Joseph Goebbels: Life and Death 2009th Edition by T. Thacker (PDF)

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An insightful new biography of Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister of the ‘Third Reich’ and one of the most important and troubling figures of the twentieth century. The first account to use all of Goebbels’ surviving diaries, it sheds new light on his personality, private life and political convictions, as well as his relationship with Hitler.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Toby Thacker’s biography, “Joseph Goebbels: Life and Death” is a good study of one of the most powerful figures of the Third Reich. Expertly tracing his early life and beginnings in the Nazi Party, through his work to bring the party to power and his tenure as propaganda minister, to his wartime work to shore up the home front, Thacker’s research will astound while the narrative itself is nothing short of chilling.Sections dealing with Goebbels’ early career in the party and his early political viewpoints make for fascinating reading. Goebbels’ desire to see land and property reallocated from Germany’s Junker to its workers illustrated his early socialist inclinations, and brought him toe to toe with Hitler who needed backing from Germany’s elites. Particularly interesting is Thacker’s exploration of this early period of tension between Goebbels and Hitler, a time in which Goebbels may even have moved to expel Hitler from the party. Equally fascinating is Goebbels’ Machiavellian scheming during World War II. His infamous “Total War” speech of 1943, Thacker notes, was as much a political power play as it was a call to arms for the German populace in the wake of the Stalingrad disaster. Goebbels’ antisemitism, attacks upon the churches, and radical war agenda are all brilliantly examined.For anyone interested in this fascinating figure, who did so much to further Hitler’s destructive policies, I highly recommend Thacker’s biography.

⭐I had to write a paper about Goebbels and his propaganda ministry. I had a stack of books to pour through and this one was the best read. It effectively blends historical accounting and excerpts from his personal diaries. It flows chronologically which I appreciate as some “overly scholarly” tomes jump around time-wise and it can get confusing. The illustrations are scattered throughout the book as opposed to being in one clump in the middle. Thacker writes concisely without producing a dry work. An unsettling experience for me was that I felt myself getting closely acquainted with a man I consider despicable and this attests to the insightful nature of the book. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to know more about Goebbels and his relationship with Hitler and other people in the top ranks of the Nazi regime. Equally insightful are Goebbels comments about war especially with the Russians. All in all, a very good read for the student of the Third Reich as well as anyone wanting to read about one of the most contradictory, intelligent, delusional, and twisted men of the 20th Century.

⭐Very interesting man. Contrary to the “ideal” Nazi (blonde, tall, strong), Goebbels was short, dark-haired, & had a foot problem, but extremely smart. Diabolical, but has to be my favorite, so to speak, nazi because of his ability to trick an entire nation into supporting Hitler. Very intelligent, indeed.My seller was great- came quickly, Undamaged, & even had a sweet note along with it.

⭐Mr. Thacker’s biography of Goebbels is without question thorough. It also the first biography to be written since Goebbels’s complete diaries have become available to scholars. I felt informed after reading this book; yet, I did not come away with a felt understanding of what made Goebbels such a vicious anti-Semite. This is a good book; but, for me, it lacked some deeper insights into what made Goebbels the man he was.

⭐Very well written and documented! The vocabulary can be a little difficult to grasp for non native english people, like me, but with a good translation app or dictionnary it all becomes much easier!

⭐Well written, a great insight into the man.

⭐Unable to adjust small font size on Kindle. Small font size makes reading difficult. Was hoping it would analyze and discuss propaganda techniques in depth. It doesn’t.

⭐A thorough and thoughtful bio on Goebbels. He was talented, passionate, focused, and a great communicator and diarist, but chose the wrong worldview and, of course, should go down in the annals of evil men. I was struck that, until he met Hitler, his idol, he was briefly passionate about communism and admired Russia. You get the sense this prodigious man would have given 110% to anything he attached himself to, yet he chose the dark side.

