Richard J. Evans' The Coming of the Third Reich: How the Nazis Destroyed Democracy & Seized Power in Germany" explores how the First World War the Weimar Republic & the Great Depression paved the way for Nazi rule. They started as little more than a gang of extremists & thugs yet in a few years the Nazis had turned Germany into a one-party state & led one of Europe's most advanced nations into moral physical & cultural ruin & despair. In this consummate & compelling history the first book in his acclaimed trilogy on the rise & fall of Nazi Germany Richard Evans reveals how & why it happened questions whether the rise of Hitler was inevitable & dramatically re-creates the maelstrom of disorder economic disaster violence & polarization that gave rise to the terror of the Third Reich. " Monumental.. .gripping.. .the definitive account of our time". (Andrew Roberts " Daily Telegraph"). " Impressive.. .perceptive.. .humane.. .the most comprehensive history in any language of the disastrous epoch of the Third Reich". (Ian Kershaw author of " Hitler"). " The most gripping account I've read of German life before & during the rise of the Nazis". (A.S. Byatt " Times Literary Supplement" Books of the Year). Sir Richard J. Evans is Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University. His previous books include " In Defence of History" " Telling Lies about Hitler" & the companions to this title " The Coming of the Third Reich" & " The Third Reich at War"."