Book · 1960
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
by William L. Shirer
William Shirer's 1200-page eyewitness account of Nazi Germany, written by the CBS correspondent who watched it happen from inside Berlin.
What does Reddit think of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?
Thirty-two mentions across two subreddits, with r/AskHistorians carrying 25 of them. That concentration tells you something: this is a book historians talk about, not always warmly. The ↑103 comment from r/AskHistorians puts it directly — the commenter takes "a rather dim view of it as a general history" and notes it "deserves its place in an historiographical review" while questioning the reverence it still holds in conventional circles. That's the honest position on Shirer: valuable as primary source, shaky as scholarship. The ↑378 comment captures the civilian reader: someone mid-read, enjoying it, asking AskHistorians what to stack next. That's most people who pick this up. r/history contributes seven mentions and r/AskHistorians 25 over seven years, with steady annual traffic — five mentions in 2023, four in 2024, four in 2025. Nobody's forgetting about it. Nobody's calling it essential without caveats.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Primary-source eyewitness journalism versus scholarly history
- · The Weimar Republic's collapse and conditions for fascist rise
- · Hitler's psychology and the OSS intelligence portrait
- · Historiographical debates about Nazi Germany
- · The gap between popular history and academic consensus
Common praise
- + The eyewitness detail from Shirer's Berlin years gives scenes that no secondary source reproduces.
- + r/AskHistorians commenters cite it alongside Churchill's memoirs and Liddell Hart as a foundational reference point for the period.
- + Readers mid-book consistently report wanting to keep going, which is not nothing for a 1200-page history.
- + Works as a starting map of the Nazi period before moving to more specialized academic sources.
Common criticism
- − The ↑103 r/AskHistorians comment calls it a dim choice as a general history and questions why it still commands reverence.
- − Shirer's journalism background means the book reflects attitudes of its 1960 publication date, including outdated frameworks around sexuality and psychology.
- − The OSS portrait of Hitler that Shirer draws on — linking homosexuality to degeneracy — is flagged in the ↑2642 thread as a product of wartime intelligence bias, not historical method.
- − Professional historians treat it as an artifact of historiography, not the state of the field.
Who it's for
If you want to understand why historians argue about popular history, Shirer is the case study. Read it if you're starting on the Third Reich and want a single-volume narrative before moving to Evans's trilogy or Kershaw's Hitler biography — just go in knowing its limits. The r/AskHistorians consensus is that it earns its place on a reading list without earning the uncritical reverence it sometimes gets. Skip it if you've already done Evans and are looking for something that pushes the scholarship forward.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The words of Strasser and Putzi, among others, were sued by American intelligence services in their attempts to create a picture of Hitler’s person, and Langer’s 1943 report for the OSS exemplifies the result, and again, equates homosexuality in some ways with a degeneracy: >The belief that Hitler …
“When people say that the Weimar Republic was exceptionally progressive, they are usually talking about one of two things: the Weimar Constitution or "Weimar culture". The former is true. The Weimar Constitution guaranteed universal adult suffrage, including for women, and many individual rights and…
“Gleiwitz incident, rather than being a one-off incident affirming foreign intervention into German affairs, was sold to be a part of a series of outside … Poland delaying mobilizing its forces on August 29th. As to the extent of that being accepted among the German people themselves, the historian W…
“fascinating! thanks for your time and effort. I'm currently reading through Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." Any opinions on this one? I'll definitely get started on your two references.
“I'd like to point you to this excellent response by /u/killfile and build on it. I'd also challenge one of the premises of your question: the "key cities…
“**Sources** * Churchill, Winston (2010) [1948-1953]. **The Second World War**. * Liddell Hart, Basil H (1953). **The Rommel Papers**. * v. Manstein, Erich (1998) [1955]. **Verlorene Siege** (in German) (15th ed.). Bonn: Bernard und Graefe. ISBN 3763752536. OCLC 75863994. * Shirer, William L. (1…
“One piece of low-hanging fruit is simply to do a web search for the author's name and for the title of the book. Look particularly for the author's professional background (e.g. professors and other professional historical researchers tend to be less likely to be cranks); honors, awards, and recogni…
“I'm going to focus on Episode 2: Lightning War. I wouldn't say that both of these are 100% false, but they are inaccuracies that play into pretty standard tropes of the war that remove some of the nuance that I think is necessary in studying the conflict. The episode details what it calls Blitz…
“1. Not all the rank and file German soldiers were hard core Nazis. Plus, it's one thing to be convinced that Jews were terrible and want them out of the country, but it's another thing to be forced to kill them in cold blood. 2. The Nazis believed what they were doing was right, but they were smar…
“This quote and an overview of the Protestant churches in Nazi Germany can be found in “the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shirer. I consider it a must read for understanding the history of Nazism.
“I would suggest {{The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich}} by William Shirer. It’s extremely readable - I had a hard time putting it down. Since this is a history request be aware that there are some scholarly criticisms of it so read those too before you decide to pick it up.
“I read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by Shirer and it’s the best book I’ve ever read. I’m curious to read these.
“From an earlier answer of mine Shirer's work is not completely useless; as a journalist, Shirer was privy to a number of small details on the Nazi elite and life under the dictatorship. If his…
“Just finished *Rise and Fall of the Third Reich* by William L. Shirer. Despite the common criticisms, I found it quite thorough and well-sourced. The only part I can legitimately see being questionable is his theory on the links from Lutherism to Nazism. However, in my 1140 page copy of the book, th…
“I recommend the book and, by extension, the audiobook The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. Some is a first-person account of an American journalist living in Berlin during the rise of Hitler's coming to power. It's a powerful and gripping book.
Convinced? Pick up The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
What else does r/AskHistorians read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Guides featuring The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Ranked best-of lists and editorial guides where this book's tracked mentions place it.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich — frequently asked
Is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich still worth reading in 2026?+
Depends on where you're starting. r/AskHistorians (23 of the book's 30 total mentions) treats it as a historiographical artifact — useful to understand, not a substitute for current scholarship. One ↑103 comment explicitly calls it a poor choice as a general history while acknowledging it belongs in any historiographical review. For first-time readers of the period, it works as an entry point. For anyone who's already read Evans or Kershaw, it adds context but not new ground.
What does Reddit think of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?+
Neutral overall, with most of the 32 mentions living in r/AskHistorians rather than r/history (25 vs. 7). The sentiment scores zero in both subs — not hostile, not enthusiastic. The recurring position is that Shirer was there, which counts for something, but that the book reflects 1960 assumptions and should be read alongside more rigorous academic histories. No one calls it useless. No one calls it definitive.
How does The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich hold up against academic histories of Nazi Germany?+
Poorly by specialist standards, usefully as primary source. The ↑103 r/AskHistorians comment is the clearest statement: it earns a place in an historiographical review but the reverence it holds in conventional circles is questioned. Shirer's OSS-influenced portrait of Hitler — flagged in the ↑2642 thread — shows how wartime intelligence frameworks shaped his analysis in ways that later historians corrected.
Should I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich before or after more academic histories of the Third Reich?+
Before, if you're new to the period. The r/AskHistorians thread where a reader asks mid-book what to read next (↑378) points toward exactly this pattern: Shirer as orientation, specialists as follow-up. Reading it after Evans's Third Reich trilogy would feel like a step backward in rigor, but as an introduction to the terrain it still functions. The seven years of consistent annual mentions (four in both 2024 and 2025) suggest it keeps finding new first-time readers.