In its time a very reasonable, factual account of 1 of the 20th Century's 3 most brutally evil & criminal Leaders (Stalin & Mao): The author examines the circumstances of Adolf Hitler's stunning Life story from its utterly nondescript early years to global recognition as one of the greatest monsters of the Human Race. ( )

5223. Adolf Hitler, by Colin Cross (read 25 Nov 2014) Though I read Joachim Fest's excellent biography of Hitler on 21 Aug 1978 and Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography in 2001, I found this work, published in 1973, a lively and well-written book, even though it sort of leans over backward to be "fair" to Hitler in some respects. It is based on a study of Hitler's books and words as reported in books, as well as books by people who knew or have studied Hitler. I found it fresh and was interested in the author's assessment as to why Hitler did the things he did, e.g., why he was so dumb as to declare war on the U.S. when if he had not the U.S. might have fought Japan first and Hitler would have lasted longer. (He feels Hitler did not think it made much difference since the U.S. was helping Germany's enemies already before Pearl Harbor.) The book is full of little touches that I do not remember hearing before, such as that when Mussolini thought Cairo would be captured he was looking for a white horse to ride into Cairo on! This is a refreshing and non-lengthy biography which does a good job looking at Hitler objectively and non-polemicly. ( )