Review 60: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (William L. Shirer)

Well written: clear and compact. This book is so simple a child could follow its development and argument; though, the evil is so grotesque, this is not reading for children. Many of the themes in this book are frighteningly similar to the USA in 2008: moral corruption in Germany, the Nazis; the willingness to trade freedom for financial security (we just saw the gov't take over the financial industry this week with a 700 bill. bail out). The pressing question: could what happened to Germany happen to us? Shirer argues that one of the main faults of the Allies leading up to WWII was the failure to take Hitler seriously, even when he was very clear about his intentions. I fear we are similarly sluggish in reading political developments. The greatest lesson for us at present: resist compromises with incremental evil because indepedence lost cannot be regained: "In making common cause with the lawlessness... the generals were putting themselves in a position in which they could never oppose future acts of Nazi terrorism not only at home but even when they were aimed across the frontiers, even when they were committed against their own members (226)."