I recently finished Hitler 1936-1945 Nemesis, by Ian Kershaw.
The book confirmed a couple of things for me – that the Nazi party transformed the whole country of Germany into a pyramid scheme (as I’ve talked about before) … and that Hitler was seriously, seriously deranged – particularly with regard to his deadly obsession with Jews: he imagined Jewish plots everywhere.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
One thing that I found very interesting: Hitler created the precise conditions that led to his own demise. In a general sense, of course, this is obvious. But specifically, his second major obsession – defeating what he called Bolshevism – led more than any other thing to the defeat of Germany in WWII. Plus, Hitler’s interference in military affairs caused Germany’s biggest defeats of the war: Stalingrad, Kursk, and others. A twisted genius on offense, he was a disaster on defence.
Kershaw also goes into some depth on Hitler’s hands-off war on the Christian church, parts of which were his only serious opposition until late in 1944-45, when the writing on the wall caused many to start to doubt.
Excellent book, for fans of history as well as those who are just interested in how essentially one man could drag down a whole country.