The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic

The Rise of the Third Reich

By: Rüdiger Barth, Hauke Friederichs, Caroline Waight - translator

Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley

A thrilling day-by-day account of the final months of the Weimar Republic, documenting the collapse of democracy in Germany and Hitler's frightening rise to power.

November 1932. With the German economy in ruins and street battles raging between rival political parties, the Weimar Republic is on its last legs. In the halls of the Reichstag, party leaders scramble for power and influence as the elderly president, Paul von Hindenburg, presides over a democracy pushed to the breaking point. Chancellors Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher spin a web of intrigue, vainly hoping to harness the growing popularity of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party while reining in its most extreme elements. These politicians struggle for control of a turbulent city where backroom deals and frightening public rallies alike threaten the country's fragile democracy, with terrifying consequences for both Germany and the rest of the world.

In The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic, Barth and Friedrichs have drawn on a wide array of primary sources to produce a colorful, multilayered portrait of a period that was by no means predestined to plunge into the abyss and which now seems disturbingly familiar.

©2020 Rudiger Barth and Hauke Friederichs (P)2020 Tantor

Good book mediocre narration

Overall a good book, though readers who want to delve a bit deeper into how Adolf Hitler came to power should check out The Death of Democracy by Benjamin Carter Hett. The narration to this one isn’t the best. The narrator’s inflection is off and he reads to fast.

Personalities, fraught times, things cracking

Here are the collisions of hard times and ambitious people. The viewpoint switches effortlessly from street-level and moment-to-moment personal, to well-chosen overviews. The portraits of such people as Paul von Hindenburg and Josef Goebbels are very well-etched, alongside those of various bit players. The key role of individuals in events, with their flaws and failings, is at the fore. The narrator has a classic British accent but is pitch-perfect in tone. This is just the kind of history moment one wishes not to wake up in, and things were only kicking off. I think this book has an ideal panoramic mix of views of people, places, statements and events.

How a new democracy died.

Good narration. US constitution was the model, giving the German government the same weaknesses of a too powerful presidency.

Terrible narration, good book

This was one of the few times I nearly stopped an audiobook because of its narrator. He was AWFUL! He had this weird pacing and inflection with his tone, I can’t quite describe it. I felt better that other reviewers picked up on as well. Skip this as an audiobook and read it instead.