The Third Reich. From Origins to Collapse. Two-volume boxed set

A masterful and pioneering synthesis, hailed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's The Third Reich belongs to that category of reference works that read like a novel.

Acclaimed by hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide, this colossal work owes its originality to the fact that the author, residing in Berlin from 1934 to 1940, was a direct witness: he draws his narrative from what he saw unfold before his eyes and recorded in his diary. Hence the unique character of his work within the rich historiography of the Nazi regime, which he describes in all its facets: social, political, diplomatic, and military structures.

William L. Shirer devoted five years to his research, sifting through tons of archives seized by the Allies at the end of the war, while also drawing on his notes and diary kept during his stay in the German capital, smuggled out at the end of 1940 when he left the country to escape the Gestapo.

It offers us an extraordinary and terrifying journey behind the scenes of a theatre whose tragic events and demented actors nearly plunged the Western world into eternal darkness. For Ian Kershaw, « this book remains, for entire generations, the entry point into this history ». Documented from first-hand sources, it is THE book to know on the Third Reich.