Hitler'...this short book ought to be read by everybody with any interest, whether general or specialized, in Hitler and the Third Reich.' History Adolf Hitler has left a lasting mark on the twentieth-century, as the dictator of Germany and instigator of a genocidal war, culminating in the ruin of much of Europe and the globe. This innovative best-seller explores the nature and mechanics of Hitler's power, and how he used it. On the face of it, Adolf Hitler was an unlikely candidate for dictatorial power. Why, of all the fanatics in Germany after the First World War, was it Hitler who found such mass appeal?How did such an unimpressive figure come to take control of the machinery of a complex modern state?Why - contrary to all expectations - was his authority not curtailed by the traditional ruling classes and constitutional constraints?What did his personal role in the shaping of policy amount to?Was he personally taking the key decisions, right to the very end? Professor Kershaw answers these questions to provide a lucid introduction to the character and exercise of Hitler's dictatorial power. Ian Kershaw is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield.He has written widely on Hitler and the Third Reich and is author of the now definitive comprehensive biography Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris (1998) and a second volume due in 2000. In addition to his publications, he was consultant to the BAFTA-winning BBC-TV series The Nazis: A Warning from History, to the BBC2 programme War of the Century, to ZDF's Hitler: eine Bilanz and to ZDF's series in preparation on the Holocaust.