Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power

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From the internationally acclaimed author of Hitler’s Private Library, a dramatic recounting of the six critical months before Adolf Hitler seized power, when the Nazi leader teetered between triumph and ruin

In the summer of 1932, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse. One in three Germans was unemployed. Violence was rampant. Hitler’s National Socialists surged at the polls. Paul von Hindenburg, an aging war hero and avowed monarchist, was a reluctant president bound by oath to uphold the constitution. The November elections offered Hitler the prospect of a Reichstag majority and the path to political power. But instead, the Nazis lost two million votes. As membership hemorrhaged and financial backers withdrew, the Nazi Party threatened to fracture. Hitler talked of suicide.
The New York Times declared he was finished. Yet somehow, in a few brief weeks, he was chancellor of Germany.

In facinating detail and with previously un-accessed archival materials, Timothy W. Ryback tells the remarkable story of Hitler’s dismantling of democracy through democratic process. He provides fresh perspective and insights into Hitler’s personal and professional lives in these months, in all their complexity and uncertainty—backroom deals, unlikely alliances, stunning betrayals, an ill-timed tax audit, and a fateful weekend that changed our world forever. Above all, Ryback details why a wearied Hindenburg, who disdained the “Bohemian corporal,” ultimately decided to appoint Hitler chancellor in January 1933. Within weeks, Germany was no longer a democracy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“How does a flawed republic become something entirely different? We know how the Nazi regime ended, but think too little about how it began. This admirable account shows us how fragile and avoidable were those beginnings, and helps us to reflect upon our own predicaments." –Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

"An expert account of the dizzying months when Hitler solidified his power in Germany... A masterfully narrated story of how a democracy committed suicide, with lessons for today."
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Timothy W. Ryback’s choice to make his new book,
Takeover... an aggressively specific chronicle of a single year, 1932, seems a wise, even an inspired one. Ryback details, week by week, day by day, and sometimes hour by hour, how a country with a functional, if flawed, democratic machinery handed absolute power over to someone who could never claim a majority in an actual election... Democracy doesn’t die in darkness. It dies in bright midafternoon light... Precise circumstances [in history] never repeat, yet shapes and patterns so often recur." –Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

 "[A] riveting blow-by-blow account of the six months leading up to Adolf Hitler’s January 1933 appointment as Germany’s chancellor....[A] propulsive narrative... [with] a chilling climax. It’s a dire and remarkably astute depiction of how fickle and contingent the forces of history can be."
Publisher's Weekly, starred review*

"That history is not as inevitable as most might believe forms an unsettling undertone throughout the book . . .
Takeover is startlingly relevant history, well-wrought and splendidly researched, that reveals how democracies can die democratically." –Peggy Kurkowski, Shelf Awareness

"Timothy Ryback has written an engrossing clock-ticker of a narrative about the behind-the-scenes machinations and open politicking that vaulted Hitler and the Nazi party to power. Nothing was inevitable about their triumph, and plenty of contemporary observers were caught off-guard by it, as Ryback shows to chilling effect. The relevance to authoritarianism today is urgent and unmistakable.
Takeover is a vital read for anyone who cares about the future of democracy." –Margaret Talbot, staff writer, The New Yorker

"If you ever thought that history is only moved by big, sweeping forces, whether of economics or creed or nature itself, think again. In this riveting, intimate account of the final months in Hitler's rise to power, Tim Ryback makes it plain that simple luck, bald ambition and fallible human hearts can be drivers of earth-changing events. Focusing on the crucial personalities at the pinnacle of politics in the very twilight of Weimar Germany, and drawing on a wealth of primary sources, from diaries to gossip columns to newsreels, he shows that Hitler's capture of the German state did indeed in large part represent a triumph of the Führer's own perverse will. But Ryback also reveals the extent to which the petty scheming, petty jealousies, petty prejudices and sheer exhaustion of the other 'men in the room' opened a path to calamity."
–Max Rodenbeck, Berlin bureau chief, The Economist

“Tim Ryback tells a grippingly important tale. His meticulous detailing of the dramatic days before Hitler assumed power make for salutary reading in our times. Will the tragic failure of civil courage and political will be repeated – Germany, 1933, America 2024? It’s hard not to imagine.”
– Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

About the Author

TIMOTHY W. RYBACK has written on history and politics for more than three decades. He is the author of Hitler’s Private Library, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and The Last Survivor, a New York Times Notable Book. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and the Financial Times. He is cofounder and director of the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, in The Hague.

