Travelers in the Third Reich is an extraordinary history of the rise of the Nazis based on fascinating first-hand accounts, drawing together a multitude of voices and stories, including politicians, musicians, diplomats, schoolchildren, communists, scholars, athletes, poets, fascists, artists, tourists, and even celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Samuel Beckett. Their experiences create a remarkable three-dimensional picture of Germany under Hitler—one so palpable that the reader will ...

An intimate portrait of German life during World War II, shining a light on ordinary people living in a picturesque Bavarian village under Nazi rule, from a past winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History.Hidden deep in the Bavarian mountains lies the picturesque village of Oberstdorf—a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere. Yet even this remote idyll could not escape the brutal iron grip of the Naz...

Wigmore Hall does not boast a grand façade, but behind it lies something extraordinary: one of the world's most beloved concert halls. Within whose walls we find exceptional performers, composers, impresarios and, of course, audiences. The story of Wigmore Hall is the story of music in the 20th and 21st centuries – and of London itself.In this illuminating book, bestselling author Julia Boyd digs deep into the Hall's rich history to uncover the secrets of its success.One of...

Hannah Riddel is a fascinating biography of the British woman who pioneered the treatment of leprosy in Meiji-era Japan.In the late nineteenth century hundreds of Christian missionaries were dispatched to Japan to convert the "heathen," a task that many felt could be accomplished within a few decades. That expectation proved to be wildly optimistic, since today fewer than one percent of Japanese are Christian.The efforts and even the names of those...

When British-born Elizabeth Blackwell earned her medical degree in America in 1849 there was an international outcry. Few at the time would have disagreed with the actress Fanny Kemble’s remark—"What, trust a woman doctor—never!"Yet by the time Dr. Blackwell died in 1910 there were hundreds of women practicing medicine on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks in no small part to her courage and determination. Using a treasure trove of primary sources, the book reveals...

This fascinating and shocking history of the rise of the Nazis draws together a multitude of expatriate voices—even Charles Lindbergh and Samuel Beckett—into a powerful narrative charting this extraordinary phenomenon.Without the benefit of hindsight, how do you interpret what's right in front of your eyes?The events that took place in Germany between 1919 and 1945 were dramatic and terrible, but there were also moments of confusion, of doubt—even of hope. ...

Hidden deep in the Bavarian mountains lies the picturesque village of Oberstdorf—a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere. Yet even this remote idyll could not escape the brutal iron grip of the Nazi regime.From the author of the international bestseller Travelers in the Third Reich comes A Village in the Third Reich, shining a light on the lives of ordinary people. Drawing on personal archives, letters, intervi...

'A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again' Sir Jeremy IsaacsMichael Steen's 'Great Composers' was originally published in 2003. A lifetime's work and almost 1000 pages long, it has since become 'the' reference point and key read on the biographical backgrounds to classical music's biggest names.Authoritative and hugely detailed - but nonetheless a joy to read - this new edition will expand its readershi...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.What made a failed Austrian artist into the most reviled and destructive personality of the twentieth century? Where did the seeds of his rabid anti-Semitism lie? How did a marginalized loner become such a moving force in Germany? How could a nation have fallen for such a fanatic? What made him so determined to bring about war?Through manipulation of politicians and civilians, bullying, diplomacy, violence and lies, Hitl...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Having suffered during World War One – not only the indignities of political betrayal and battlefield defeat but also starvation, fuel shortages and a domestic flu epidemic – the German people were left in widespread discontent. Soon inflation and economic stagnation had further sunk the nation into exhaustion, humiliation and disillusionment.Capitalizing on the nation’s instability, the Nazi Party, led by the embittered...

Quite possibly the most dangerous and intelligent member of the Nazi hierarchy, Joseph Goebbels’s flair for propaganda and spectacular organization ensured the fu¨hrer’s rise to power. As founder of the Reich Chamber of Culture, gauleiter of Berlin, and architect of complex machinery of modern totalitarian propaganda, Goebbels is considered one of the most evil figures of the twentieth century. It was through his understanding of the instruments of public enlightenment” that the dictators...

Ian Kershaw's HITLER allows us to come closer than ever before to a serious understanding of the man and of the catastrophic sequence of events which allowed a bizarre misfit to climb from a Viennese dosshouse to leadership of one of Europe's most sophisticated countries. With extraordinary skill and vividness, drawing on a huge range of sources, Kershaw recreates the world which first thwarted and then nurtured the young Hitler. As his seemingly pitiful fantasy of being Germany's saviour ...