THis is the real, hard to believe story of Hitler's ascent to the corridors of power. Chancellor was the only real job he ever had, other than his military service...and this book charts his rise over all the educated, polished saps who tried to use Hitler, and wound being suckered by him instead. His seizure of power in Germany, thanks to Von Papen and Hindenburg was as unfortunate for everyone else, as it was lucky for him.
If you want to know how Hitler rose to Chancellor in Germany, read this book.

There is little I can say that would do justice to Turner's magisterial work. It is carefully researched and documented and is extraordinarily well-written. While it is very much a work of historical scholarship, it is also written with an eye toward an almost dramatic narrative style (without the embellishments which some of today's "popular historians" resort to). To be quite truthful, I got so absorbed by the book, I couldn't put it down. Of course, you know what happens in the end, but Turner's writing is so vivid and his analyses so keen that it is an absolutely riveting account. And Turner's general thesis--that Hitler's rise to power was anything but inevitable--is one that he proves (at least as far as I'm concerned) beyond a shadow of a doubt. Chance played a tremendous role, as did human error and personal folly and misjudgment. On the topic of personal folly, Turner's assessment of General Schleicher is justifiably harsh. It is almost unfathomable to ponder, for example, that Hitler's rise might not have happened had Franz von Papen not nursed an inner animosity toward Schleicher, which led him to collaboration with the Nazi leader. So many if's. But such is history. And as far as histories of the Third Reich go, those who want to understand how Hitler became Chancellor of Germany will turn to this phenomenal work.

Mr. Turner's study on the Hitler's rise to power is excellent and maddening. It is excellent as an historical treatise reviewing the facts that caused Hitler to seize power and it is maddening in that it did not have to happen. In some circles there is a misbelief that Hitler's rise to the Chancellorship was inevitable. Turner puts that myth to rest in describing how the personal ambition of Hindenburg, Papen and Schleicher, as well as their ineptitude had more to do with Hitler's rise than Hitler himself.

The writing flows and keeps the readers attention riveted. This is an important book and a must read for anyone interested to Nazi Germany.