Bøger af Ian Kershaw

Helvede tur-retur tager fat, hvor Den store katastrofe slutter. I denne del af Ian Kershaws storstilede projekt om at skrive Europas historie i det 20. århundrede, beskriver forfatteren udviklingen i Europa efter Adolf Hitlers magtovertagelse i Tyskland i 1933. Den nye militære konflikt, der opstod i 1939 og som resulterede i Anden Verdenskrig, skulle vise sig at blive endnu værre end den første – med massemord på civile og en lang række voldsomme begivenheder, der påvirkede hele det europæiske kontinent i efterkrigstiden.I disse væsentlige værker udfolder den prisbelønnede historiker Ian Kershaw på overbevisende vis denne dybt fascinerende periode i europæisk historie. Han beskriver ikke bare de dramatiske og traumatiske begivenheder, men diskuterer også de vanskelige spørgsmål, som er fulgt i krigenes kølvand, og hvis virkninger heraf stadig mærkes den dag i dag. Ligesom Den store katastrofe kan dette bind læses for sig selv.

I sine to foregående bøger om Europa, Den store katastrofe og Helvede tur-retur, beskrev Ian Kershaw de umådelige rædsler i første halvdel af det 20. århundrede.I denne efterfølger, Gode tider – nye farer, dykker han ned i perioden 1950-1973, som bragte fred og relativ velstand til Europa. Kontinentet blev forandret af en enorm økonomisk udvikling. Verdenskrigenes katastrofer gled stadig længere tilbage i fortiden, selv om de fortsatte med at kaste lange skygger i europæernes sind. Europa var nu et delt kontinent, som måtte leve med atomtruslen og en angst, som kom og gik. Europæerne var vidner til en række begivenheder, som kunne være endt katastrofalt, og som viste, at de ikke længere var herrer over deres egen skæbne. I en stor del af perioden reducerede USA og Sovjetunionen reelt europæerne til hjælpeløse brikker, hvis skæbne blev bestemt af den Kolde Krigs tilfældigheder.

I sommeren 1914 blev det meste af Europa kastet ud i en krig så katastrofal, at det tog generationer at komme sig over den. Første Verdenskrig efterlod de overlevende i en tilstand af chok over, at det civiliserede Europa, som hidtil havde været forbillede for resten af verden, havde ladet sig nedsænke i barbari. Efter krigen blev europakortet nytegnet, og nu fulgte en tumultarisk periode med dybe politiske og økonomiske kriser. Kontinentet, som rummede en række nyfødte demokratier, blev i stigende grad klemt mellem revolutionære strømninger under indtryk af den nye Sovjetstat i øst, og spirende fascistiske bevægelser og tendenser i mange andre lande. Den foreløbige kulmination kom med Hitlers magtovertagelse i det store europæiske kerneland Tyskland i 1933. Den store katastrofe er fulgt op af Helvede tur-retur, der tager fat, hvor den første bog slutter. Den nye militære konflikt, der opstod i 1939 og som resulterede i Anden Verdenskrig, skulle vise sig at blive endnu værre end den første – med massemord på civile og en lang række voldsomme begivenheder, der påvirkede hele det europæiske kontinent. I disse to monumentale værker udfolder den prisbelønnede historiker Ian Kershaw på overbevisende vis denne dybt fascinerende periode i europæisk historie. Han beskriver ikke bare de dramatiske og traumatiske begivenheder, men diskuterer også de vanskelige spørgsmål, som er fulgt i krigenes kølvand, og hvis virkninger stadig mærkes den dag i dag.

