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Title: A Must Read? Try thirty years ago
Review: It is a very sad thing to see that this ancient, very shalow and badly researched book of Shirer is still considered by many as a source of reliable information about the Third Reich and Nazi Germany. It tells mainly about the level of knowledge about the subject at hand of the people who think that. Shirer's book has but one thing to its credit: it's very well written. A long, charming, feather-weight journalistic report. As a boy, I have read it with fascination. It's a marvelous thing to read when you're 11 years old. It's like the light classical music records you hear when you make your first steps into hearing classical music. But things change and people grow up and just like listening to Peter and the Wolf or the Toy Symphony so with the Rise and Fall. Past a certain age and level of knowledge it is pathetic to consider it a worthy reading material. The book is simply childish.
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