Berlin diary by William L Shirer (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven

Title: Berlin Diary
Author: William L Shirer
Narrator: Tom Weiner
Copyright: 2011, Blackstone Audio
Duration: 15 hours, 59 minutes
Genres: non fiction, memoir, history
Filed in: Audiobook Reviews
Review copy provided by Blackstone Audio.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: By the acclaimed journalist and New York Times best-selling 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 is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
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.
Shirer was the only Western correspondent in Vienna on March 11, 1938, when the German troops marched in and took over Austria, and he alone reported the surrender by France to Germany on June 22, 1940, even before the Germans reported it. The whole time, Shirer kept a record of events, many of which could not be publicly reported because of censorship by the Germans. In December 1940, Shirer learned that the Germans were building a case against him for espionage, an offense punishable by death. Fortunately, Shirer escaped and was able to take most of his diary with him.
Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, and 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 in 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.
©1941 William L. Shirer (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: I’ve done some reading up on World War II, but have never really spent much time studying the years leading up to the great war. After reading Shirer’s account, it seems unbelievable to me that Hitler got so far. In Berlin Diary you can see that it was painfully clear to Shirer what Germany was doing, and what it was all leading up to, and, in what Shirer describes as a “comedy of non-intervention”, the whole world just stood by and let it happen.
Shirer’s frustration shows as he reports on the increasing tensions in Germany, and all over Europe. Even as Germany begins to act in direct violation to the Treaty of Versailles, and send troops into the Rhineland, a neutral territory between Germany and France, Great Britain and France still don’t act. Shirer laments, ”Has my perception become altered after two years in this hysterical Nazi-land?”
In all fairness, I am looking at the whole thing with the perfect clarity of hindsight. Shirer does talk about the way the Nazi party suppressed the information coming into, and going out of, Germany. And they were very good at controlling information, as also documented by Shirer. While it was perfectly clear to Shirer and his associates on the scene, his correspondents in other places seemed ignorant of what was happening, and incredulous when he tried to tell them.
At any rate, this eye-witness account of the major events leading up to World War II is a fascinating read, and a must for history buffs. As an interesting side note, Shirer mentions that he saw the Hindenburg zeppelin flying over Berlin, dropping propaganda leaflets over the city. Some time after that, the Hindenburg crashed on the tail end of its voyage from Frankfurt to New Jersey, on May 6, 1937. After the disaster, Shirer notes with some wonder that he had been invited to take the trip but wasn’t able to get away from his work. Days later, the same officials called him up to invite his wife, but for reasons he didn’t fully understand, Shirer declined on her behalf without even mentioning it to her.
Tom Weiner is not my favorite narrator, he reads without much emotion. However, for a memoir such as Berlin Diary, that style of reading kind of fits. It is basically a piece of journalistic reporting and any embellishment would not really be appropriate.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (audiobook Review)
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes (Audiobook review)
American Chronicles: The Civil War by NPR (Audiobook Review)

----------dotted line----------

If you like this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get “Berlin Diary” by William L Shirer (Unabridged Audiobook) from Blackstone Audio.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from AudioBook-Heaven.