By the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany.
Shirer was the only Western correspondent in Vienna on March 11, 1938, when the German troops marched in and took over Austria, and he alone reported the surrender by France to Germany on June 22, 1940, even before the Germans reported it. The whole time, Shirer kept a record of events, many of which could not be publicly reported because of censorship by the Germans. In December 1940, Shirer learned that the Germans were building a case against him for espionage, an offense punishable by death. Fortunately, Shirer escaped and was able to take most of his diary with him.
Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, and the electricity in it were palpable. The book was an instant success, and it became the frame of reference against which thoughtful Americans judged the rush of events in Europe. It exactly matched journalist to event: the right reporter at the right place at the right time. It stood, and still stands, as so few books have ever done—a pure act of journalistic witness.
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"Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer is a stunning narrative originally created as a diary with the possible intent of publishing at a later date. It is a remarkable account of early radio broadcasting during the timeframe of 1934-1941 Europe. A time when the author, an American foreign correspondent mostly based in Berlin, Germany, covered the events of pre-war Europe through the first year of WWII.
Having to deal with increasing Nazi propaganda and proclamations, censorship under threat of expulsion (or worse), the author provides a descriptive dialogue on the constantly changing and deteriorating conditions throughout Europe under the Nazi regime and “Hitler’s hysterical tirades of hate.”
Over time, the author expresses his frustrations and disgust at the lies, the distortions and suppression of the truth, and the inability to be able to inform America and the world because of ever-increasing restrictions on his broadcasts.
Having read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by this author, I was interested in his journal which, at times, actually had to be hidden from the Gestapo… portions of which had to be destroyed prior to discovery and then recreated from memory. Not knowing all that we now know, the author’s diary recounted the frightful events as they happened while at the same time being required, by censors, to broadcast only what the Third Reich wanted the world to hear.
I highly recommend this audiobook.
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RKathryn (5 out of 5 stars)