Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941.
“I suppose every government that has ever gone to war has tried to convince its people of three things: (1) that right is on its side; (2) that it is fighting purely in defence of the nation; (3) that it is sure to win": Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941; Inscribed by Legendary Historian William L. Shirer
Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941.
SHIRER, William L.
$1,600.00
Item Number: 148651
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941.
First edition,, early printing of this classic work, “the most complete news report yet to come out of war time Germany” (Time). Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Arthur Goldsmith with all good wishes William L. Shirer.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket drawing by Arthur Hawkins, Jr.
By the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe. CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany. Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, the electricity in it were palpable. The book was an instant success, and it became the frame of reference against which thoughtful Americans judged the rush of events in Europe. It exactly matched journalist to event: the right reporter at the right place at the right time. It stood, and still stands, as so few books have ever done—a pure act of journalistic witness. "There is absolutely no better book by an American about the rise of the Third Reich. A gripping―and harrowing―view from inside Hitler's Germany" (Lamar Graham).
