American journalist and author William L. Shirer was a war correspondent for six years in Nazi Germany, having a front-row seat to Hitler's rise in influence and power. His most definitive work on the subject, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, is a riveting account of life in the tyrannical state, a country transformed by war and dictatorship.

The author was originally commissioned to write The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler for a young adult audience. This account loses none of the immediacy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich—capturing Hitler's prominence in public cognizance, the horror of mass killings, and the paranoia and insanity that marked the führer's downfall. This book is by no means simplified—and is sure to appeal to anybody with an interest in World War II history.