The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
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Image:TheRiseandFalloftheThirdReich.jpg The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by journalist William L. Shirer was the first definitive history of Nazi Germany in English.
Shirer, a radio reporter for CBS, covered Germany for many years until December 1940, when increasing Nazi censorship of his broadcasts made work impossible for him. This 1245 page book, first published in 1960 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. and still in print, colors its historically accurate information with denunciation of the evils of Nazism and tyranny.
The book is based largely on the captured documents of the Third Reich, including the diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and General Franz Halder. Other sources include confidential speeches, conference reports, taped transcripts of telephone conversations, as well as Shirer's personal recollections during the six years he reported on the Third Reich as a journalist.
At the time the book was written, only a part of the diaries of Goebbels was known. Other documents have been discovered and many documents have since become available from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The book was adapted into a television program for the ABC network in 1966. It was probably the first program to be marketed as a miniseries.
Publication
The book has been reprinted many times since it was originally published in 1960. Currently in-print editions are:
- ISBN 0671728687 (Simon & Schuster, US, 1990 paperback)
- ISBN 0099421763 (Arrow, UK, 1990 paperback)