The Holocaust

Holocaust - A masterly telling

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

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

History Repeats Itself ?

As I enjoy history books, there isn't anything in particular I dislike about the book. It is a timely reminder of how human beings can allow themselves to believe demagoguery when they benefit from it at someone else's expense ( Jews, Poles, everyone not considered racially superior). It is an extremely well researched book, with accounts from individuals who were there. Even though everyone knows about the extermination of European Jewry, the level of Nazi anti Jewish sentiment made me feel physically sick. The level of collusion
To formulate extermination very frightening indeed. In current times we need to remember for evil to succeed all it takes is people doing nothing.

16 of 18 people found this review helpful

Astonishing Piece Of Work

I've read and watched Laurence Rees's work about the ' Final Solution ' which was made by the BBC and is on Netflix as a 6 part documentary. This book is 25 years of work combined into as the author correctly states ' A New History '.

We all know about the atrocities of the Holocaust and how the sick, elderly, disables and Jews were persecuted. This book is a little different, though it does highlight the atrocities of that period it actually takes the readers into the mechanics of how and why the Holocaust came about.

I've actually ordered and received 2 other books by the author and a couple more books about this subject as even after reading and watching things about the Holocaust I still can't understand how one deluded maniac could influence a nation of people to rally against a race that Hitler blamed for the Germans losing the First World War.

Highly recommend this book for people who would like to know how this all came about and why it is still important to this day to keep this dark episode of the 20th Century open for future generations to learn from.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

wow

Amazing. Terrifying. An insight like none I've read or watched before.
The narrator is, I feel, a good choice. He brings a level of intensity and care to a telling of this history that is respectful.

The book itself is well paced, indepth and compelling to listen to.
The author presents the research, backed up by citing documents and interviews, in a chronological way. He gives his opinions and shows why he came to those conclusions.

If you want a broader (in the sensw that it covers a larger time scale) knowledge of the acts that took place in this dark area of our recent history, that is also full of detail this is definitely a good book to try

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

painfullly compulsive

JK is probably the best narrator in audible and i am drawn to books he covers as i find him an easy listen - he does a first class job here as did the author who's strength in assembling material is astounding . . at points i had to stop listening as the content is so dark and shows the depths of depravity to which the human mind can sink . but i also felt an obligation to get through the book as my modem sacrifice does not even scratch the surface of the suffering of millions for the sake of the deviant ideology .

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Gripping and fascinating read.

Lawrence Rees has written an incredible poignant, moving, insightful book detailing a new history of the holocaust thats maps out if existence and those who participated and suffered at the hands of it. I was gripped from start to finish. 5 Stars...It is also superbly read by Jonathan Keeble who adds the right tone and voice to the subject matter.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

80/20

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Gripping, heartbreaking

Excellent. Beautifully read. Heartbreaking detail. To say I 'enjoyed' it is the wrong word. I learnt a lot. I am glad I read it. Never forget.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great book but a hard subject

This is an excellent book, full of great detail and first hand accounts of works changing events. It goes into unflinching detail about what happened in places like Auschwitz and Sobibór, so is necessarily a hard listen, but worth it to understand what lead to the Holocaust.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

An excellent account-but hardly a 'new history'.

This is a great starting point for those unfamiliar with the great body of specialist work on the Holocaust from writers such as Browning, Kershaw, Marrus, Gerlach and Longerich. It is however more than a little disingenuous - perhaps even somewhat arrogant - for the author to claim this is a 'new history' as it is really a synthesis of the ideas and work of others, supplemented with some oral testimony garnered by the author (much of which is taken from his BBC series, the Nazis, A Warning from History). Thus, on questions such as Hitler's role, whether the Nazis conceived the Holocaust in a 'single momentous decision' , or whether it simply evolved through a process of 'cumulative radicalisation', Rees offers not one original revelation and merely supports the 'moderate functionalist' position on Nazi Jewish policy and decision-making that is now the historical consensus. Consequently, one wonders what the aforementioned specialist historians will have made of Rees's hyperbolic claims for the work's originality. Nevertheless, this is still a worthy book offering analysis as well as a narrative of events and as such will be great for undergraduate students and the general reader who is looking for an immersive single volume overview of the Holocaust.