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The Holocaust

A New History

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The Holocaust

By: Laurence Rees
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Holocaust by Laurence Rees, read by Jonathan Keeble.

This landmark work answers two of the most fundamental questions in history - how, and why, did the Holocaust happen?

Laurence Rees has spent twenty-five years meeting survivors and perpetrators of the Holocaust. Now, in his magnum opus, he combines their enthralling eyewitness testimony, a large amount of which has never been published before, with the latest academic research to create the first accessible and authoritative account of the Holocaust in more than three decades.

This is a new history of the Holocaust in three ways. First, and most importantly, Rees has created a gripping narrative that that contains a large amount of testimony that has never been published before. Second, he places this powerful interview material in the context of an examination of the decision making process of the Nazi state, and in the process reveals the series of escalations that cumulatively created the horror. Third, Rees covers all those across Europe who participated in the deaths, and he argues that whilst hatred of the Jews was always at the epicentre of Nazi thinking, what happened cannot be fully understood without considering the murder of the Jews alongside plans to kill millions of non-Jews, including homosexuals, 'Gypsies' and the disabled.

Through a chronological, intensely readable narrative, featuring enthralling eyewitness testimony and the latest academic research, this is a compelling new account of the worst crime in history.

20th Century Europe Judaism Military Modern Politics & Government War & Crisis War Great Britain Holocaust Survival Western Europe Crime Scary Inspiring Imperialism Middle East
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Critic reviews

Anyone wanting a compelling, highly readable explanation of how and why the Holocaust happened, drawing on recent scholarship and impressively incorporating moving and harrowing interviews need look no further than Laurence Rees's brilliant book (Professor Ian Kershaw)
You might have thought that we know everything there is to know about the Holocaust but this book proves there is much more...
Absorbing, heart-breaking...he has drawn skilfully on speeches, documents and diaries of the Third Reich, and on the vast library of secondary literature, to weave together a powerful, inevitably harrowing revelation of the 20th century's greatest crime
This is by far the clearest book ever written about the Holocaust, but also the best in explaining both its origins and grotesque mentality, as well as its chaotic development
A fine book. Rees is a gifted educator, who can tell a complex story with compassion and clarity, without sacrificing all nuances...it comes alive through the voices of victims, killers and bystanders.
The interview material is largely compelling, always illuminating and on occasion, very moving . . . Like all of Rees's work, it is accurate and carefully researched
Rees has distilled 25 years of research into this compelling study, the finest single-volume account of the Holocaust. It is not a book for the faint-hearted. Some of the first-hand testimony is both shocking and heart-rending. Yet it has important things to say about human nature - what our species is capable of doing if not prevented by civilized laws - and demands to be read
A masterpiece. Laurence Rees's best book yet . . . In compelling prose, Rees tells the full story of the most shameful period in the story of Mankind
With The Holocaust he has set himself the task of writing an accessible chronological account of the murder of six million Jews in conditions of scarcely imaginable horror. He's done it excellently. There is no shortage of books on the Holocaust but Rees's stands out as a readable and authoritative exposition of how and why it happened, and the barbarous methods by which it was pursued. The amount of ground it covers in 500 pages is remarkable - from the anti-Semitism of popular German literature of the 19th century to Hitler's suicide and the surrender of his regime. It's excellently written and skilfully interweaves narrative history, sound interpretation and the recollections (through interviews, listed in the notes as "previously unpublished testimony") of survivors. Rees provides an exemplary account of how the greatest crime in modern history came about.
All stars
Most relevant

Where does The Holocaust rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the finest audio history books I have listened to. Totally engaging. A clear and measured account of the darkest error of western European history.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Holocaust?

This does not really apply. The whole book is a highlight.

What does Jonathan Keeble bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Mr Keeble is a masterly narrater. Vocally clear and engaged with the text, a model of the professional readers art. Quotes from holocaust survivors are read with character, without a trace of caricature.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. The text is too long and the subject matter means that I for one needed some respite.

Any additional comments?

No

Holocaust - A masterly telling

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Having a good knowledge of many aspects of this period of history my overwhelming feeling is that this work has weaved together a narrative of events that give powerful way of understanding it. The work fills in the gaps magnificently and makes clear what humanity can easily accomplish in the most terrible way. Outstanding.

80/20

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A distressing but important book about the Holocaust. Never have I been more educated. Always important to remember what humans can do, even if it is ghastly.

Compelling

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This actor gets Roehm wrong (pronounces it like 'room') and bizarrely pronounces Sudetenland as 'sudentenland', as well as mangling most of the other German and Polish words in the book. Since there are a lot of these, it's very distracting. How difficult would it have been to get someone who could pronounce German names?

Good book, but I'll stick to reading it on the Kindle.

Poor reading of foreign names and words

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This is a brilliantly detailed look at the history of the Holocaust, from its inception, through its various stages till the end. The person stories really make this book so important. The bring to full horror to the fore:

Detailed and important

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