I vor tid har vi oplevet enkeltpersoner, som rådede over et skræmmende arsenal af midler til at overtale, tvinge og dræbe andre mennesker. Hele samfund er blevet forandret, og krige udkæmpet, ofte med nådesløs foragt for de mest grundlæggende normer. I spidsen for disse samfund har der stået ledere, hvis personlighed på en eller anden måde satte dem i stand til at gøre, hvad de ville. Ian Kershaws nye bog er et overbevisende, klarsynet og intellektuelt udfordrende forsøg på at forstå disse herskere, uanset om de har optrådt på den store scene (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) eller har haft et mere begrænset virkefelt (Tito, Franco). Hvad var det ved disse ledere og den tid, de levede i, som gjorde det muligt for dem at udøve deres magt så hæmningsløst og morderisk? Og hvorfor sluttede denne tid? Som kontrast bruger Kershaw også sine usædvanlige evner til at analysere, hvordan en helt anderledes kreds af ledere anvendte deres magt (Churchill, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Gorbatjov, Thatcher, Kohl).

Med dette fjerde bind i den britiske historiker Ian Kershaws bud på en samlet historie om Europa i det 20. århundrede er vi nået frem til oliekrisen i 1973. Herfra bevæger fremstillingen sig op til vor tid og beskriver undervejs en række skelsættende begivenheder i nyere europæisk historie. Der var slående succeser efter de fleste målestokke – sovjetblokken gik i opløsning, diktaturer forsvandt, og Tyskland blev genforenet. Men de indbyrdes forbundne kriser fra 2008 og frem var en meget klar advarsel til europæerne om, at der ikke var nogen garanti for fortsat fred og stabilitet. I Vendepunkter, som udgør afslutningen på Ian Kershaws monumentale firbindsværk om Europa i det 20. århundrede, giver han et storslået vue ud over den verden, vi lever i, og hvor den kommer fra. Ved hjælp af eksempler fra hele Europa vil han med disse fire bind have os til at tænke over, hvad Europa er, og hvad det vil sige at være europæer.

Adolf Hitler Navnet er synonymt med et af de værste diktaturer i historien, med folkemord og Anden Verdenskrig. Han forårsagede ubeskrivelige lidelser for millioner af mennesker. Man er på én gang fascineret og frastødt, og ønsker svar på spørgsmålet: Hvordan kunne det gå til? I Hitler fortæller Ian Kershaw om Hitlers liv fra fødslen i Østrig til selvmordet i det udbombede Berlin. Om hvordan en så bizar særling som Hitler kunne tage magten i Tyskland; et moderne, kompliceret, økonomisk udviklet og kulturelt fremtrædende land. Og om hvordan Hitler udøvede sin magt ved hjælp af store demagogiske evner og et sikkert blik for, hvordan han hensynsløst kunne udnytte sine modstanderes svagheder.

I de talløse bøger der er skrevet om Anden Verdenskrig, rager Ian Kershaws titler op ved deres enestående kvalitet og velfortalte beretninger. I "Slutspil" trækker Kershaw på vidnesbyrd fra almindelige tyskere såvel som ledende top-nazisters beskrivelser af krigens sidste år - da det stod klart, at Tyskland formentlig ville tabe krigen. Hvorfor kæmpede de så indædt videre? Hvad fik Nazityskland til at fortsætte kampen til sidste blodsdråbe?Kershaw følger slagets gang, med hovedfokus på kampene i og omkring Berlin. „Imponerende ... fremragende ... En bedre kortlægning af de menneskelige aspekter af Nazi-Tysklands nederlag findes ikke." – Ames J. Sheehan, New York Times Sunday Book Review „Gribende ... Kershaw forener historikerens fineste dyder: ufejlbarlig viden og beundringsværdig klarhed i tanke og tale." – Anthony Beevor, forfatter til bl.a. D-Dag, Anden Verdenskrig og Berlin „En virtuos beretning om Hitler-tyranniets endelige nederlag ... Et uovertruffet portræt af regimets dødskramper." – Booklist „Kershaws omfattende forskning, velskrevne prosa og jordbundne indsigt mødes i en hypnotiserende forklaring på, hvordan og hvorfor Nazi- Tyskland valgte at udslette sig selv."– Publishers Weekly „Mesterligt .... En skrækindjagende, men uomgængelig, bog." – Peter Lewis, Daily Mail Sir Ian Kershaw, f. 1943, britisk historiker og forfatter, og en af verdens førende eksperter i Det Tredje Rige og Adolf Hitler. Især kendt for det højt roste og velsælgende værk: Hitler - en biografi.

