Hitler, the Path to Power: The Path to Power

A highly readable account of a period many consider the most interesting of Hitler's tumultuous life, Flood's ( Lee: The Last Years ) book covers the years of political apprenticeship through the abortive Munich putsch , the months in prison and the first few days after his release in 1924. The pathetic vagrant years in Vienna are movingly described, along with Hitler's service in the army during World War I, where he found a home and his first recognition as an individual, followed by his initial political commitment to the small group from which the Nazi Party eventually arose. Most of the attention, however, is devoted to the development of the extraordinary gifts that enabled Hitler later to put his grandiose schemes into action, and his influence over such men as Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, Hermann Goring, Julius Streicher, Ernst Rohm and others who played key roles in his assumption of power in 1933. The events leading up to and including the 1923 putsch form the climax to this engrossing narrative, followed by an account of Hitler's trial for treason, his comparatively comfortable period in Landsberg Prison (where he wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf ); it concludes with Hitler confidently preparing to rebuild his political fortunes. Photos. (Apr.)