Search - Hitler, A Study in Tyranny

When Bullock published this in 1952, it was the first comprehensive biography of Hitler. As he based on it sources such as the transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials, it stood as the authoritative book on this infamous figure for many years. For instance, in a reflective piece in 1991, The Times of London writer John Campbell wrote “Although written so soon after the end of the war, and despite a steady flow of fresh evidence and reinterpretation, it has not been surpassed in nearly 40 years: an astonishing achievement.”

What struck me most was how lucid the writing is. On the qualities that enabled Hitler to grasp and to maintain power Bullock writes about Hitler’s “mastery of the irrational factors in politics, his insight into the weaknesses of his opponents, his gift for simplification, his sense of timing, his willingness to take risks. An opportunist entirely without principle, he showed considerable consistency and an astonishing power of will in pursuing his aims. Cynical and calculating in the exploitation of his histrionic gifts, he retained an unshaken belief in his historic role and in himself as a creature of destiny."