10 used & new from £1.63
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (Cassell Military Paperbacks)
 
See larger image 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

by Peter Padfield (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


2 new from £84.95 8 used from £1.63
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (New edition) 9 used & new from £3.17
Paperback (New Ed) 11 used & new from £1.13

Product details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Revised edition edition (31 Jan 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0304358398
  • ISBN-13: 978-0304358397
  • Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 16.2 x 5.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 928,262 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #14 in  Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Historical Figures > Heinrich Himmler

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Product Description

An unflinching study of a Nazi war criminal and intimate friend of Hitler. 'Padfield writes vividly and indignantly about the growth of the... 'empire of the camps' and the awful underworld that Himmler created... His story is a chilling reminder of what happens when, fanatics get their hands on the instruments of state power.' - Richard Overy, Observer.


About the Author

Peter Padfield served as an officer on P&O liners and subsequently travelled extensively in the pacific. He has firmly established his reputation with books on submarine warfare, naval gunnery, the exercising of maritime power and biographies of Rudolph Hess and Grand Admiral Karl Donitz.

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (Cassell Military Paperbacks)
67% buy the item featured on this page:
Himmler: Reichsfuhrer S.S. (Cassell Military Paperbacks) 3.0 out of 5 stars (2)
The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History
18% buy
The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£5.97
Hitler (Wordsworth Military Library)
16% buy
Hitler (Wordsworth Military Library) 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A mad, phsycopathic or weak man? We'll never know...., 24 Feb 2003
By J. E. Parry "Jeff Parry" (Pontypool, Wales) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This is a very well written book covering the life of Himmler.
It follows Himmler from cradle to grave. However, at the end, you do not come away with a better understanding of the man.

There is no detailed coverage. It basically follows the rise and fall of the Nazi party. You do learn some additional facts but there is so much missing. There is little additional light shown on the "man".

The coverage of his early life is detailed amd surprising. He was an ordinary man in search of a dream. Unfortunately for the Jews and Eastern European the dream was one of Germanic hegemony and superiority.

You find that he was a small minded man, prone to indecision. The great unanswered question is did he really want to secure peace or was he just yielding to pressure from those around him.

There is no input from the family. We are not even told what became of his wife, mistress and children by both women.

Basically you get a well written book but are still left with a enigma no nearer to enlightenment.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars 200 pages too long, 15 Feb 2004
By P. Bryant (Nottingham, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
I read John Toland's 1000-plus biography of Hitler and I was enthralled. There isn't a dull page in the whole book, it grabs you and propels you with increasing velocity through the almost unbelievable events, and en route you meet the gang who made the Third Reich possible, and what an unlikely crew they were. Out of all of them, the weird figure of Himmler intrigued me the most. Here was the most mild-mannered, myopic schoolmasterish of men, just the type who'd bore you to death on a long train journey talking about the decline in the correct use of punctuation, or some cranky theory about Freemasonry. And within a few years he became the second most powerful Nazi leader. How? So I hoped that Peter Padfield's huge biography would tell me. Unfortunately this book reads like a first draft, before the editor has got to work. The author can't seem to turn the huge amount of material he has into a readable story. He seems overwhelmed, and so his book plods and becomes tedious.
He has three enormous areas to cover - the SS, the Holocaust, and the War. The empire of the SS was vast and its organisation was extremely complex, not to say confusing. Himmler and the SS were also engaged in various organisational struggles with other Third Reich institutions. So we get a lot of that. And when the War starts, Padfield feels the need to retell it in detail, during which time Himmler is, so to speak, mostly off-stage. And finally the Holocaust is better dealt with in many other books.
As for Himmler himself, the feeling I am left with is the same as when the police finally catch some notorious serial killer - this guy did all that?? Even when you have all the facts, you still don't believe it. I did enjoy (if that's the right word) Padfield's explorations into Himmler's lunatic racist fantasies, which are very chilling indeed because you are always aware that he had the power to put them into practice (and did sometimes). But in the end, this book is about 200 pages too long and it was a disappointment.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject























i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.