⭐This book draws largely from Goebbels’ diaries written between 1923 and 1945. From the very early days mention is made in them of his obsession against Jews (even though they represented less than 1% of the German population in the 1930’s.) It describes his rise in the ranks of the Nazi party and resulting closeness to Hitler to whom he remained devoted until the end, despite frustration with his increasing absenteeism. We are living with the character as we learn about his marital problems, womanizing, enmities and doubts up to and after the apex of Nazi success in 1942 and the heavy bombing of Germany and Allied advances that followed. Whereas, as Allied pressures increased, most of his colleagues retreated into isolation, he remained publicly active, continuing to encourage mass hysteria and xenophobia and giving propaganda a dirty name, cunningly making sure that there was enough truth in it so as to continue to be listened to. He was an intelligent, hardworking, cultured and gifted man of the people, loved music, a first class orator, a man with very scary views. Like his associates, he exploited the fragility of democracy and opportunities for enacting evil, forcing the perception of an omnipresent enemy, the Jews, which had to be liquidated at all costs. All types of ‘asocials’ had to be exterminated, but although his own physical handicap invited comments, it did not hold back his career. Death or subservience was due to all who were considered different or of inferior race. He believed that the Jews were controlling the Allies, and even implicated them in the Soviet murder of the Poles in Katyn Forest in 1940 and the Dambusters raid in 1943. The biography is admirably crowned by a 27-page epilogue that discusses the many differing perceptions of Goebbels, identifies the misconceptions, and defines a very evil man indeed able to profit from the national psyche of the time. This is a harsh lesson for those inclined to believe in the innate goodness of human beings.

⭐A very good read of a complex character. Like so much of later historical investigation of the Nazi era and its leadership, Thacker’s book seeks to explore the complex character of Joseph Goebbels beyond the stereotypical portrayal of one of the iconic villains of Hitler’s failed Third Reich.Like some others in Nazi leadership roles, Goebbels was educated, innovative and cultured yet equally chillingly radicalised to the extremes of ideology and action. Thacker’s history traces the origins of Goebbels’ character and personality and increasingly radicalised views – based on a comprehensive investigation of the Goebbels’ diaries as well as the latest scholarship surrounding the Nazi regime, its organisation(s) and its leading ‘personalities.’

⭐This book I have read over and over, it is highly accurate and full of fascinating insights. In comparison to outdated biographies on Nazi Germany, Thacker provides new and exciting insights on Goebbels and the chilling character he was. In addition, he is my lecturer and is even more clever in person!

⭐Of course we all know who Joseph Goebbels was and there have been many biographies of this Nazi leader but Thacker has based his book on new insight gained since the release by Russia in the early 1990s of Goebbels’ microfilmed diary and the completion in 2006 of a project by the Federal German Archive to transcribe and publish Goebbels’ diary in its entirety. Goebbels kept a diary from 1923 to 1945 and having the complete diary has clearly justified another Goebbels biography.Goebbels comes across as intelligent, surprisingly humourous, very fanatical in his beliefs and ruthless in his determination to see those beliefs given form. Contrary to most histories of this period, this book does not portray Goebbels as a shallow, Machiavellian opportunist but rather as a talented propagandist with firm beliefs.Goebbels was born in a small town near the Ruhr industrial area of Germany. Thacker’s book moves fairly quickly as we see Goebbels attend university, try to fit into a middle class society which he despised, become more and more involved in extremist politics and eventually rise to a leadership role in the Nazi Party. His interest in reading and writing are highlighted (including his love of Dostoyevsky) and his relationships with women (including a half-Jewish girlfriend, one wonders what eventually happened to her under Nazi rule) and, of course, his veneration of Hitler. Goebbels’ often antagonistic relationships with other Nazis especially the Strasser brothers and Alfred Rosenberg are given special attention as are his attitudes towards the Jews, bourgeois society and Christianity.This is a solid, well-researched, well-annotated and very readable biography of a man that the author refers to as “the most notorious demagogue of the twentieth century”. It contains an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources and is fully indexed. I believe that this will be the standard to be matched for any further biographies of Joseph Goebbels, a man who was not as simple as he is often portrayed. Cruel, conniving, often fanatical, yes. Simple, no.

⭐This biography is the definitive life of Goebbels. The clarity and detail is unsurpassed. Goebbels has always been seen as a nihilistic opportunist, but Toby Thacker paints this monster in his true colours. Goebbels was first and always a revolutionary, he alone of the Nazi leadership remained true to himself and it is this that makes him so horrifying. He was a man of high intelligence and acute perceptions. He knew exactly what he was getting into and saw it through to his own squalid Ragnarok in the bunker with his idol Hitler in April 1945. The murder of all six of his children is a crime that is hard to confront, as is the revelation that he stood at the very centre of the genocide of the Jews. Yet he was possessed of manic energy and creativity-very unlike the torpid and basically lazy Fuhrer he served.Perhaps the world should think itself lucky that Goebbels was only a follower and not Fuhrer himself. With Goebbels in charge, I suspect the history of the 3rd Reich would have been very different and NOT in a good way. I’m going to hate myself for saying this,but Goebbels was a very funny man. I laughed out loud at some of his quoted pronouncements and had not realised how biting his humour could be. I can almost imagine spending an uproarious time in his company, but then I see the bodies of his innocent children and the nations of the dead at his heels. Please God, let there never be another Joseph Goebbels.

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