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A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition
- Narrated by: Thomas Childers
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
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A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition
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Publisher's Summary
Know thy enemy. That's what the wisdom of history teaches us. And Adolf Hitler was surely the greatest enemy ever faced by modern civilization. Over half a century later, the horror, fascination, and questions still linger:
- How could a man like Hitler and a movement like Nazism come to power in 20th-century Germany – an industrially developed country with a highly educated population?
- How were the Nazis able to establish the foundations of a totalitarian regime in such a short time and hurl all of Europe - and the world - into a devastating war that would consume so many millions of lives?
Professor Childers has designed this gripping 12-lecture course to shed light on these and other questions that have plagued generations. You'll start by looking at the catastrophic impact World War I had on Germany, and how the war and the humiliating Treaty of Versailles crippled the Weimar Republic. From there, you'll turn to the Third Reich – Nazism in power – with an investigation of how Hitler and his henchmen systematically and ruthlessly broke resistance, taking over the major institutions of state power and creating a totalitarian system of terror, propaganda, and pervasive regimentation. You'll also examine Hitler's foreign policy between 1933 and 1939, and discover how and why he puzzled the world by entering into an accommodation with his deadly enemy, Stalin, on the eve of World War II. In the final lectures, you'll focus on Hitler's war against the Jews from Mein Kampf to Auschwitz, dissecting the horrifying racial ideas of the Nazis and the policies adopted to transform those ideas into reality. Finally, you'll learn how Hitler's evil empire was destroyed by Allied might.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
What listeners say about A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bevan Lewis
- 24-12-2015
Excellent overview of Nazi Germany
Thomas Childers is an excellent scholar. His early research was on German electoral patterns and the rise of support for the Nazi Party. This short course provides an excellent history of the Nazi movement from its origins in World War 1 through its extraordinary rise to power. Childers places the rise of Hitler's Empire within the context of German politics and society. He covers the party's tactics, Hitler's beliefs, the evolution of racial and foreign policy expertly. There is brief coverage of World War 2 but Professor Childers has another course specifically on this subject.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- terry
- 25-10-2018
Heavily biased and poor narration
Childers presents an adequate overview of the Third Reich. It is short, though, so there is not much detail and explanations are given from 'above', focussing on Hitler with very little attention paid to the German people. This is not necessarily bad, but if you do want a more detailed look at the Third Reich then you should look towards the longer Great Courses on the topic.
However, this course does disappoint on 2 important fronts: Narration and Bias.
Narration.
Childers has a very irritating habit of saying "umm" a lot. And I do mean A LOT. He always follows this with a very long pause. It is often so long I would check to see that something hadn't gone wrong with my phone or the app. I played this at 1.5x speed and the "umm"s and pauses were still very obvious and irritating. At normal speed it would have been excruciating.
Bias.
Unfortunately, bias was the major let down with Childers' analysis. Being as this was a course delivered by an American from an American perspective I fully expected there would be a mild amount of bias, given the subject. However, as the course went on towards the American entrance into the war and in particular the Jewish topics, Childers' biases grew stronger and less rational7.
He frequently speculates about Hitler's actions, involvement, and motives; providing nothing by way of evidence to support his opinions. When he discusses the Jews and the Holocaust, he relies even more heavily upon appeals to emotion rather than facts or evidence.
Childers uses a lot of loaded language exposing severe biases. He frequently dismisses allied 'wrongdoings' as being necessary given the situation and wraps then up in euphemistic language. Meanwhile, he often refers to Nazi actions as evil and uses emotive and loaded language when doing so. He frequently makes assumptions of intent based on speculation and outcomes.
I am not a "denier" and it frustrates me that we still can't critique people's opinions on this subject without being labelled as such. From such scholarly sources as The Great Courses and a professor who specialises in the subject, I expected a much greater level of objectivity and professionalism.
Unfortunately, this course just isn't up to the usually very high standards of The Great Courses. I have enjoyed many Great Courses and will continue to do so, however, I doubt I could listen to another course by Childers.
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