Audiobooks by Ian Kershaw

[German] - Höllensturz. Europa 1914 bis 1949 (Ungekürzt)

"Kontinent am Abgrund: Der erste Band von Ian Kershaws glänzend erzählter Geschichte Europas im 20. Jahrhundert Das europäische zwanzigste Jahrhundert war geprägt von kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen. Europa erlebte gewaltige Turbulenzen, die Hölle zweier Weltkriege in der ersten Jahrhunderthälfte und tiefgreifende Veränderungen. Der britische Historiker Ian Kershaw erzählt in einem meisterhaften Panorama die Geschichte dieses Kontinents vom Vorabend des Ersten Weltkriegs bis in die Zeit des beginnenden Kalten Kriegs Ende der vierziger Jahre, nachdem die europäische Zivilisation an den Rand der Selbstzerstörung gelangt war. Wer die heutige Krise Europas verstehen will, muss dieses Hörbuch hören - meisterhaft gelesen von Frank Arnold."

Ian Kershaw (Author), Frank Arnold (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pick Ups: The Complete Series 1 and 2: A Full-Cast BBC Radio Comedy

"The darkly comic ups and downs of a Manchester taxi company Dave is one of Irwell Cars' best drivers, although his life doesn't always reflect that. A run-down office with an uncertain future, Irwell Cars isn't offering Dave much - except the chance to pine after Lind, the long-suffering radio operator and his secret crush, and panic over what will become of him if the firm closes. Add in a crucial darts match, a 'Brief Encounter' themed date night, some former school bullies and a rather difficult omelette, and Dave is beginning to feel like even his pick ups are bringing him down... Each episode shares a self-contained tale from the backseat tippers of the after-hours city, as well as unravelling a little more of the life stories of the bantering drivers as they navigate the hard shoulder of a thing called life. Starring John Thomson (Cold Feet, The Fast Show), Sally Lindsay (Coronation Street, Mount Pleasant), Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey, Clocking Off), Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Gentleman Jack), Paul Loughran (Emmerdale Farm, Blue Murder) and Ash Tandon (Bodyguard, The Phantom of the Open), this dark comedy about unrequited love, lost opportunities, and earning a (mostly) honest wage is just the listen for fans of Deep Trouble, To Hull and Back, and Reluctant Persuaders. Cast and credits Lind - Sally Lindsay (Series 1) Lind - Lesley Sharp (Series 2) Mike / Kenny / Timmy / Taffy - John Thomson (Series 1) Mike - Paul Loughran (Series 2) Dave / Doctor - Philip Rowson Alan / Rebel / Brad - Ash Tandon (Series 1) Rebel - Parvez Qadir (Series 2) Drunk - Mark E. Smith Teri - Claire Bleasdale Andrew - Paul Warriner Pat - Andrew Grose Tony - Lee Warburton Jess - Fiona Clarke Olive - Lisa George Stevie - Suranne Jones Carol-Ann - Anne Hornby Shelly - Naomi Radcliffe Ashley - Jonathan Mayor Darren - Chris Hoyle Tanya - Janie Connolly Simon De Vere - James Quinn Johnny - Peter Keeley With Claire Coleman Written by Ian Kershaw Produced by Paul Hardy First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 10 January - 14 February 2008 (Series 1), 15 October - 19 November 2009 (Series 2) ©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd"

Ian Kershaw (Author), Ash Tandon, Full Cast, John Thomson, Lesley Sharp, Parvez Qadir, Paul Loughran, Phil Rowson, Sally Lindsay, Suranne Jones (Narrator)

Audiobook

Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe

"Brought to you by Penguin. The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished. Ian Kershaw's new book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether those operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end? In a contrasting group of profiles (Churchill, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Gorbachev, Thatcher, Kohl) Kershaw uses his exceptional skills to think through how other, strikingly different figures wielded power. © Ian Kershaw 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022"

Ian Kershaw (Author), Matt Bates (Narrator)

Audiobook

The 'Hitler Myth': Image and Reality in the Third Reich

"Few, if any, twentieth-century political leaders have enjoyed greater popularity among their own people than Hitler did in the decade or so following his rise to power in 1933. The personality of Hitler himself, however, can scarcely explain this immense popularity or his political effectiveness in the 1930s and '40s. His hold over the German people lay rather in the hopes and perceptions of the millions who adored him. Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Ian Kershaw's groundbreaking study charts the creation, growth, and decline of the 'Hitler myth.' He demonstrates how the manufactured 'Fuhrer-cult' served as a crucial integrating force within the Third Reich and a vital element in the attainment of Nazi political aims. Masters of the new techniques of propaganda, the Nazis used 'image-building' to exploit the beliefs, phobias, and prejudices of the day. Kershaw greatly enhances our understanding of the German people's attitudes and behavior under Nazi rule and the psychology behind their adulation of Hitler."

