It was Hitler's boast that the Third Reich would las a thousand years. Instead it lasted only of twelve. But into its short life was packed the most cataclysmic series of events that Western civilisation has ever known.
William Shirer is on of the very few historians to have gained ful access to the sercret German acrhives which the Allies captured intact. He was also present at the Nuremberg trials.
'I can think of no book which I would rather put in the hands of anyone who wanted to find out what happened in Germany between 1930 and 1945, and why the history of those years should never be forgotten.' Alan Bullock
'Monumental - perfectly balanced, yet all the time marked with the personality and understanding of the author. It is a great book; a great record.' Bernard Levin
'The standard, indeed the classic, history of Nazism. We should be thankful to the historian whose solid work will permanently preserve the truth.' Hugh Trevor-Roper