Hitler's Private Library by Timothy W. Ryback

Contrary to popular perception, Adolf Hitler did frequently cherish books rather than char them. That revelation is not the only original element of this outstanding work. In using the tomes that shaped the dictator’s life and thoughts as a biographical portal, Ryback has produced a genuinely fresh view of an apparently tired subject.

Ryback meticulously surveyed what remains of Hitler’s 16,000-volume collection to tease out the works that sculpted his ideology. He shows that books decisively influenced the Führer’s life and, by harrowing consequence, those of many millions more.

From WWI trenches to WWII suicide bunker, Nazism’s evolution is fluently mapped out through books Hitler loved and even loathed. There are cameos from authors that skewed and moulded his thought; the rabidly anti-Semitic car magnate Henry Ford is a particularly interesting and outwardly unlikely influence. Misspelt margin notes transport us deep into the mind of Hitler and enhance the book’s overall impression of a frustrated and unremarkable man that struggled in the intellectual arena.

It is particularly chilling to realise that literature, so often an empowering and positive tiller of history, made an almighty contribution in turning an angry loner into a murderous despot. Fresh, insightful and important. [Daniel Gray]