
The Origins of The Second World War
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $15.47
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Nigel Patterson
-
By:
-
A.J.P. Taylor
About this listen
From influential British historian A. J. P. Taylor comes the audio edition of The Origins of the Second World War. Controversial for its thesis that Hitler was an opportunist with no thorough plan, The Origins of the Second World War is an extensive exploration of the international politics and foreign policy that led up to the one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century.
Originally published in 1961, The Origins of the Second World War is a classic of modern history. A. J. P. Taylor's years of research helped change the long-accepted view that Adolf Hitler had wanted and planned in detail for a war. With clear and relatable prose, Taylor articulately depicts the diplomatic mistakes from both the Allied and Axis powers that led to the outbreak of World War II. A groundbreaking work, The Origins of the Second World War "is an almost faultless masterpiece, perfectly proportioned, perfectly controlled" (The Observer).
©1961 A. J. P. Taylor (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Bismarck
- The Man and the Statesman
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compelling biography, historian A. J. P. Taylor reevaluates Bismarck's motives and methods, focusing on the chancellor's rise to power in the 1860s and his removal from office in 1890.
-
-
Good, but read a primer first
- By Paolo Menuez on 06-12-18
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
Churchill, Hitler, and 'The Unnecessary War'
- How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World
- By: Patrick J. Buchanan
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen - Winston Churchill first among them - the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins.
-
-
A classic of history books
- By Benedict on 04-04-09
-
Stalin's War
- A New History of World War II
- By: Sean McMeekin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 24 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin’s War revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east.
-
-
Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 04-21-21
By: Sean McMeekin
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
Less caffeine, narrator
- By Jeff Joyner on 02-12-24
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
-
No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
-
Bismarck
- The Man and the Statesman
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compelling biography, historian A. J. P. Taylor reevaluates Bismarck's motives and methods, focusing on the chancellor's rise to power in the 1860s and his removal from office in 1890.
-
-
Good, but read a primer first
- By Paolo Menuez on 06-12-18
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
Churchill, Hitler, and 'The Unnecessary War'
- How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World
- By: Patrick J. Buchanan
- Narrated by: Don Leslie
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen - Winston Churchill first among them - the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins.
-
-
A classic of history books
- By Benedict on 04-04-09
-
Stalin's War
- A New History of World War II
- By: Sean McMeekin
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 24 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin’s War revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east.
-
-
Sean McMeekin Does It Again!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 04-21-21
By: Sean McMeekin
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
Less caffeine, narrator
- By Jeff Joyner on 02-12-24
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
-
-
Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
-
The Napoleonic Wars
- By: Alexander Mikaberidze
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
-
-
No description of battles
- By John Gaston on 01-15-21
-
Iron Kingdom
- The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 28 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of World War II, Prussia - a centuries-old state pivotal to Europe's development - ceased to exist. In their eagerness to erase all traces of the Third Reich from the earth, the Allies believed that Prussia, the very embodiment of German militarism, had to be abolished. But as Christopher Clark reveals in this pioneering history, Prussia's legacy is far more complex.
-
-
Let me make it easier for you.
- By alexyakkavoo on 06-03-20
-
How the War Was Won
- Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II
- By: Phillips Payson O'Brien
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 22 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II is usually seen as a titanic land battle, decided by mass armies, most importantly those on the Eastern Front. Phillips Payson O'Brien shows us the war in a completely different light. In this compelling new history of the Allied path to victory, he argues that in terms of production, technology, and economic power, the war was far more a contest of air and sea than of land supremacy.
-
-
Excellent history, but repetitive
- By Anna S. on 11-26-23
-
Inferno
- The World at War, 1939-1945
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 31 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of our finest military historians, a monumental work that shows us at once the truly global reach of World War II and its deeply personal consequences.
-
-
Superb
- By David on 04-05-21
By: Max Hastings
-
The War That Ended Peace
- The Road to 1914
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Richard Burnip
- Length: 31 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I.
-
-
Detailed review of 1882 to 1914
- By smarmer on 04-06-14
-
The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
-
-
A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
-
The Pity of War
- Explaining World War I
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 21 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Pity of War makes a simple and provocative argument: the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England's fault. According to Niall Ferguson, England entered into war based on naive assumptions of German aims, thereby transforming a Continental conflict into a world war, which it then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather was the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces.
-
-
Ferguson wouldn’t know history if it hit him in the head
- By Schen on 10-07-20
By: Niall Ferguson
-
An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)
- The Liberation Trilogy, Volume 1
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern learner can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the moment when the United States began to act like a great power.
