What is the greatest book ever written?  Why?

I have just finished reading 'The Last Days of Hitler' by Trevor Hugh-
Roper.

Although British-biased in views on discovered facts about how Adolf
Hitler lived out
his last days in a bunker in war-torn Berlin in the final days of the
Second World War,
I admit that the flow of the epilogue tied up points of logic that may
teach any
person with political ambition how not to dictate to an audience of
electors.

The book is divided into seven chapters, starting with 'Hitler and His
Court' and
further descriptive chapters entitled 'Hitler in Defeat', 'The Court
in Defeat', 'Crisis
and Decision', 'The Siege of the Bunker', 'Et Tu Brute' and the story
finishes with
'The Death of Hitler'.

The first chapter, 'Hitler and His Court', starts to demystify the
myth  that there was a
Great leader in Adolf Hitler.  When you watch black and white footage
of a Hitler
rally, you can nought but wonder how he got all those German people
cheering him
on and supporting him, but once you start reading you find out that
the German Army
General Staff opposed him, and perhaps that is why he didn't win the
war, a war that
was more obsessed with conquering the east in the form of Russia.

Hitler had even survived an explosive attempt on his life by a group
of Generals from
the General Army Staff and everyone else in the room had been blown up
and killed
whereas Hitler merely suffered slight injury.

In the next chapter, 'Hitler in Defeat', there are two questions put
by the author as to
 when the end would come and how the Nazi Party in general, and Hitler
in particular,
 might face it?  The author puts forward the view that Hitler was
intent on ruining
 Germany in his own way, once he knew that he was defeated.

During the last winter of the war, most of the Party leaders had been
planning their
escape or at least their survival whereas Hitler had it in his mind to
die like a soldier,
by killing himself  with a gun, rather than surrender to the allies.
The pressure of
losing the war with so much of his own 'Aryan' blood spilt had got to
him to send
him psychotic enough to believe that he was still doing good.

So on to 'The Court in Defeat', and this chapter details the
characters and
personalities who made up the Nazi Government and highlights their
differences
and just goes to show that they were not only complacent in war but
lived as though
the state of things was normal.  This is shown in detail at the end of
the chapter
where Himmler sent for Champagne to toast the Fuehrer's birthday when
Himmler
himself was undecided on advice given to him, through mixed loyalty
and doubt, to
depose Hitler.

'Crisis and Decision' covers the few days from Hitler's birthday, 20th
April, to 24th
 April and the details of the allies advance show that Hitler was now
stuck in the
Bunker rather than being able to go to a country retreat to direct the
German war
 effort from there.  It was Hitler's decision to stay in the bunker
when he was being
advised to leave by all his high ranking officers and so called
friends.

The chapter entitled 'The Siege of the Bunker' lists the occupants of
the Bunker
firstly and it shows a certain amount of loyalty to Hitler from about
fifty associates.
When the Russian bombardment of the Bunker was at its highest, Hitler
called his
court around him and they rehearsed their plans for suicide and
discussed how their
bodies could be destroyed.  This was somewhat macabre yet at the same
time
 intriguing as to seeing the control Hitler had over those near him
who had served
him.

'Et Tu Brute' and 'The Death of Hitler' can be taken together and
these detail how
Hitler was 'No Surrender' and how he first of all poisoned his
favourite dog, allowed
 Eva Braun, his new wife, to poison herself, shot himself through the
roof of the
mouth and ordered the bodies to be burned.
In conclusion, we can see that as the facts have been gathered, a
profile of Hitler can be constructed and it may stand as a warning to
any despot bent on ruin.


Bibliography
Hugh Trevor-Roper  The Last Days of Hitler

On 17 Oct, 17:44, zion-lion  wrote:
> What is the greatest book ever written?  Why?
>
> I have just finished reading 'The Last Days of Hitler' by Trevor Hugh-
> Roper.

This student is really not so much of a has-been as more of a definite
won't-be. He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails
to achieve them. When his I.Q. reaches 50, he should sell.

I like Trev, used him alot as an undergrad whilst studying History. Prefer 
Hill Though.


"nigeleeezzzz"  wrote in message 
news:1192701743.413681.268010@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
> On 17 Oct, 17:44, zion-lion  wrote:
>> What is the greatest book ever written?  Why?
>>
>> I have just finished reading 'The Last Days of Hitler' by Trevor Hugh-
>> Roper.
>
> This student is really not so much of a has-been as more of a definite
> won't-be. He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails
> to achieve them. When his I.Q. reaches 50, he should sell.
>
>