num_pages: 304
description: A brilliantly original exploration of some of the formative influences in Hitlers lifethe books he most revered and how they shaped the man and his thinking.Hitlers education and worldview were formed largely from the books in his private library. Recently hundreds of those books were discovered in the Library of Congress by Timothy Ryback complete with Hitlers marginalia on their pagesunderlines question marks exclamation points scrawled comments. Ryback traces the path of the key phrases and ideas that Hitler incorporated into his writing speeches conversations self-definition and actions.We watch him embrace Don Quixote Robinson Crusoe and the works of Shakespeare. We see how an obscure treatise inspired his political career and a particular interpretation of Ibsens epic poem Peer Gynt helped mold his ruthless ambition. He admires Henry Fords anti-Semitic tract The International Jew and declares it required reading for fellow party members . We learn how his extensive readings on religion and the occult provide the blueprint for his notion of divine providence how the words of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are reborn as infamous Nazi catchphrases and finally how a biography of Frederick the Great fired the destructive fanaticism that compelled Hitler to continue fighting World War II when all hope of victory was lost.Hitlers Private Library a landmark in the study of the Third Reich offers a remarkable view into Hitlers intellectual world and personal evolution. It demonstrates the ability of books to preserve in vivid ways the lives of their collectors underscoring the importance of the tactile in the era of the digital.
language: English
title: Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life
publisher: Knopf