The Evil Madness of Hitler: The Damning Psychiatric Profile

by Nigel Cawthorne

How did a former Austrian corporal in the Bavarian army with no apparent gift for leadership or strategy become the leader of one of the most civilized countries in Europe and turn it into a nightmare state? This is an accessible, concise and penetrating analysis of Adolf Hitler, the most enigmatic figure of the 20th century. Drawing on sound psychological principles and the latest research into the causes and nature of aberrant personalities, the Psychiatric Files presents revealing insights into one of the world's most murderous dictators.

208 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2022

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Kellye Filer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pirates
Nigel Cawthorne
Arcturus Publishing

Using contemporary sources, Nigel Cawthorne turns the spotlight on the reality of pirate life, revealing the truth behind the legends. It gives us an insight into the infamous men, and women, who plundered ship and shore, including Captain Kidd, Blackbeard and Mary Read. We learn of the hazy distinction between pirates and state-approved privateers who were used to maintain empire, as well as the Port Royal pirate base in Jamaica - known as the 'wickedest city in the world'. Including details and various accounts of ‘at sea’ and ‘on shore’ exploits, this swashbuckling read will divide fact from slippery fiction, and shivering your timbers.
The ‘life of a pirate’ is often misunderstood, misrepresented, and with some historical untruths; therefore lending creed to the tales that catered to some of the fear, the greed, and the legendary heroism and romantic rapture that is a ‘Pirate’. The mercenary nature of most piracy and its strong links to the nation states that dominated the world in its heyday, is examined by the shifting allegiances of both pirates and privateers, which the dominating main motive is simply driven by profit.
The book spans the history of piracy starting from the ancient Greek pirates and carries you through to the prime of the pirate decades. It covers all the major raids, the major pirates and players, the weaponry, the tactical courses and captures, the executions of pirates, and of course the vessels and ships. The full life at sea is covered, along with some the more famous mutinies, raids, wars, and alliances. Along with the vast amounts of abetting and enabling the merchants and governors, and even countries that took part in the corruption of everything that is piracy.

I would very much like to thank NetGalley and Nigel Cawthorne and Acturus Publishing for the opportunity to read and provide an honest and unbiased review and feedback on Pirates.

[William Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pirates: The Truth Behind the Robbers of the High Seas," written by Nigel Cawthorne and published by Arcturus Publishing, was recently provided to me in the form of an ARC. As I have had an affinity for this sort of thing ever since I first saw an Errol Flynn movie many moons ago, I couldn't resist giving it a look. I was not disappointed. This is a subgenre of history which has seen a lot of recent interest, but that in no way negates this author's own take on his material. It is a quick and easy read with a number of noteworthy strengths that do not always come up in other words on the topic. For example, the author is quick to emphasize the mercenary nature of most piracy and its strong links to the nation states that dominated the world in its heyday. This is done by examining the shifting allegiances of both pirates and privateers (frequently the same people) as well as the importance of the profit motive which dominates much of the more traditional examinations of the subject.. Then too, the author is quick to look at individual pirate captains as well as the sociology of the pirate bases (most famously Port Royal). In the course of so doing he touches, however lightly, on subjects like gender roles and economic motivations as they linked to the behavior of pirates. Interestingly, they frequently were more pragmatic than your average 21st century ideologically-driven terrorist. While often taking advantage of existing states of war between the nation-states of their time, many of the pirate crews were surprisingly easy going in their approach to nationalism when it suited them (crews were, as one might expect of mercenaries, often multicultural with actors from many states and socio-economic backgrounds). If all this is putting you off, fear not, there is plenty of the action on the high seas that so many of us crave as a hangover of too many movies thin on history and big on adrenaline. A fun read with some serious insights.

[Ashlee G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came in very hopeful that this would be a great, read, but in reality it was extremely repetitive, not well structured, and sorely lacking context.

The author would present a very interesting idea or event that happened and then not provide any further context, or if he did, it would be much later in the book, and would be mostly the same repetitive statement that was made a hundred times already throughout the book with only the slightest bit of psychological context.

It was also difficult to follow, it jumped back and forth between time periods which wasn’t enjoyable to read. It would have much easier to follow if the author would’ve just started in chronological order, then given all the psychological context and conclusions at the end chapter. In fact, it only got pretty interesting at the very end, but by that point the author had already said much of the exact same things a hundred times over in the previous chapters.

[shamlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started off promising but just got more and more bizarre in the most meaningless way. When the author says that “And if course, Hitler was sexually perverse, as well,” as though this naturally follows from his politics, I was out. A little looking then showed me that Cawthorne isn’t a historian or otherwise qualified to write a biography of Hitler.

[Kate Czekalski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love it, but it made almost 0 reference to Hitler's drug addictions, which surely fed into his unwellness in later parts of his life. It felt more like a summary of other writers with nothing much original.