - is it Karma? Does it really rhyme? The political, economic and social conditions in comparison with both era's - then and now -present remarkable and repetitive themes.

These men, along with a supporting cast of friends and lessor known people would pioneer the art and science of broadcast news. The documented trials and obstacles they overcame to truthfully report events is nothing short of astounding, and the truth is almost unbelievable. But yet, it is. The book is large; it is one volume that covers one decade. There are other volumes that cover what comes later. The author followed and reported on the German Army's early campaigns in France and Poland. He reported on the Anschluss and the Sudetenland, and then, finally, in 1945, the trials in Nuremburg. It is astounding to read the list of who's who the author was acquainted with. Ghandi, Eric Severeid, Edward Murrow, Hemingway, General Halder, Isadora Duncan, Franz von Papen, Kurt von Schleicher, Sinclair Lewis, Dorothy Thompson, Irita Van Doren, Wythe Williams (veteran foreign correspondent of the NYT), Russell and Pat Strauss, Bertrand Russell, General Weygand, Daladier, and the list goes on. The author was literally on the front line of history, documenting history through news, and associating with people that would also become familiar names in history.

This book is essentially the authors memoir built from his diary entries, interviews, his broadcast scripts, and personal and close acquaintance with the key players from 1930 to 1940. There are firsthand accounts that are not included in mainstream history publications. I will not write of them here - no spoilers. However, you can see my notes and highlights. The Author was a protege and colleague of Edward R. Marrow and together they set the standard for broadcast reporting. Murrow is especially noted for his reports from London during the Blitz. The authors personal connections bring him intimately close to almost every German general of the staff, as well as Hitler's cabinet. What makes this book so valuable are the intimate details behind conversations, events and early broadcast journalism, and the difficulty and danger these pioneers of reporting placed themselves in order to report truth. This is a must-read book, and I recommend that you read this before starting on his other book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

[Andy Wiesendanger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Thought it would be good to get a first hand account of this era, but turns out I learned a lot about what happened leading up to war, and for the first few years. I guess because most of the stuff I've read on WWII is once USA got involved. Now I know some areas I can dig into in the future.

Shirer had quite an interesting decade, spending time with Gandhi, until he and most of his followers were imprisoned. Then a trip to Afghanistan, which was pretty much closed off at that time, seeing the coronation of a new king there (which happened quite frequently). Then a year in Spain while the republic there was breaking down, and in '34 landing in Berlin, where he spent most of his time until 1940.

He gives a great feel for what it was like living in Nazi Germany, as an American anyway. He was able to see through the lies, and they were blatant. But throughout he's amazed at how the people just swallow what they're told. He talks a bit about the split in the churches, how many went and followed the German Church, which was mostly pagan (Hitler thought the idea of a God dying was pretty weak). But that story to me is fascinating, how a nation considering themselves Christian winds up supporting the Nazi regime. I guess it comes down to identity, too many identified as Germans first, and when Hitler was "bringing back honor" to Germany, and undoing the wrong of Versailles, many could look past some of his nastier aspects. Which weren't blatant at first anyway.

The second reason I'm sure is economic, as unemployment sank, and the govt made vacationing cheap, people started to feel they were coming out of the nightmare years of Weimar inflation. Making money, and seeing your country become "successful" can trump any spiritual truths. The German Church had some articles of belief, including the most important document being Mein Kampf, and the leader being Hitler. So you have millions of people a year earlier, sitting in churches that said Christianity is the Bible and Jesus, and now being ok switching to Mein Kampf and Hitler. Amazing.

You can also attribute fear to this change, but that would come later I imagine, mid to late 30s. But when you think about this aspect, Germany was the home of the Reformation, which risked lives to disagree w/the Roman church. Then, they were risking their lives for what they felt was Biblical. Now they didn't want to risk their lives, and ditched the Bible for Mein Kampf.

