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Rating: 
- A fascinating piece of detective work and a brilliant book.
The fact that it was originally written in 1947 doesn't date this book at all, though the author's introduction to this 1997 edition does provide both a valuable update and a worthwhile reflection on the events recorded in the original text.
The author, Hugh Trevor-Roper, was the British intelligence officer who was sent to Berlin in June 1945 to investigate the disappearance of Hitler. I guess intelligence officers really were intelligent in those days because the book is brilliant, and every bit as exciting as a good detective story. In fact, if one could forget the awfulness of the Nazi system and the ghastliness of the characters that ran it, the book would pass as rather a good comedy thriller. One of its more delightful features is the way the author treats most of Hitler's minions (with the notable exception of Albert Speer who seemed to have retained his humanity and his intelligence) as a bunch of self-seeking but credulous and blindly stupid idiots, which I guess most of them were; it is quite refreshing to see such ghastly historical figures exposed so ignominiously.
Besides being a very good read in itself, this short text is more than simply a story of the last few days of Hitler. It provides an excellent summation of one of the most dismal regimes of human history.
Rating: - Illuminating account of the end of the Thousand Year Reich
Hugh Trevor-Roper's credentials for writing this book are impeccable: the secret service officer who wrote the definitive account of Hitler's death at the end of 1945 for the Allies; later, Professor of History at Oxford; then ennobled and decorated for his work. And the reader is not let down by his greatness, for this book is remarkable and illuminating, shedding a clear and steady light on what happened in the paranoid and delusional end times of the Nazi regime.
The book is a quick read - only 220 pages from start to the end of the epilogue - but almost the most enjoyable bits are the prologues which have gradually built up through the many editions of this book. It can be annoying if you read the book through from the first page to the last, as much of what is in the prologue draws its significance from what follows in the main text, but the fifty page introduction to the third edition is invaluable as it explains the fate of Martin Bormann. But it is well worth the perservance and the reader is richly rewarded for making his/her way through the text.
One criticism: Trevor-Roper suffers from a touch of academic smugness. He is keen to point out that his book has now been in print for fifty-five years and that the substantial new disclosures made in the mid-fifties only served to confirm his version of the truth. He is quick to rubbish his opponents and those who don't agree with his conclusions and can seem heavy-handed and judgemental on the eyewitnesses' recall of facts (especially in his tersely worded footnotes). But in the context of his writing and evident ability, he can perhaps be forgiven this: his book was written, as he tells us, to forestall the development of a Hitler Myth. When writing about something so important, one can scarcely be (and Trevor-Roper certainly is not) magnanimous to one's opponents, for every chink in one's confidence is bound to be exploited for the promotion of a falsehood.
If you can read around this occasional misgiving, you'll find a gripping read and fantastically lucid account of the end of Hitler. Highly recommended.
Rating: - HItler's last days in astonishing detail
This as an astonishing book, written by the British Army officer who worked out the truth about what happened to Hitler. It covers the immediate circle around Hitler and paints a vivid picture of the factional infighting of the last year of so of Nazi Germany.
Trevor-Roper paints a remarkable picture of Hitler's life in the bunker, surrounded by a bizarre cast of characters such as fawning generals, quack doctors, loyal retainers and the very sinister Martin Bormann. However the most vivid character is Armaments minister Albert Speer whose inner confusion and refusal to destroy the Germany that Hitler now despised dominates most of the book.
This is first class history, packed with eyewitness accounts (including proof that Bormann died not far from the bunker - forget all those theories about him escaping to Brazil) and explanations of what motivated the people involved and why they acted as they did.
Rating: - A classic
Mr. Trevor-Roper not only gives a detailed account of the last days of Hitler but makes an ursurpassed description of the intrigues, the characters, the ambitions, the fears of the main personalities of nazi Germany. The statements he makes in the book, years later confirmed when new evidence was made available bear witness to his great powers of deduction and research. The reading is enthralling and absorving. After finishing the book one has the feeling of returning from a trip to the darkest depths of human nature.
Rating:
- Trevor-Roper's intimate memoir opens the door to Hitler.
This small book (and an interesting one at that) deals with two things. The first is Trevor-Roper's naturalistic account, who discusses for the first half of the book how the Nazi regime came to power, and it looks at the various personalities of people within the Third Reich, such as Adolf Hitler himself, Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer. The second half is an intimate account of the last ten days of Hitler, beginning with his fifty-sixth birthday in an underground bunker below the ruins of the Reich Chancellery. Here we see the Fuehrer's birthday reception, his rejection of Goering and Himmler, his last testament, his marriage to Eva Braun, and his suicide and cremation. The book is a terrific source for anyone who wants insight into the fall of the Third Reich, which survived the death of its founder by just one week. This refers to the original edition of H. R. Trevor-Roper's "The Last Days of Hitler," published by Macmillan in 1947: the original edition I was happy to find. Read it and above all, enjoy it!
