Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil

Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil

Rating

8.5

The Pequod Review:

Based on its title, Ron Rosenbaum's Explaining Hitler would appear to be a study of the psychological origins of Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitism, but in fact it is a primarily a historiography of the various explanations that historians have come up with over time for Hitler's actions. Many of these explanations turn out to be quite weak, and Rosenbaum uses his study to show how our view of the past is influenced by both the biases of individual historians as well as broader cultural trends. This is the kind of work that will make you much more circumspect about everything you read in history books.