The Hitler Problem

IAN KERSHAW’S two-volume biography of Hitler, a prodigious work of more than 2,000 pages, comes at an exciting moment in the study of the Nazi regime and its indispensable man. Behind Kershaw lies a half century of scholarship in these matters, and a number of important and detailed controversies. Now Kershaw, who teaches at the University of Sheffield and has mastered the bulk of this material, is in a position to sum it up, express the mainstream professional consensus, and by adjudicating the principal questions produce the best account we are likely to have of the man in his time.

To get closer to Hitler, we need the larger narrative on which everyone agrees. But we also need to settle such questions as whether he was a reactionary or a revolutionary, whether and how his regime affected the social organization of Germany, the special political theory of the Nazi state, when and how he developed his extraordinary appeal as an orator, the quality of his military leadership, whether his ultimate goals were restricted or expansive, and, given the history of Europe in the 20th century, the roots of his special hatred of the Jews and how it evolved.

About the Author

Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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IAN KERSHAW’S two-volume biography of Hitler, a prodigious work of more than 2,000 pages, comes at an exciting moment in the study of the Nazi regime and its indispensable man. Behind Kershaw lies a half century of scholarship in these matters, and a number of important and detailed controversies. Now Kershaw, who teaches at the University of Sheffield and has mastered the bulk of this material, is in a position to sum it up, express the mainstream professional consensus, and by adjudicating the principal questions produce the best account we are likely to have of the man in his time.

To get closer to Hitler, we need the larger narrative on which everyone agrees. But we also need to settle such questions as whether he was a reactionary or a revolutionary, whether and how his regime affected the social organization of Germany, the special political theory of the Nazi state, when and how he developed his extraordinary appeal as an orator, the quality of his military leadership, whether his ultimate goals were restricted or expansive, and, given the history of Europe in the 20th century, the roots of his special hatred of the Jews and how it evolved.