-
-
Fascinating book, great performance
- By Ted on 05-30-16
By: Rick Atkinson
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
-
-
Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
-
The Second World War: Milestones to Disaster
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Churchill's history of the Second World War is, and will remain, the definitive work. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction.
-
-
Brilliant! Only Churchill could have done this.
- By John M on 10-30-08
-
The Second World War
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 39 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of World War II. His multi-award winning books have included Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the twentieth century, The Second World War. Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor's provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on World War II.
-
-
It Fills in Gaps I Didn't Know Existed
- By DJM on 07-31-12
By: Antony Beevor
-
Eighteen Days in October
- The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East
- By: Uri Kaufman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
October 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that shaped the modern Middle East. The War was a trauma for Israel, a dangerous superpower showdown, and, following the oil embargo, a pivotal reordering of the global economic order. The Jewish State came shockingly close to defeat. After the war, Prime Minister Golda Meir resigned in disgrace, and a 9/11-style commission investigated the "debacle." But, argues Uri Kaufman, from the perspective of a half century, the War can be seen as a pivotal victory for Israel.
-
-
gripping history
- By Alex Troy on 11-12-23
By: Uri Kaufman
-
The Third Reich at War
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 35 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Evans interweaves a broad narrative of the war’s progress with viscerally affecting personal testimony from a wide range of people - from generals to front-line soldiers, from Hitler Youth activists to middle-class housewives. The Third Reich at War lays bare the dynamics of a nation more deeply immersed in war than any society before or since. Fresh insights into the conflict’s great events are here, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler’s suicide in the bunker.
-
-
Masterful
- By Karen on 09-03-10
By: Richard J. Evans
Critic reviews
"This is an almost faultless masterpiece." (The Observer)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Bismarck
- The Man and the Statesman
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compelling biography, historian A. J. P. Taylor reevaluates Bismarck's motives and methods, focusing on the chancellor's rise to power in the 1860s and his removal from office in 1890.
-
-
Good, but read a primer first
- By Paolo Menuez on 06-12-18
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
War by Timetable
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Simon de Deney
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War had begun - imposed on the statesmen of Europe by railway timetables. It was an unexpected climax to the railway age. War by Timetable is a history of the mobilization of the armies of the Great Powers in 1914. Taylor not only argues that the circumstances were already set for a general war, he also examines the flaws in the war plans of the Great Powers. The timetables and limited resources that were meant to serve as a deterrent to war instead relentlessly drove the powers into a conflict that engulfed the world.
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
Army of Evil
- A History of the SS
- By: Adrian Weale
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffel. The world would know them as the dreaded SS - the most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich...It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germany - ranging from local village "gendarmes" all they way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo.
-
-
Got lost in the details.
- By Alan on 11-28-12
By: Adrian Weale
-
Those Angry Days
- Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the center of the debate over American intervention in World War II stood the two most famous men in America: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who championed the interventionist cause, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who as unofficial leader and spokesman for America's isolationists emerged as the president's most formidable adversary. Their contest of wills personified the divisions within the country at large, and Lynne Olson makes masterly use of their dramatic personal stories to create a poignant and riveting narrative.
-
-
Incivility in Politics - A Real Shocker!
- By Carole T. on 04-24-13
By: Lynne Olson
-
When Titans Clashed
- How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revised and updated to reflect recent Russian and Western scholarship on the subject, this new edition maintains the 1995 original's distinction as a crucial volume in the history of World War II and of the Soviet Union and the most informed and compelling perspective on one of the greatest military confrontations of all time.
-
-
The largest conflict in human history
- By Eddie on 05-15-22
By: David M. Glantz, and others
-
The "Hitler Myth"
- Image and Reality in the Third Reich
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: George Cunningham
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few, if any, 20th-century political leaders have enjoyed greater popularity among their own people than Hitler did in the decade or so following his rise to power in 1933. The personality of Hitler himself, however, can scarcely explain this immense popularity or his political effectiveness in the 1930s and '40s. His hold over the German people lay rather in the hopes and perceptions of the millions who adored him. Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Kershaw's study charts the creation, growth, and decline of the Hitler myth.
-
-
Not a study of Hitler Charismatic Authority
- By Raminak on 03-05-23
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Bismarck
- The Man and the Statesman
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this compelling biography, historian A. J. P. Taylor reevaluates Bismarck's motives and methods, focusing on the chancellor's rise to power in the 1860s and his removal from office in 1890.
