Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi

By Thomas Weber

Book Overview

An award-winning historian charts Hitler's radical transformation after World War I from a directionless loner into a powerful National Socialist leader In Becoming Hitler , award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement. The tragedy for Germany and the world was that Hitler found himself in Munich; had he not been in Bavaria in the wake of the war and the revolution, his transformation into a National Socialist may never have occurred. In Becoming Hitler , Weber brilliantly charts this tragic metamorphosis, dramatically expanding our knowledge of how Hitler became a lethal demagogue.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465032680
• ISBN13: 9780465032686
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

From the author of “H-i-t-l-e-r-'-s First War: Adolf H-i-t-l-e-r, the Men of the List Regiment, and

When we learn about history and important people in history in elementary school, we get a simplification and an idealization that might or might not reflect the actual person. By the time we finished college, we were still indoctrinated with what the majority thinks is the real person, place, and thing. Still, there is another level that can become a little trickier by putting people, places, and things in a more detailed context. In this case, it’s best to know something about the author of the material that you are reading. When it comes to Adolf H-i-t-l-e-r, as with any other major player, there are libraries full of various works from different people going from different angles. Thomas Weber appears to have done his homework. If you don’t get any further through the book, it is absolutely imperative that you read the Prelude; then it’s time to read the balance of the book to fill in the details instead of just taking his word for it. Reading the hardcover version has one annoying problem. Even though it is correct to put footnotes at the end of the book, it would’ve been a lot easier if they had been at the bottom of each page. There is a small section of glossy monochrome photos of the relevant players and people at the time that the book covers. As the title implies, “Becoming H-i-t-l-e-r,” the concentration is on when H-i-t-l-e-r became the person that we know in history. It’s a good idea to slow down and read the references at the time that they come up. Also, the second reading, after having time to think about the first one, helps.