Hitler: 1889-1936: Hubris
Author: Ian Kershaw
Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, IanKershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. Hitler here emerges from obscurity to uncontested rule over a disillusioned people desperate to escape from political and economic chaos. Hitler's path to power leads from the anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna through the First World War, the nationalism of Bavaria in the 1920s, and the undermining of German democracy by extremists of the right and left that opens the door for his seizure of the state in 1933. Drawing on previously untapped sources—including Joseph Goebbels's diaries, recently discovered in Moscow—this volume ends with the promulgation of the Nuremberg laws that pushed German Jews to the fringes of society and the march of the German army into the Rhineland, Hitler's first step toward the abyss of war. Horrifying, unstoppably readable, rich with analysis whose implications remain all too relevant as we near the end of Hitler's century, this is "biography of profound importance" (Thomas Childers, Boston Globe).
Istvan Deak
Kershaw demonstrates how naive almost all the politicians and political writers of the time were concerning Hitler....[He] wisely avoids the controversy about Hitler's "greatness," and warns that even the argument fo rhisnegative greatness is potentially apologetic. —The New Republic
Washington Post
A much-needed, readable, up-to-date biography.
The New York Times Book Review - Walter Reich
Masterly...Kershaw is able to clarify, perhaps better than any biographer who preceded him, what made Hitler's dictatorial power possible.
Wall Street Journal
The most astute assessment of Hitler's bond with the German people yet written.
London Review of Books - Wolfgang Mommsen
The sense of his own greatness instilled in Hitler by his following had reached a new peak; as Kershaw sees it, he was following the path that he believed had been laid out for him by Providence with the confidence of a sleepwalker.
Baltimore Sun
In the quest for the definitive explanation of the Hitler phenomenon, Ian Kershaw's prodigious work is an eminently worthy contender. Meticulously detailed...Kershaw brilliantly sets down how Hitler influenced events to serve his grandiose visions.
Library Journal
The first of two volumes from a British biographer.
National Review - Richard Lowry
...[B]ypasses the grand philosophical musings and explanatory muddle with a straightforward narrative of Hilter's rise.To the confounding question, How could it happen?, Kershaw has a basic, implicit answer: politics.
The Christian Science Monitor - Leonard Bushkoff
Ian Kershaw avoids fanciful interpretations; there is no psycho-history or its equivalent....The book makes one ponder the troubling parallels in some of today's fragmented countries where a sense of national unity and the public good are lacking...
The Washington Post
A much-needed, readable, up-to-date biography.
Kirkus Reviews
A monumental biography that seeks to be the final word (at least for this century) on the subject. British historian Kershaw (University of Sheffield) has spent an academic career thinking judiciously and writing clearly about Hitler, the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany. This massive work, which will consist of two volumes, promises to be the most comprehensive biography of Hitler to date. And although the writing is clear and mercifully free of far-fetched theories attempting to fathom Hitler's evil, it still takes some dedication to historical truth to finish such a work and realize that the story is only half told. This is epic history on a grand scale; from rural Austria and Vienna to Munich and cosmopolitan Berlin; from the battlefields of the Great War to the exaggerations of the beer hall; from Hitler's rejection by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna to his election as chancellor of Germany. As narrative biography, Kershaw's account clearly portrays how Hitler evolved from a rejected artist to a political novice and then to messianic illusion. Besides the use of Goebbels's diaries, recently discovered in Moscow, there is little that is new here; Kershaw's achievement lies in his retelling the tale in greater detail and avoiding some of the more outlandish theories concerning Hitler. No one writing on Hitler, though, can avoid some attempt at explanation. Kershaw writes - and few would argue - that "the First World War made Hitler possible," but goes on to argue against the interpretation that Hitler was somehow the logical outcome of German history's "special path." Kershaw's Hitler is no "psychopathic god" but deeply rooted in the history and culture of Vienna, the Great War,and German racial nationalism. Thus, what emerges is a fascinating dialectic between the socioeconomic causes of Hitler's rise and the responsibility of the German people for his reign of terror.
What People Are Saying
Ian Kershaw
"Numerous people said, "...why are you working on this? It's so horrible..." But it always struck me it was of such vital importance to the 20th century....This is not very long ago, and yet it seems to be on another planet...
[He was asked:] After all his years of research, does he dream of Hitler? "I have never dreamed about Hitler....I've dreamed about the fate of my rugby team, but never about Hitler."