One of the great historians of our age asks: how far can a single leader alter the course of history?The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished.Ian Kershaw's new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles, from Churchill to de Gaulle, Adenauer to Gorbachev, and Thatcher to Kohl, Kershaw uses his exceptional skills to think through how other, strikingly different figures wielded power.

TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND EDITOR'S CHOICE 2015In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization that had blandly assumed itself to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into a chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. In 1939 Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse - a war in which the killing of civilians was central and which culminated in the Holocaust.To Hell and Back tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. Kershaw gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise - with what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times - and what this means for us.

Now at last in a single, abridged volume the definitive life.When the two volumes of Ian Kershaw s biography of Hitler, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis were published, they were immediately greeted around the world as the essential works on perhaps the most malign figure ever to hold power in modern Europe. In the face of considerable demand for such an edition, Kershaw has now created a single volume version. The result is a frightening, fascinating narrative of how a bitter provincial failure from an obscure corner of Austria rose to unparalleled power; how the half-baked, contemptible ideas of a vagrant former art student coalesced into an ideology that for twelve horrific years shaped the fate of millions; and how both in his determination to impose his will militarily and to fend off his many enemies he unleashed a genocidal Armageddon. No one individual can stand in as the scapegoat for the vast social, technological, economic and military forces that shape our societies but if ever there was one man whose ideas and personality shaped and cowed those forces, as well as embodying them, it was Hitler. This is his story and Kershaw tells it with unique authority, and with moral anger.

Named Book of the Year by the Sunday Times, TLS, Spectator, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and Scotland on Sunday, Ian Kershaw's The End is a searing account of the final months of Nazi Germany, laying bare the fear and fanaticism that drove a nation to destruction.In almost every major war there comes a point where defeat looms for one side and its rulers cut a deal with the victors, if only in an attempt to save their own skins. In Hitler's Germany, nothing of this kind happened: in the end the regime had to be stamped out town by town with an almost unprecedented level of brutality.Just what made Germany keep on fighting?Why did its rulers not cut a deal to save their own skins?And why did ordinary people continue to obey the Fuhrer's suicidal orders, with countless Germans executing their own countrymen for desertion or defeatism?'Nuanced and sophisticated ... undoubtedly a masterpiece' - Mail on Sunday'Gripping yet scholarly ... the best attempt by far to answer the complex question of why Nazi Germany carried on fighting to total self-destruction' - Antony Beevor, Telegraph'Masterly ... Kershaw's gripping and boldly intelligent work of scholarship ... will surely become the standard account of the Nazi system's terrible final phase' - Financial Times'Brilliant ... utterly terrifying' - Sunday Times, Books of the Year

Following the enormous success of HITLER: HUBRIS this book triumphantly completes one of the great modern biographies. No figure in twentieth century history more clearly demands a close biographical understanding than Adolf Hitler; and no period is more important than the Second World War. Beginning with Hitler's startling European successes in the aftermath of the Rhinelland occupation and ending nine years later with the suicide in the Berlin bunker, Kershaw allows us as never before to understand the motivation and the impact of this bizarre misfit. He addresses the crucial questions about the unique nature of Nazi radicalism, about the Holocaust and about the poisoned European world that allowed Hitler to operate so effectively.

Ian Kershaw's HITLER allows us to come closer than ever before to a serious understanding of the man and of the catastrophic sequence of events which allowed a bizarre misfit to climb from a Viennese dosshouse to leadership of one of Europe's most sophisticated countries. With extraordinary skill and vividness, drawing on a huge range of sources, Kershaw recreates the world which first thwarted and then nurtured the young Hitler. As his seemingly pitiful fantasy of being Germany's saviour attracted more and more support, Kershaw brilliantly conveys why so many Germans adored Hitler, connived with him or felt powerless to resist him.

