How did Hitler do it?

How did a demagogue like Hitler rise to power in the land of Goethe and Martin Luther and Beethoven?  A new book by Volker Ullrich looks at Hitler’s rise from a “Munich rabble-rouser,” regarded as a clown, to dictator of the Third Reich.

The book is reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in today’s Times.  I’d like to quote two paragraphs.

Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself”–a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.”  His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity.  But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler’s shrewdness as a politician–with a “keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people” and an ability to “instantaneously analyze and exploit situations.”

Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising “to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness,” though he was typically vague about his actual plans.  He often harked back to a golden age for the country, Mr. Ullrich says, the better “to paint the present day in hues that were all the darker.  Everywhere you looked now, there was only decline and decay.”

If you would like to read the entire review, and I think you should, go to <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/books/hitler-ascent-volker-ullrich.html>.