-
-
Good, but read a primer first
- By Paolo Menuez on 06-12-18
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
War by Timetable
- By: A.J.P. Taylor
- Narrated by: Simon de Deney
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The First World War had begun - imposed on the statesmen of Europe by railway timetables. It was an unexpected climax to the railway age. War by Timetable is a history of the mobilization of the armies of the Great Powers in 1914. Taylor not only argues that the circumstances were already set for a general war, he also examines the flaws in the war plans of the Great Powers. The timetables and limited resources that were meant to serve as a deterrent to war instead relentlessly drove the powers into a conflict that engulfed the world.
By: A.J.P. Taylor
-
Army of Evil
- A History of the SS
- By: Adrian Weale
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffel. The world would know them as the dreaded SS - the most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich...It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germany - ranging from local village "gendarmes" all they way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo.
-
-
Got lost in the details.
- By Alan on 11-28-12
By: Adrian Weale
-
Those Angry Days
- Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the center of the debate over American intervention in World War II stood the two most famous men in America: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who championed the interventionist cause, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who as unofficial leader and spokesman for America's isolationists emerged as the president's most formidable adversary. Their contest of wills personified the divisions within the country at large, and Lynne Olson makes masterly use of their dramatic personal stories to create a poignant and riveting narrative.
-
-
Incivility in Politics - A Real Shocker!
- By Carole T. on 04-24-13
By: Lynne Olson
-
When Titans Clashed
- How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
- By: David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House
- Narrated by: James Romick
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Revised and updated to reflect recent Russian and Western scholarship on the subject, this new edition maintains the 1995 original's distinction as a crucial volume in the history of World War II and of the Soviet Union and the most informed and compelling perspective on one of the greatest military confrontations of all time.
-
-
The largest conflict in human history
- By Eddie on 05-15-22
By: David M. Glantz, and others
-
The "Hitler Myth"
- Image and Reality in the Third Reich
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: George Cunningham
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few, if any, 20th-century political leaders have enjoyed greater popularity among their own people than Hitler did in the decade or so following his rise to power in 1933. The personality of Hitler himself, however, can scarcely explain this immense popularity or his political effectiveness in the 1930s and '40s. His hold over the German people lay rather in the hopes and perceptions of the millions who adored him. Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Kershaw's study charts the creation, growth, and decline of the Hitler myth.
-
-
Not a study of Hitler Charismatic Authority
- By Raminak on 03-05-23
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Goebbels: A Biography
- By: Peter Longerich, Alan Bance - translator, Jeremy Noakes - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 28 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal acolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers firsthand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for years to come.
-
-
Excellent Account of the Private Goebbels, But...
- By Derek on 05-29-15
By: Peter Longerich, and others
-
Witness to Nuremberg
- The Many Lives of the Man Who Translated at the Nazi War Trials
- By: W. Richard Sonnenfeldt
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this gripping memoir by the chief American interpreter at the Nuremberg trials, Richard Sonnenfeldt recounts a remarkable life. By age 22 he had fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp, when he was appointed chief interpreter for the American prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.
During his service, he spent pretrial time with Hermann Göering as well as other top Nazi leaders.
-
-
So much more than expected
- By Kathy on 03-23-12
-
The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials
- A Personal Memoir
- By: Telford Taylor
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 30 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1945, the Allied nations agreed on a judicial process, rather than summary execution, to determine the fate of the Nazis following the end of World War II. Held in Nuremberg, the ceremonial birthplace of the Nazi Party, the British, American, French, and Soviet leaders contributed both judges and prosecutors to the series of trials that would prosecute some of the most prominent politicians, military leaders, and businessmen in Nazi Germany.
-
-
Amazing story
- By Kevin Stever on 10-16-23
By: Telford Taylor
-
Retreat from Moscow
- A New History of Germany’s Winter Campaign, 1941-1942
- By: David Stahel
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Germany's winter campaign of 1941-1942 has commonly been seen as its "first defeat". In Retreat from Moscow, David Stahel argues that, in fact, it was its first strategic success in the east. Though the Red Army managed to push the Wehrmacht back from Moscow, the Germans lost far fewer men (one to six), frustrated their enemy's strategic plan, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.
-
-
Nothing new on the Eastern front basically!
- By philippe jacob on 03-28-20
By: David Stahel
-
Travelers in the Third Reich
- The Rise of Fascism: 1919-1945
- By: Julia Boyd
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Travelers in the Third Reich is an extraordinary history of the rise of the Nazis based on fascinating firsthand 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 listener will feel, hear, even breathe the atmosphere.