I sine to foregående bøger om Europa, Den store katastrofe og Helvede tur-retur, beskrev Ian Kershaw de umådelige rædsler i første halvdel af det 20. århundrede. I denne efterfølger, Gode tider – nye farer, dykker han ned i perioden 1950-1973, som bragte fred og relativ velstand til Europa. Kontinentet blev forandret af en enorm økonomisk udvikling. Verdenskrigenes katastrofer gled stadig længere tilbage i fortiden, selv om de fortsatte med at kaste lange skygger i europæernes sind. Europa var nu et delt kontinent, som måtte leve med atomtruslen og en angst, som kom og gik. Europæerne var vidner til en række begivenheder, som kunne være endt katastrofalt, og som viste, at de ikke længere var herrer over deres egen skæbne. I en stor del af perioden reducerede USA og Sovjetunionen reelt europæerne til hjælpeløse brikker, hvis skæbne blev bestemt af den Kolde Krigs tilfældigheder.

Helvede tur-retur tager fat, hvor Den store katastrofe slutter. I denne del af Ian Kershaws storstilede projekt om at skrive Europas historie i det 20. århundrede, beskriver forfatteren udviklingen i Europa efter Adolf Hitlers magtovertagelse i Tyskland i 1933. Den nye militære konflikt, der opstod i 1939 og som resulterede i Anden Verdenskrig, skulle vise sig at blive endnu værre end den første – med massemord på civile og en lang række voldsomme begivenheder, der påvirkede hele det europæiske kontinent i efterkrigstiden.I disse væsentlige værker udfolder den prisbelønnede historiker Ian Kershaw på overbevisende vis denne dybt fascinerende periode i europæisk historie. Han beskriver ikke bare de dramatiske og traumatiske begivenheder, men diskuterer også de vanskelige spørgsmål, som er fulgt i krigenes kølvand, og hvis virkninger heraf stadig mærkes den dag i dag.

¿En qué medida el turbulento siglo XX europeo estuvo determinado por las acciones de los líderes políticos? ¿Fueron ellos los que configuraron el siglo o fueron hijos de su tiempo?El siglo XX fue testigo del ascenso de gobernantes que dominaron una gran variedad de instrumentos de control, persuasión y muerte. En el contexto de profundos cambios sociales y despiadadas guerras, estos dirigentes de algún modo obtuvieron la capacidad de hacer lo que desearan sin importar las consecuencias para los demás. ¿Qué tenían estos líderes y la época en la que vivían que les permitía un poder tan ilimitado? ¿Y qué hizo que esa época llegara a su fin?De manera convincente y lúcida, Ian Kershaw nos propone una serie de ensayos interpretativos sobre la manera en que algunas personalidades políticamente insólitas obtuvieron y ejercieron el poder, desde los que operaron a gran escala como Lenin, Stalin, Hitler o Mussolini, hasta los que tuvieron un impacto más nacional como Tito y Franco, pasando por otros nombres fundamentales del siglo XX como Churchill, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Gorbachov, Thatcher y Kohl.

The amazing adventures of a woman with a fist in her head.Clara Darcy is fit! She's also (almost) care-free, (kind of) happily single and joyously dancing through life but, little does she know, her world is about to be turned upside down thanks to the arrival of a fist - slap-bang in the middle of her head.Based on her astonishing real-life story, We Should Definitely Have More Dancing explores the things that define us, that fill us up and make us who we are - a cautionary postcard from the edge of life stuffed full of heart and love and dancing.First produced by Oldham Coliseum Theatre, this edition was published to coincide with the world premiere production at Oldham Coliseum Theatre, followed by a national tour and run at the Assembly Rooms as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

