The unabridged version was the first major work dealing with Hitler in the English speaking world. As such it was widely read for years and made compulsory for many university students.

Hitler is not that difficult a person to write a biography of. This can be contrasted with figures such as Stalin who was able to control the materials about his life and manufacture a range of untruths. The defeat of Germany and the discrediting of Nazism meant that little was hidden.

Despite that there are some things which have occurred since this book came out which date it a little. Kershaws recent book on Hitler is thus superior simply because of this but Bullocks work is by no means badly dated.

These are to some extent a matter of emphasis but they include.

(a) Hitler seems to have falsified some aspects of his background. He exaggerated his poverty in Mein Kampf which was the source of Bullers material. (b) Hitlers rise to power depended more on the circumstances around him rather than his own actions. Hitler seemed to be rather lazy (c) During his last years Hitler spent most of his time with military personal. They portrayed him as a man who was the archetypal mad dictator. A good deal of this seems to have been made up to shield military leaders from their own actions.

Despite that Bullers work is readable and comprehensive

Having read several books about the Nazis, I was interested in picking this title up for a couple of reasons. First of all, in William L. Shirer's book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," Mr. Shirer made a couple of references to Alan Bullock. And second, I couldn't pass up a book written by another of the "Bullock" type (ha ha).

I've got to say this was one of the better written books I've read that concerned the Nazis. He gave detail about the different players in the Nazi Regime (Goring, Goebbels, Himmler, etc) which was nice to finally put some historical information to the infamous people. His vocabulary was sometimes written in simple-man terms, which makes this a good read for people who don't know much about the "Thousand Year Reich."

Another thing Bullock did so well was spanning all of the history of the Third Reich equally throughout the book. Although the ending wasn't quite so extensively written as the beginning or middle, I still felt it was satisfactory.

In conclusion, "Hitler: A Study in Tyranny" is a great book for both beginners that are learning about the Third Reich and people who already know information about the Nazis.

Bullock's treatment is a little dry by today's standards but the material is very well covered. He almost seems to digress in chapter seven while indulging in an examination of Hitler's personality which made the book well worth the read for me. Although he's a somewhat detached orator, there are condemnations of various people/events which seem unnecessary at times, but, concidering the material, it's understandable.