- A fascinating piece of detective work and a brilliant book.The fact that it was originally written in 1947 doesn't date this book at all, though the author's introduction to this 1997 edition does provide both a valuable update and a worthwhile reflection on the events recorded in the original text.
The author, Hugh Trevor-Roper, was the British intelligence officer who was sent to Berlin in June 1945 to investigate the disappearance of Hitler. I guess intelligence officers really were intelligent in those days because the book is brilliant, and every bit as exciting as a good detective story. In fact, if one could forget the awfulness of the Nazi system and the ghastliness of the characters that ran it, the book would pass as rather a good comedy thriller. One of its more delightful features is the way the author treats most of Hitler's minions (with the notable exception of Albert Speer who seemed to have retained his humanity and his intelligence) as a bunch of self-seeking but credulous and blindly stupid idiots, which I guess most of them were; it is quite refreshing to see such ghastly historical figures exposed so ignominiously.
Besides being a very good read in itself, this short text is more than simply a story of the last few days of Hitler. It provides an excellent summation of one of the most dismal regimes of human history.
Rating:
- Illuminating account of the end of the Thousand Year ReichHugh Trevor-Roper's credentials for writing this book are impeccable: the secret service officer who wrote the definitive account of Hitler's death at the end of 1945 for the Allies; later, Professor of History at Oxford; then ennobled and decorated for his work. And the reader is not let down by his greatness, for this book is remarkable and illuminating, shedding a clear and steady light on what happened in the paranoid and delusional end times of the Nazi regime.
The book is a quick read - only 220 pages from start to the end of the epilogue - but almost the most enjoyable bits are the prologues which have gradually built up through the many editions of this book. It can be annoying if you read the book through from the first page to the last, as much of what is in the prologue draws its significance from what follows in the main text, but the fifty page introduction to the third edition is invaluable as it explains the fate of Martin Bormann. But it is well worth the perservance and the reader is richly rewarded for making his/her way through the text.
One criticism: Trevor-Roper suffers from a touch of academic smugness. He is keen to point out that his book has now been in print for fifty-five years and that the substantial new disclosures made in the mid-fifties only served to confirm his version of the truth. He is quick to rubbish his opponents and those who don't agree with his conclusions and can seem heavy-handed and judgemental on the eyewitnesses' recall of facts (especially in his tersely worded footnotes). But in the context of his writing and evident ability, he can perhaps be forgiven this: his book was written, as he tells us, to forestall the development of a Hitler Myth. When writing about something so important, one can scarcely be (and Trevor-Roper certainly is not) magnanimous to one's opponents, for every chink in one's confidence is bound to be exploited for the promotion of a falsehood.
If you can read around this occasional misgiving, you'll find a gripping read and fantastically lucid account of the end of Hitler. Highly recommended.
Rating:
- HItler's last days in astonishing detailThis as an astonishing book, written by the British Army officer who worked out the truth about what happened to Hitler. It covers the immediate circle around Hitler and paints a vivid picture of the factional infighting of the last year of so of Nazi Germany.
Trevor-Roper paints a remarkable picture of Hitler's life in the bunker, surrounded by a bizarre cast of characters such as fawning generals, quack doctors, loyal retainers and the very sinister Martin Bormann. However the most vivid character is Armaments minister Albert Speer whose inner confusion and refusal to destroy the Germany that Hitler now despised dominates most of the book.
This is first class history, packed with eyewitness accounts (including proof that Bormann died not far from the bunker - forget all those theories about him escaping to Brazil) and explanations of what motivated the people involved and why they acted as they did.
Rating:
- A classicMr. Trevor-Roper not only gives a detailed account of the last days of Hitler but makes an ursurpassed description of the intrigues, the characters, the ambitions, the fears of the main personalities of nazi Germany. The statements he makes in the book, years later confirmed when new evidence was made available bear witness to his great powers of deduction and research. The reading is enthralling and absorving. After finishing the book one has the feeling of returning from a trip to the darkest depths of human nature.
Rating:
- Trevor-Roper's intimate memoir opens the door to Hitler.This small book (and an interesting one at that) deals with two things. The first is Trevor-Roper's naturalistic account, who discusses for the first half of the book how the Nazi regime came to power, and it looks at the various personalities of people within the Third Reich, such as Adolf Hitler himself, Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer. The second half is an intimate account of the last ten days of Hitler, beginning with his fifty-sixth birthday in an underground bunker below the ruins of the Reich Chancellery. Here we see the Fuehrer's birthday reception, his rejection of Goering and Himmler, his last testament, his marriage to Eva Braun, and his suicide and cremation. The book is a terrific source for anyone who wants insight into the fall of the Third Reich, which survived the death of its founder by just one week. This refers to the original edition of H. R. Trevor-Roper's "The Last Days of Hitler," published by Macmillan in 1947: the original edition I was happy to find. Read it and above all, enjoy it!