Such a great study, this change in Germany. We can certainly learn a lot. Don't ever think such things can't happen here, just look at how most people repeat talking points, and can't actually articulate why they believe whatever they're championing. Easy to lead people like that wherever you want.

I'm also reading Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship", which is cool to read both at same time. He talks about what it means to follow Jesus. When you look at Nazi Germany, and you look at current USA, you can see what people identify as. We have a lot of stories to us, but which is the most important? Which will trump the others?

[Ryan Schmitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across a used copy of this book in Powell's (hardcover, no dust jacket, three bucks). I had previously read the author's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Whereas that book was primarily based on primary sources (the mountainous Nazi archives captured by the Allies as the war was ending), this memoir is based primarily on the author's personal experience watching the Nazi saga unfold in real time as a German-, French-, Italian-, and Spanish-speaking foreign correspondent. The book contains the type of fascinating detail you can only get from someone who had actually been there, such as this (p. 127):

It was the eyes that dominated [Hitler's] otherwise common face. They were hypnotic. Piercing. Penetrating. As far as I could tell, they were light blue, but the color was not the thing you noticed. What hit you at once was their power. They stared at you. They stared through you. [...] All through the days at Nuremberg I would observe hardened old party leaders, who had spent years in the company of Hitler, freeze as he paused to talk to one or the other of them, hypnotized by his penetrating glare. [...] Martha Dodd, the vivacious young daughter of the American ambassador, had told me a day or two before I left for Nuremberg, to watch out for Hitler's eyes. "They are unforgettable," she said. "They overwhelm you."

Admittedly, the middle section of the book often feels like a rehash of the material from Rise and Fall, with occasional anecdotes interspersed about travel, family life, and what it was like to work in the Great Early Days of News Radio under a regime of censorship which eventually grew intolerable. However, the book reaches its climax during the Battle of France, as the author follows the German Sixth Army from Aachen all the way to Paris, describing what he encounters along the way. Other significant plot points include the RAF's first bombing of Berlin, the failure of Operation Sea Lion, and the author's flight from Germany, including the smuggling of his massive Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941, whose contents, if discovered, easily could have gotten him beheaded.

Readers of "Rise and Fall" will recognize many of Shirer's same tics: he has to frequently mention that everyone is an idiot except for himself and Winston Churchill, that the French have gone stupid and crazy, that a high-ranking Nazi or German general is (pick one: bemedaled, monocled, pig-eyed, corpulent, mediocre, dense, pretentious), and that the German people are uniquely war-like, dishonorable, and disgusting. This does get tiresome after hundreds and hundreds of pages, but it's far from unendurable.

[Trevor Kew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been eyeing the large dusty hardcover copy of this book that has sat on my father's bookshelf ever since I was a very young child, wondering what it was all about. On a recent trip home, I finally picked the tome up off the shelf. Having read many books about the historical period covered by Shirer (1930s rise of Nazism), I didn't expect to find too much that would surprise or interest me, but I was captivated immediately by Shirer's detailed, nuanced, balanced narration of the astonishing historical events he witnessed along with the powerful way in which he conveyed his own personal experience of living through them. For someone who participated in the first-ever radio news roundup (1939-40?), his journalistic voice is astonishingly immediate and modern. As with many of the best books about the Nazis, he helps readers to understand German government and society of the time as more than just the Hollywood/comic book villains that in many ways they have now become. As this book was written by Shirer in his later years (the year I was born actually!), it is also refreshing to see the ways that he adds footnotes to his narration to explain misconceptions or knowledge gaps that he and other journalists or eyewitnesses (or indeed "participants" themselves) had at the time, always a valuable inclusion in any autobiographical historical account. This is a long read and could seem heavy going for modern readers used to short clips of information, but if you want to immerse yourself for a time in a top journalist's lived experience of history, I'd highly recommend this book. Also, for those who love the BBC's John Simpson's books (he is a man who has lived through an astounding number of recent modern world historical key events!), Shirer's narrative will probably also appeal.