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The Coming of the Third Reich

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The Coming of the Third Reich

By: Richard J. Evans
Narrated by: Sean Pratt
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There is no story in 20th-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evans’s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historian’s art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged.

©2005 Richard J. Evans (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp Europe Germany Military Politics & Government World Socialism War Imperialism Soviet Union Inspiring Holocaust Liberalism Middle Ages Capitalism Interwar Period Russia
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Critic reviews

"[A]n impressive achievement.... [Evans'] opus will be one of the major historical works of our time." ( The Atlantic)
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I know I did this all wrong, but I actually came to this book last, having already listened to the other two parts of the trilogy.

Perhaps of the three, this is the most dry, but you know, it kind of has to be. It focuses on the political machinations surrounding the Nazis through to 1933. Some of the political nuances are not that easy to follow, but Evans doesn't shy away from them. He shows how the Nazi party were able to exploit dubious precedents to create the veneer of legality.

It really is (just like the other parts) brilliantly written, inuitively organised, and clearly narrated at a comfortable pace.

I cannot recommend this series highly enough.

History of the Highest Standard

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A vital work that examines all aspects employed by the Nazis in order to manufacture consent amongst the ordinary German people. Nothing is more salient for explaining what we are witnessing in the US today

A masterpiece of research. Don't be put off by the narration

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The definitive account of Germany’s journey from
Bismarck to Hitler. Superb narration as well by Sean Pratt.

Masterpiece of historical scholarship

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This is indeed a comprehensive history of the rise to the power of the Nazis, starting with a history of Germany in the 19th century.Hitler doesn't even get a mention until about halfway into the book! This book is not for the fainthearted and certainly not for the lay reader, and is aimed at the serious history student. What does irritate is the American narration - why not a British reader? - and his peculiar treatment of some words. For example, he always pronounces 'bourgeois' as 'burr-geois' which really irritates after the tenth time! But if you are looking for a serious study, then look no further.

Comprehensive and highly academic

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Why is such a great historian as Evans being so terribly let down by Audible's choice of narrators ? His majestic "Pursuit of Power" was badly mangled by Napoleon Ryan, whose mellifluous tones were marred by an evident disinterest in the meaning of the words he was reading - but that was as nothing compared with the mess that Sean Pratt makes of things here. As others have pointed out, his phrasing and cadence are strangely random, or perhaps determined by line breaks on the page, sometimes with confusing or laughable results. And if we must have an American narrator for a text written by an Englishman about a European subject, could he not have tried a more natural pronunciation of Nietszche's name? Hearing someone talk about 'Nee-chee' this side of the pond just tends to provoke hilarity.
Didn't help that I started listening to this straight after finishing Nadia May's wonderful reading of Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism - truly from the sublime to the ridiculous in audio terms.
Thankfully, even the worst narrator can't detract from the underlying quality of Evans' text. I shall just grit my teeth and move on to the next volume.

Great text, woefully bad narration

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