[RhondaRN]

I've always been a history lover. The history of World War II has intrigued me for the past few years. I have watched many movies, documentaries, and read many books of fiction based on historical fact of the time of World War II, such as The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Now I'd like to read something based entirely on fact on just how a horrible thing happened with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I think it was a horrible thing, but I am drawn to learning more about it.

One book I have seen have high ratings, was written in 1960 and is still in print: http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Third-Reich-History/dp/0671728687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306698286&sr=1-1

Does anyone have any more suggestions? I'm thinking of ordering this book (though it's not on Kindle). Has anyone here read it? What did you think? Can you suggest anything else? Thank you.

 

[Kenneth Rosenberg]

Well, I'm a little shocked that the Kindle price on this one is so high, at $14.99, but this book on the siege of Stalingrad is excellent:

http://www.amazon.com/Stalingrad-Fateful-Siege-1942-1943-ebook/dp/B002UZDTG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=generic&qid=1306699702&sr=1-1

Amazon does have used paper copies listed for sale pretty cheap...

 

[NogDog]

"Rise and Fall..." is the only book I've had any experience with that deals with the whole, well, rise and fall thing. Most of the reading I've done on the period was focused primarily on the military history aspects. In that vein, a couple books you might find interesting (and remember to take into account I don't know how much their respective authors "sanitized" their memories) are Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949 by Siegfried Knappe and Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck. (Both links are to paperback versions, as neither appears to be enKindled.)

 

[ak rain]

If you like to listen audio - Interviews of survivors
Voices of the Shoah
B00004R5Z2

Sylvia

 

[luvmy4brats]

Rhonda, I'm also fascinated with this period in time and have been reading many, many books about it.. I have been reading about how different parts of the world were affected by the war. Like you, I've been reading fiction books. I'm so interested in it, I'm taking a 20th century history course right now.. It's mainly literature based though and I have this HUGE textbook (that I REALLY) wish was on the Kindle.

I recently read The Nazi Officer's Wife which is a story of a holocaust survivor.

I know you're for books about Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, but have you read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand? It's the true story of an American Olympian turned WWII bomber pilot (well, not pilot, he was on the crew) who was captured as a POW in Japan... It is truly an absolutely AMAZING book.

 

[Doug DePew]

I'm only about 3/4 of the way through this one, but it is an excellent book.

Erich von Mannstein: Histler's Master Strategist by Benoit LeMay

 

[kCopeseeley]

I'm not entirely sure whose experience you are hoping for, but I, too, love this time period, though most of what I read is fiction. 
My recommendation is The Zoo Keeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman.  A very interesting history of the Warsaw Zoo and its upheaval during WWII. 

 

[DYB]

Recently I read Richard Rhodes' "Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust." A difficult read, but vital in trying to understand the sheer scope, depravity and psychology of "ordinary" men who became mass murderers.

 

[dharts]

It's been many years since I read Shirer's book, but it's certainly a good one to start with. Shirer was a journalist and was in Germany covering the rise of the Nazis from early in the 1930s, so he knew what he was writing about.

BTW, if Shirer's book piques your interest in th "Murrow boys," and he was one, this is available as a Kindle book and at a very reasonable price:
http://www.amazon.com/Murrow-Boys-Broadcast-Journalism-ebook/dp/B002X7932E/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Another book of Shirer's you might want to read is "Berlin Diary." Alas, also not available in a Kindle edition.
http://www.amazon.com/Berlin-Diary-Journal-Correspondent-1934-1941/dp/0801870569/ref=pd_sim_b_7

 

[Basilius]

Now I'd like to read something based entirely on fact on just how a horrible thing happened with the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I think it was a horrible thing, but I am drawn to learning more about it.

Two books a bit off the beaten path that get really good reviews (and are both on my TBR list) are:

Hitler, The Path to Power: http://www.amazon.com/Hitler-Power-Charles-Bracelen-Flood/dp/0395353122
and
They Thought They Were Free: http://www.amazon.com/They-Thought-Were-Free-Germans/dp/0226511928/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306772919&sr=1-1

Sadly, neither are available for Kindle. The first is about Hitler himself, the latter is about the average German during the time Hitler came to power.

 

[RhondaRN]

Rhonda, I'm also fascinated with this period in time and have been reading many, many books about it.. I have been reading about how different parts of the world were affected by the war. Like you, I've been reading fiction books. I'm so interested in it, I'm taking a 20th century history course right now.. It's mainly literature based though and I have this HUGE textbook (that I REALLY) wish was on the Kindle.

I recently read The Nazi Officer's Wife which is a story of a holocaust survivor.

I know you're for books about Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, but have you read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand? It's the true story of an American Olympian turned WWII bomber pilot (well, not pilot, he was on the crew) who was captured as a POW in Japan... It is truly an absolutely AMAZING book.

Yes, I read Unbroken a few months ago and thought it was a very good, well written book. I enjoyed it very much!

 

[Andre Jute]

One book I have seen have high ratings, was written in 1960 and is still in print: http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Third-Reich-History/dp/0671728687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306698286&sr=1-1

Be difficult find a more authoritative and complete account than Shirer's. With that and Salisbury's Black Night, White Snow http://www.amazon.com/Black-Night-White-Snow-Paperback/dp/030680154X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306916646&sr=1-1 you have a complete portrait of the two great interwar tyrannies.

A superior fictional account of a German family during the Hitler era is Winter by Len Deighton, who besides being a stunning novelist is a reliable and very readable historian of various aspects of the Hitler regime. http://www.amazon.com/Winter-MM-Promotion-Len-Deighton/dp/0345420187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306916182&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/PAST-MYSELF-CHRISTABEL-BIELENBERG/dp/B000S07RAS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306915821&sr=1-2 is an account by an Englishwoman who married a German and throughout the war lived in Germany.

 

[history_lover]

Well, I'm a little shocked that the Kindle price on this one is so high, at $14.99, but this book on the siege of Stalingrad is excellent:

http://www.amazon.com/Stalingrad-Fateful-Siege-1942-1943-ebook/dp/B002UZDTG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=generic&qid=1306699702&sr=1-1

Amazon does have used paper copies listed for sale pretty cheap...

I find a lot of non-fiction on Kindle is priced around $10.99-$14.99 - I usually expect non-fiction to be more expensive than fiction anyway though.