-
-
Why must I write a review to have my rating count?
- By Saint Exupery on 03-04-23
By: Julia Boyd
-
The Germans in Normandy
- By: Richard Hargreaves
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While the Germans knew an invasion was inevitable, no one knew where or when it would fall. Those manning Hitler's mighty Atlantic Wall may have felt secure in their bunkers, but they had no conception of the fury and fire that was about to break. After the initial assaults of June established an Allied bridgehead, a state of stalemate prevailed. The Germans fought with great courage - hindered by lack of supplies and overwhelming Allied control of the air. This book describes the catastrophe that followed, in a unique look at the war from the losing side.
-
-
a different view of Normandy 1944
- By Oscar Shinn on 06-13-20
-
The Vanquished
- Why the First World War Failed to End
- By: Robert Gerwarth
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Vanquished, a highly original and gripping work of history, Robert Gerwarth asks us to think again about the true legacy of the First World War. In large part it was not the fighting on the Western Front that proved so ruinous to Europe's future but the devastating aftermath, as countries on both sides of the original conflict were savaged by revolutions, pogroms, mass expulsions, and further major military clashes.
-
-
little-known period following WWI is illuminated
- By John on 02-16-17
By: Robert Gerwarth
-
The End
- The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the preeminent Hitler biographer, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II. Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did.
-
-
Engrossing yet horrifying
- By Liz on 10-14-11
By: Ian Kershaw
-
Strategic Vision
- America and the Crisis of Global Power
- By: Zbigniew Brzezinski
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1991, the United States was the only global superpower. It seemed that the 21st century, like the 20th, would belong to America. Then came the stock market bubble, the costly foreign unilateralism of the younger Bush presidency, and the financial catastrophe of 2008. Meanwhile, China was rising and the Middle East was awakening politically. Today it is clear that America is vulnerable - to domestic and international decline and unregulated greed.
-
-
Insightfull and imforming
- By Roy on 02-15-12
-
They Thought They Were Free
- The Germans, 1933-45
- By: Milton Mayer
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1955, They Thought They Were Free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in Germany. Milton Mayer's book is a study of 10 Germans and their lives from 1933-45, based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in Germany.
-
-
Time might change ones behaviour pattern
- By Robert on 07-15-17
By: Milton Mayer
-
The Secret War
- Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 30 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Spies, codes, and guerrillas played unprecedentedly critical roles in the Second World War, exploited by every nation in the struggle to gain secret knowledge of its foes, and to sow havoc behind the fronts. In The Secret War, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters and some extraordinary sagas of intelligence and resistance, to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history.
-
-
Better read than listened to
- By B. In -t Veld on 03-25-17
By: Max Hastings
-
Paris 1919
- Six Months That Changed the World
- By: Margaret MacMillan
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, renowned historian Margaret MacMillan's best-selling Paris 1919 is the story of six remarkable months that changed the world. At the close of WWI, between January and July of 1919, delegates from around the world converged on Paris under the auspices of peace. New countries were created, old empires were dissolved, and for six months, Paris was the center of the world.
-
-
Good book, well narrated
- By W. F. Rucker on 02-07-09
What listeners say about The Origins of The Second World War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert
- 12-11-23
Very comprehensive analysis
This is an academic study - a bit tedious for the average reader. But so worth the effort! I will be reading again soon, for better understanding
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hannah C.
- 08-07-21
Dense but very enlightening
This book is not so much a point by point narrative, but much more interpretation and explanation. It assumes you are already familiar with the basic knowledge of prewar years and the actual event of World War 2. But it is quite fascinating if you do.
Taylor sets out his thesis at the beginning. To simply blame all of World War 2 on Hitler’s grand plan is far too simple. Hitler was evil certainly, but he was an evil opportunist and gambler more than a grand strategist. There were many mistakes by all the other nations along the way. And when war did come, it was probably not what hitler actually wanted. It also shows the complexity of alliances that existed in the late 1930s. Italy and Germany were not as in lock step as we might assume looking back. And Britain and France often had divergent goals.
If you want to dig deeper into the complexities of the events than a simple “this side vs that side”, you will enjoy the book.
Also, Not sure why people saw as an American you will dislike this book. America hardly comes up at all. It is much more indicting of France and England.
The narrator does sound a little condescending, but that fits the flavor of the book pretty well and I grew to enjoy it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- fred schwartz
- 11-15-19
Not for me
Nigel is a little full of himself. If your an American it's almost impossible to listen to his Historical view!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!