One of New York Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of the FallHow far can a single leader alter the course of history?From one of the leading historians of twentieth-century Europe and the author of the definitive biography of Hitler, Personality and Power is a masterful reckoning with how character conspired with opportunity to create the modern age’s uniquely devastating despots—and how and why other countries found better paths. The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were reshaped and wars were fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities somehow enabled them to do whatever they wished, regardless of the consequences for others.Ian Kershaw’s new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether those operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders, and the times in which they lived, that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles—from Churchill to de Gaulle, Adenauer to Gorbachev and Thatcher to Kohl)—Kershaw uses his exceptional skills as an iconic historian to explore how strikingly different figures wielded power.

The internationally distinguished contributors to this landmark volume represent a variety of approaches to the Nazi and Stalinist regimes. These far-reaching essays provide the raw materials towards a comparative analysis and offer the means to deepen and extend research in the field. The first section highlights similarities and differences in the leadership cults at the heart of the dictatorships. The second section moves to the 'war machines' engaged in the titanic clash of the regimes between 1941 and 1945. A final section surveys the shifting interpretations of successor societies as they have faced up to the legacy of the past. Combined, the essays presented here offer unique perspectives on the most violent and inhumane epoch in modern European history.

"The Hitler biography of the twenty-first century" (Richard J. Evans), Ian Kershaw's Hitler is a one-volume masterpiece that will become the standard work. From Hitler's origins as a failed artist in fin-de-siecle Vienna to the terrifying last days in his Berlin bunker, Kershaw's richly illustrated biography is a mesmerizing portrait of how Hitler attained, exercised, and retained power. Drawing on previously untapped sources, such as Goebbels's diaries, Kershaw addresses the crucial questions about the unique nature of Nazi radicalism, about the Holocaust, and about the poisoned European world that allowed Hitler to operate so effectively.

The New Yorker declared the first volume of Ian Kershaw's two-volume masterpiece "as close to definitive as anything we are likely to see," and that promise is fulfilled in this stunning second volume. As Nemesis opens, Adolf Hitler has achieved absolute power within Germany and triumphed in his first challenge to the European powers. Idolized by large segments of the population and firmly supported by the Nazi regime, Hitler is poised to subjugate Europe. Nine years later, his vaunted war machine destroyed, Allied forces sweeping across Germany, Hitler will end his life with a pistol shot to his head. "[M]ore probing, more judicious, more authoritative in its rich detail...more commanding in its mastery of the horrific narrative."-Milton J. Rosenberg, Chicago Tribune

From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in this century. Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his thirty-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I. With extraordinary vividness, Kershaw recreates the settings that made Hitler's rise possible: the virulent anti-Semitism of prewar Vienna, the crucible of a war with immense casualties, the toxic nationalism that gripped Bavaria in the 1920s, the undermining of the Weimar Republic by extremists of the Right and the Left, the hysteria that accompanied Hitler's seizure of power in 1933 and then mounted in brutal attacks by his storm troopers on Jews and others condemned as enemies of the Aryan race. In an account drawing on many previously untapped sources, Hitler metamorphoses from an obscure fantasist, a "drummer" sounding an insistent beat of hatred in Munich beer halls, to the instigator of an infamous failed putsch and, ultimately, to the leadership of a ragtag alliance of right-wing parties fused into a movement that enthralled the German people.This volume, the first of two, ends with the promulgation of the infamous Nuremberg laws that pushed German Jews to the outer fringes of society, and with the march of the German army into the Rhineland, Hitler's initial move toward the abyss of war.

In 1940 the world was on a knife-edge. The hurricane of events that marked the opening of the Second World War meant that anything could happen. For the aggressors there was no limit to their ambitions; for their victims a new Dark Age beckoned. Over the next few months their fates would be determined. In Fateful Choices Ian Kershaw re-creates the ten critical decisions taken between May 1940, when Britain chose not to surrender, and December 1941, when Hitler decided to destroy Europe s Jews, showing how these choices would recast the entire course of history.