The Third Reich came of age in 1938. Hitler began the year as the leader of a right-wing coalition and ended it as the sole master of a belligerent nation. Until 1938 Hitler could be dismissed as a ruthless but efficient dictator, a problem for Germany alone; after 1938 he was a threat to the whole of Europe and had set the world on a path toward cataclysmic war. Using previously unseen archival material, acclaimed historian Giles MacDonogh breathtakingly chronicles Adolf Hitler's rise to international infamy over the course of this single year.
A graduate of Oxford University,Giles MacDonoghis the author of several books on German history and has written for theFinancial Times, theTimes(London), theGuardian, and theEvening Standard. He lives in London.
BBC History Magazine“A fine book.... Well-written, combining its diverse sources with elegance and skill, and painting an engaging canvas of the disaster that was developing in Germany and was soon to engulf Europe as a whole.... [Giles MacDonogh's] searing descriptions of the fate endured by Austrian Jewry — from expropriation, casual cruelty and exile, to calculated persecution and murder — are especially impassioned and moving.... It ably conveys the growing desperation and alarm felt by many that year, as Germany began to flex its muscles internationally and stepped up its persecution of its perceived enemies.”
Literary Review“[MacDonogh] is able to mine dozens of sources in German...[which] help us understand the roots of genocide. The book is excellent on the details of how the Nazis turned on the Jews.”
Kirkus“A chilling examination of a critical year in European history.”
Edinburgh Evening News“Adolf Hitler was a natural gambler, and this book graphically describes the critical year of 1938 when his winning strealc^
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