Inside Hitler's Bunker (Paperback)

Fest also manages to underbuild well the reason for picking out only the personal aspect of the story -- about Hitler's last days, not about the fall for Das Dritte Reich. It was not something I had thought that much about, but Fest shows very convincingly how the person Hitler was so closely related to the political entity, that it was impossible to image a contiued Nazi-Germany without Hitler, and this makes Hitler's personal fate so interesting. It is one of those moments where world events are clearly traceable to individual persons.

So Fest makes a good point when he underlines how closely Hitler the person is intertwined with the nationalsosialistic state, but I think the "reflecting" chapters, where he attempts to explain the phenomenon Hitler, are over the top. They are to psychologizing, read to much into Hitler's psychological traits and are hampered with over-generalizations about "the pre-civilized state of evil" and other quasi-philosphy.

In summary I think the actual history-bit of this book is very good, but since Fest has decided to make every other chapter either a history- or an analyzing chapter, and the analyzing chapters generally are not that good, I don't thinkt this book as a whole deserves a very good rating. It is easy to read, and the story it tells is fascinating, but it could have been even better. So buy for the history chapters, or if you're into history as psychological analysis.

This is a highly readable and very powerful book, and the translator (Margot Bettauer Dembo) deserves high marks for the result. I read the book avidly, and as soon as I was done my wife picked it up and did the same.

"Inside Hitler's Bunker" may be somewhat disappointing for those who have read a great deal about the Battle of Berlin or Hitler's last days, but it will prove to be a gripping narrative for those who are new to the horrors of Berlin in 1945. Part of the continuing fascination of this dark time is the challenge of trying to understand the incomprehensible: how could a madman like Hitler stay in control of Germany in the last weeks of April 1945, and why did so many Germans follow him as he dragged them into the final catastrophe?

The answer to those questions may lie in the 12 years of indoctrination that preceded those fateful days in 1945. For a brief and readable perspective on this period (which has been thoroughly explored in numerous more massive tomes), you may want to try "Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich" by Matthew Hughes and Chris Mann.

Margot Bettauer Dembo's excellent translation conveys Fest's straightforward style to great effect. Fest is very good on Hitler's need to destroy, but he also paints a not altogether unsympathetic picture of a man in physical, moral and mental decline, with a continuous tremor and a prodigious appetite for cake. The latter detail is typical of those throughout the book which make infamous characters more "human" for the general reader for whom this book is intended.

Fest is particularly good on the nature of history and its interpretation and on how difficult it can be to unravel the truth behind even recent events, as different interested parties seek to place a different spin on them.

As other reviewers have said, this book is probably a good starting point for those unfamiliar with the subject, rather than a reference work for the expert. As such, it represents a very worthy addition to the recent genre of vivid historical narrative.