Ian Kershaw (Author), George Cunningham (Narrator)

Audiobook

Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution

"This book is the culmination of more than three decades of meticulous historiographic research on Nazi Germany by one of the period’s most distinguished historians. The volume brings together the most important and influential aspects of Ian Kershaw’s research on the Holocaust for the first time. The writings are arranged in three sections―Hitler and the Final Solution, popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Final Solution in historiography―and Kershaw provides an introduction and a closing section on the uniqueness of Nazism. Kershaw was a founding historian of the social history of the Third Reich, and he has throughout his career conducted pioneering research on the societal causes and consequences of Nazi policy. His work has brought much to light concerning the ways in which the attitudes of the German populace shaped and did not shape Nazi policy. This volume presents a comprehensive, multifaceted picture both of the destructive dynamic of the Nazi leadership and of the attitudes and behavior of ordinary Germans as the persecution of the Jews spiraled into total genocide."

Ian Kershaw (Author), Nick Sandys (Narrator)

Audiobook

The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45

"The unabridged, downloadable audiobook of Ian Kershaw's The End, a searing account of the last days of the Nazi Regime and the downfall of a nation. Read by David Timson. The last months of the Second World War were a nightmarish time to be alive. Unimaginable levels of violence destroyed entire cities. Millions died or were dispossessed. By all kinds of criteria it was the end: the end of the Third Reich and its terrible empire but also, increasingly, it seemed to be the end of European civilization itself. In his gripping, revelatory new book Ian Kershaw describes these final months, from the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in July 1944 to the German surrender in May 1945. The major question that Kershaw attempts to answer is: what made Germany keep on fighting? In almost every major war there has come a point where defeat has loomed for one side and its rulers have cut a deal with the victors, if only in an attempt to save their own skins. In Hitler's Germany, nothing of this kind happened: in the end the regime had to be stamped out town by town with a level of brutality almost without precedent. Both a highly original piece of research and a gripping narrative, The End makes vivid an era which still deeply scars Europe. It raises the most profound questions about the nature of the Second World War, about the Third Reich and about how ordinary people behave in extreme circumstances."

Ian Kershaw (Author), David Timson (Narrator)

Audiobook

The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945

"From the preeminent Hitler biographer, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II. Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did. The Third Reich did not surrender until Germany had been left in ruins and almost completely occupied. Even in the near-apocalyptic final months, when the war was plainly lost, the Nazis refused to sue for peace. Historically, this is extremely rare. Drawing on original testimony from ordinary Germans and arch-Nazis alike, award-winning historian Ian Kershaw explores this fascinating question in a gripping and focused narrative that begins with the failed bomb plot in July 1944 and ends with the German capitulation in May 1945. Hitler, desperate to avoid a repeat of the 'disgraceful' German surrender in 1918, was of course critical to the Third Reich's fanatical determination, but his power was sustained only because those below him were unable, or unwilling, to challenge it. Even as the military situation grew increasingly hopeless, Wehrmacht generals fought on, their orders largely obeyed, and the regime continued its ruthless persecution of Jews, prisoners, and foreign workers. Beneath the hail of allied bombing, German society maintained some semblance of normalcy in the very last months of the war. The Berlin Philharmonic even performed on April 12, 1945, less than three weeks before Hitler's suicide. As Kershaw shows, the structure of Hitler's 'charismatic rule' created a powerful negative bond between him and the Nazi leadership- they had no future without him, and so their fates were inextricably tied. Terror also helped the Third Reich maintain its grip on power as the regime began to wage war not only on its ideologically defined enemies but also on the German people themselves. Yet even as each month brought fresh horrors for civilians, popular support for the regime remained linked to a patriotic support of Germany and a terrible fear of the enemy closing in. Based on prodigious new research, Kershaw's The End is a harrowing yet enthralling portrait of the Third Reich in its last desperate gasps."

Ian Kershaw (Author), Sean Pratt (Narrator)

Audiobook