Hitler is a rare addition to the plethora of biographies on the man that inundate readers. A.N. Wilson provides a fresh look at the (one might think) tired subject of how and why this madman rose to power—his mind bogglingly psychotic views were spewed forth upon society in book form without anyone recognizing how dangerous he was and stopping him.

The nauseating fact that becomes obvious in Hitler is that the reason no one stopped him is that his myopic racist views were indeed shared by not only many Germans but also the majority of people in the Western hemisphere. Wilson provides evidence that both America and Great Britain were guilty of pervasive racism. Additionally, the author points out that the violent anti-Semitic attitude was not the basis for the eventual opposition of the West to Hitler’s regime.

It has long been known that had Adolf Hitler been accepted into art school, millions of peoples lives would have been saved. Wilson, however, explores in more depth than previous biographies the effect of Hitler’s adored mother’s death on his attitudes and later behaviors. The juxtaposition of an ordinary little man rising to such extraordinary power is a cautionary tale that readers are urged to remember in order to prevent such atrocities occurring again.

Hitler is a reader-friendly tome that imparts a different yet easily understandable look at one of the worst leaders in history. Readers who love military history—particularly World War II history—will find Hitler impossible to put down.