By R. H. S. Stolfi
Prometheus Books, $27.00, 475 pages
In the world of biographies, Hitler is one of the more common topics chosen by authors. Among the more popular topics include Stalin, Churchill, and FDR. On the book shelves there are many biographies of Hitler. Five biographies are considered to be seminal in their scope and skill in writing. Most follow the traditional path of biographies. In this one Mr. Stolfi takes a completely different track, in both biographies and subject matter. He takes on Hitler but from multiple and different perspectives. He does not look through the lens that Hitler was born evil and that we must find the source of his evil. Instead, he attempts to present a mostly non-bias view of Adolf Hitler; a man who wanted to live the life of an artist, but who was caught up in events larger than himself.
Mr. Stolfi has his work cut out for him, he attacks regularly the other biographers of Hitler claiming they have taken a bias approach to the subject. He also follows a more thematic path of Hitler’s life, and provides more commentary and analysis than just a dry presentation of the facts. Mr. Stolfi will rustle many feathers with this work, but maybe it is time those feathers were rustled.
Kevin Winter
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