Review:

3.9 out of 5

77.78% of customers are satisfied

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece and revelatory; anyone interested in Hitler should read this

C. · July 30, 2024

Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 26, 2024. I am not minding the deckled edge; the book is one of those great ones, completely changed my understanding of how Hitler took over. Every page adds to the richness and complexity of the story, and paints a picture of Hitler's unflinching ambition in the face of years of difficult losses.

4.0 out of 5 stars Adolf's Climb

C.S. · April 13, 2024

Today many people are vaguely aware that Hitler won some elections and was eventually asked by Hindenburg to serve as Germany's chancellor. Then the Third Reich was off and running.Timothy W. Ryback provides the reader of this book the details of how the upstart Hitler pulled off a seemingly impossible task in gaining ultimate power within the convoluted and confused parliamentary politics of the early 1930s Berlin.A well-written and informative history, accompanied by a nice selection of historical photographs.(Those wanting a good history of Germany from the last days of Hitler to the present day should read "Out of the Darkness: The Germans 1942-2022" by Frank Trentmann. Also recommended are books on Count Harry Kessler, someone mentioned often in Ryback's story.)

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping narrative of the astounding events leading to Hitler's rise to power

P.A.M. · May 8, 2024

Ryback powers his narrative by recounting the march of events against a backdrop of escalating tensions driven by rising unemployment and economic collapse and the buildup of a wave of historical grievance driven by populist politics. The shrillest and most constant verbal force belonged to Adolf Hitler; Ryback highlights the power and popular resonance that Hitler's oratory had on mobilizing populist resentments among increasingly disaffected German voters against republican democracy. In a country long ruled by kings, emperors, and strongmen, Hitler made democracy the culprit and a return to autocracy the answer. And since democracy only provided defeat and economic misery, the miserable present proved the need for an autocratic future. Hitler repeated constantly that the "November criminals" of 1918 were the authors of the country's present problems.Hitler carefully tailored his rhetoric before assuming power to appeal to working and middle class populist resentments while hiding his financial support from wealthy industrialists. He skillfully segmented the political marketplace. After consolidating political power, Hitler mobilized economic resources--people did get put to work--but economic and political repression also became endemic. Nationalism became the appeal to the German masses -- but they were only allowed to hear one voice as the march to war picked up its pace. In many ways, World War II was about some Germans wanting a rematch of the First World War, a second settling of old scores, in particular the morally and mentally crippled Bohemian Corporal from Austria.One must also complement Ryback's narrative power in recounting the tensions of January 1933 in the final reach for power by Hitler and his inner circle. It is one of the most fascinating months of raw political intrigue in the twentieth century. The inadequacies of many German politicians are on full display; miscalculation abounds.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cautionary Tale

S.H. · August 19, 2024

By comparison, popular histories of Hitler are journalism. Here is a presentation drawn on key archives, diaries especially. I had no idea how Hitler got his office and what was the scene in Germany for those grasping for control after WW I.I did know the unfortunate legacy of the Treaty of Versailes, so punitive and extreme. But did not know its limits on the Reichswehr resulted in private armies much larger. Hitler's crucial. Good thing Mr. Trump has not got one. Or that much of one. Clearly, he is stil! trying. I write middle August 2024 in hope our current events resolve in better health, better government, better community.Similarities of character are inescapably clear. Denial lies hatred. But almost no one ever calls Mr. Trump a genius.This book has both authenticity and vitality. It is unwise to underestimate or ignore the conscious dislike of democracy. We all know why.

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Important Details

B.J. · July 3, 2024

Timothy W. Ryback has done an excellent job of researching and then printing in chronological order , exactly how Hitler, against all odds, became Chancellor/ Dictator of Germany . To those of us that know the basic facts, the filling in of the details is quite satisfying.

4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable story

H.C. · September 18, 2024

The only fault, I find, is that the book gets bogged down in details. It would also help to have at least a working use of German.

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying

M.F. · April 2, 2024

This well-researched book is especially relevant to the current political situation in the US. It is noteworthy that despite Hitler’s assurances to the contrary, the moment he was appointed Chancellor he began systematically executing his enemies and consolidating his power. “History never repeats itself, but the events of past and present can rhyme.” (p. 311).

Mala edición

C.A. · May 24, 2024

Viene mal cortado! Las paginas son todas diferentes

Gebundene Ausgabe: Schnitt der Seiten ist eine mittlere Katastrophe

M. · April 22, 2024

Inhaltlich kann ich zu dem Buch leider noch nichts sagen (ich bin schon sehr gespannt auf die Lektüre), was aber eine mittlere Katastrophe ist, ist die Qualität der gebundenen Ausgabe und dabei insbesondere der Schnitt der Seiten (vgl. Foto). Da scheint keinerlei Qualitätssicherung stattgefunden zu haben.

Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power

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