UNITED STATES AUTHOR · BIOGRAPHY · JOURNALISTS
William L. Shirer
Also known as: William Shirer, William Lawrence Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years. Originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the International News Service, Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a CBS radio team of journalists known as "Murrow's Boys". He became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II (1940). With Murrow, he organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by news broadcasts. Shirer wrote more than a dozen books besides The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, including Berlin Diary (published in 1941); The Collapse of the Third Republic (1969), which drew on his experience living and working in France from 1925 to 1933; and a three-volume autobiography, Twentieth Century Journey (1976 to 1990). ---From Wikipedia
ON THE VERY EVE of the birth of the Third Reich a feverish tension gripped Berlin.
— from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 2003
Most acclaimed
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
2003
Since it's publication five decades ago, [William L. Shirer](/authors/OL28296A/WilliamL.Shirer)'s monumental study of [Hitler](/authors/OL108070A/AdolfHitler)'s empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the twentieth century's blackest hours. A worldwide bestseller with millions of copies in print, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. Here, in a thoughtful new introduction for the fiftieth anniversary of its National Book Award win, [Ron Rosenbaum](/authors/OL39615A/RonRosenbaum), author of the much-admired [Explaining Hitler](/works/OL15826153W/Explaining_Hitler), takes a fresh and penetrating look at this vital and enduring classic and the role it continues to play in today's discussions of the history of Nazi Germany.
Berlin diary
Essential Historic Document. This is a most important historic document as it is the only known diary written by a professional journalist while on assignment in nazi Germany from 1933 to 1941. Prior to this, Bill Shirer was on assignment in Paris. There is no other Book I know that provides a better description of Germany's transformation from an essentially western democratic nation to a nazi gangster society. Many historians wonder 'how could this happen'? William Shirer answers this question. This is not an amateur diary and Shirer understood during the writing that it would become an important historic document. He was in the belly of the beast for all the important transformative years -1933 to 1941. He displayed great bravery by staying to the last minute. He was also a master at keeping the nazis from deporting him yet also reporting the factual news. —A juggling act that has never been matched. We owe much to William Shirer. Moreover, Shirer understood the Weimar, Prussian, German, nazi and European psyche better than any other American writer. Shirer was fluent in German, French, Swiss, and few more European languages. This is essential reading for a serious historian, anthropologist or sociologist.
The Nightmare Years 1930-1940 (20th Century Journey
At the Nuremberg rallies, when Hitler roared through the streets elebrating his newly-won domination of Germany, Shirer was there. In Munich, as Chamberlain abandoned the Czechs, Shirer was there. In Vienna during the night of the Anschluss, in Berlin, when Hitler loosed his Blitzkrieg on Poland and began the war, Shirer was there. Through articles, translations of Hitler's speeches, and his own broadcasts, Shirer tried to warn the Western world of the terrible evil that was arising in Germany. The Nightmare Years is his witness to these years in which a collective madness gripped the German soul as it lurched towards war and Armageddon.