Hitler

Archival Summary & Scope

Ian Kershaw’s landmark biography dismantles the myths surrounding Adolf Hitler to reveal the "bizarre misfit" behind the demonic figure. This first volume traces Hitler’s ascent from a Viennese homeless shelter to the uncontested leadership of a German nation reeling from the aftermath of World War I.

Kershaw recreates the toxic environments that fueled Hitler's rise: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the devastation of the Great War, and the deliberate undermining of the Weimar Republic. Drawing on untapped sources, the narrative follows Hitler's transformation from an obscure Munich "drummer" of hatred into the strategist of the Nazi movement. The volume concludes with the Nuremberg Laws and the remilitarization of the Rhineland, marking the beginning of the global descent into war.