This book was very easy to read. Any difficulties I had with it were because of the enormous number of people, political parties, and movements that were competing for power in post-WWI Germany. When German words or phrases were used, the author would provide an English translation. This book answered every question I had about the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. But it raised one important question that was left unanswered.

The book detailed why and how Hitler got interested in politics and government. It outlined (but didn't dwell on) his youth, family, and upbringing. This formed a basis for why Hitler was the way he was. It followed Hitler through his involvement in World War I, and the betrayal the military felt from the German government over the Treaty of Versailles. In my opinion, this treaty was solely responsible for sending the German economy into the toilet. The value of the German Mark was plummeting so fast that workers were being paid every morning. That money was given to wives to buy groceries that morning because that same amount of money couldn't buy a cup of coffee that evening.

Also there were a large number of political parties (around 40). And it seemed like they had elections every year. Each party had it's own military. Their elections were solely democratic. You were given seats in the government based on the number of votes your party received. For this reason alone I'm thankful we live in a Republic. After World War I Germany was desperate for a someone to solve all their problems. Hitler said and promised all the right things. A lot of these were out-and-out lies, but he said what people wanted to hear. He was an extraordinary speaker. On several occasions he started a speech in front of a room full of doubters and by the end of the evening would have them standing and cheering. A popular topic for him was anti-Semitism. What was really shocking to me was how strong the anti-Jewish movement was in Germany. This wasn't something Hitler believed and convinced others to believe too. There were numerous references to people and attitudes that were not at all friendly to Jews. This was the one question that I formed while reading that never got answered. So much anti-Semitism, but no compelling reason why.

I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know how a man like Hitler could have been brought to power. It was well-written, and fairly easy to follow. Very enlightening.

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