— Interviewed in The New York Times, March 22, 1999
Book review: Va de Vi Cookbook or Wandering and Feasting
How to Be Invisible: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life
Author: J J Luna
From cyberspace to crawl spaces, new innovations in information gathering have left the private life of the average person open to scrutiny, and worse, exploitation. In this thoroughly revised update of his immensely popular guide How to Be Invisible, J.J. Luna shows you how to protect yourself from these information predators by securing your vehicle and real estate ownership, your bank accounts, your business dealings, your computer files, your home address, and more.
J.J. Luna, a highly trained and experienced security consultant, shows you how to achieve the privacy you crave and deserve, whether you just want to shield yourself from casual scrutiny or take your life savings with you and disappearing without a trace. Whatever your needs, Luna reveals the shocking secrets that private detectives and other seekers of personal information use to uncover information and then shows how to make a serious commitment to safeguarding yourself.
There is a prevailing sense in our society that true privacy is a thing of the past. Filled with vivid real life stories drawn from the headlines and from Luna's own consulting experience, How to Be Invisible, Revised Edition is a critical antidote to the privacy concerns that continue only to grow in magnitude as new and more efficient ways of undermining our personal security are made available. Privacy is a commonly-lamented casualty of the Information Age and of the world's changing climate-but that doesn't mean you have to stand for it.
Kirkus Reviews
A subversive, disturbing, and altogether remarkable exposure of our frightening transparency to government agencies, investigators, the media, and more malign forces. Luna, a security consultant who "spent 11 years running a secret operation in Franco's Spain" (presumably outwitting the state police), begins by presenting formidable evidence of the demolition of personal privacy in the information age, as well as a chilling hypothetical selection of ways in which this state of affairs can ruin the existence of Joe & Jane Citizen (from false criminal accusations to stalking to lawsuits). His wryly presented conclusion—that advanced privacy measures are "flood insurance"—are borne out through the clear-headed instructional chapters that follow. First he shows how to protect one's physical space: how to construct an alternative mail-drop and "ghost" address, how to keep your real domicile unknown, and how to avoid using one's social-security number and birthdate for identification purposes. Although his suggestions seem surprisingly simple, he offers stern disclaimers to consult legal professionals. Further chapters delve deeply into the complicated netherworld of trusts, limited-liability companies, personal nominees, secret home businesses, anonymous travel, hidden ownership of vehicles and real estate, and so forth. One cannot but note that such information, although certainly invaluable to people in particular demographics (such as undercover cops or abused women, who might well need to "disappear"), is most often utilized by a new breed of transnational organized crime (with examples evident from Nick Leeson to the Russian Mafia). Yet Luna—whoseslightlyornate prose suggests Nero Wolfe after several Belgian ales—makes a bracing, serious argument for the aggressive defense of one's informational and asset privacy, acidly noting throughout how governmental entities constantly attempt to seal the doors of invisibility, as in their harrassment of mail-receiving services. This is a memorable work which should be considered by many and undoubtedly will be acted upon by some.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | xi | |
| 1 | How This Book Can Make You Invisible | 3 |
| 2 | U.S. Mail--Serious Dangers | 20 |
| 3 | When Is a "Lie" Not a Lie? | 39 |
| 4 | Mailboxes, Public and Private | 47 |
| 5 | How to Obtain Your Own "Ghost" Address | 57 |
| 6 | Repairmen, Home Deliveries, House Calls, FedEx, UPS | 72 |
| 7 | Untraceable Trash, Anonymous Utilities | 83 |
| 8 | Your Social Security Number and Date of Birth | 90 |
| 9 | Your Alternate Names and Signatures | 110 |
| 10 | Telephones and Answering Machines | 121 |
| 11 | Cell Phones and Pagers | 140 |
| 12 | Handheld Two-Way Radios | 148 |
| 13 | How to Find and Use Nominees | 157 |
| 14 | Bank Accounts and Money Transfers | 161 |
| 15 | Limited Liability Companies | 173 |
| 16 | Hidden Ownership of Vehicles and Real Estate | 182 |
| 17 | Personal Computers | 197 |
| 18 | E-Mail and the Internet | 211 |
| 19 | How to Secretly Run a Home-Based Business | 232 |
| 20 | Secret Spaces, Hidden Places | 240 |
| 21 | Cool Stuff That Did Not Fit In Earlier | 248 |
| 22 | An Exam, a Secret, and an Invitation | 266 |
| Glossary | 275 | |
| Appendix | 276 | |
| Index | 279 |
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