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  • End of a Berlin Diary

  • The Berlin Diary Series, Book 2
  • Written by: William L. Shirer
  • Narrated by: Grover Gardner
  • Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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End of a Berlin Diary

Written by: William L. Shirer
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Publisher's Summary

A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William L. Shirer was new to the world of broadcast journalism when he began keeping a diary while on assignment in Europe during the 1930s. It was in 1940, when he was still virtually unknown, that Shirer wondered whether his eyewitness account of the collapse of the world around Nazi Germany could be of any interest or value as a book.

Shirer’s Berlin Diary, which is considered the first full record of what was happening in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich, appeared in 1941. The book was an instant success - and would not be the last of his expert observations on Europe.

Shirer returned to the European front in 1944 to cover the end of the war. As the smoke cleared, Shirer - who watched the birth of a monster that threatened to engulf the world - now stood witness to the death of the Third Reich.

End of a Berlin Diary chronicles this year-long study of Germany after Hitler. Through a combination of Shirer’s lucid, honest reporting, along with passages on the Nuremberg trials, copies of captured Nazi documents, and an eyewitness account of Hitler’s last days, Shirer provides insight into the unrest, the weariness, and the tentative steps world leaders took towards peace.

©2016 William L. Shirer (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about End of a Berlin Diary

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Not as good as Berlin Diary

I struggled to finish this. Not near as good as Berlin Diary, which I enjoyed

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  • Clarence Nelson
  • 2020-07-19

Mr Shrier might is an excellent Historian but pass

Mr. Shirer's Berlin Diary was very good. As a historian his 2 master works, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and The Fall of the Third Republic are exemplary works of history and have deservedly withstood the test of time. If you have not listened to them you promptly should do so you won't be sorry you did. Which brings us to this tome, End of A Berlin Diary. Frankly it fails to pass the PU test. Mr. Shrier is obviously a man of the left and he takes no pains to hide this fact, in fact he champions (with the exception of Stalin) numerous of the then well known leftist writer, intellectuals and causes of that era although for me his continually name droping got tiring. At the time he wrote End of A Berlin Diary being a dedicated man of the left (which he as I near as I can ascertain he remained till his death) did not hold the negative conations that it does in the present day. The thing that makes this book not worth completing and ultimately recommending you take a pass on listening to it. Is that when the author strays into his personal observations and opinions (which is a large part of this book) his virulent hate of all things German shines brightly. One could make the valid point that as this is his diary naturally his own views would be prominent. As fair a point as that is, his strident total hate of any and every thing German will eventually wear the listener out and by the time he gets the to Nuremburg it became to monotonous to complete. I shall be returning this book. Narrator Grover Gardner is excellent as always.

6 people found this helpful

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  • Nancy
  • 2020-05-29

Is it possible? Better than Berlin Diary Part 1?

Now that the War is about to end, the author reluctantly heads back to Europe on assignment to experience a little heat of battle from the American soldier's perspective and the forever-changed, once Nazi-occupied City of Paris. Then again later, he returns to the totally destroyed City of Berlin, where he once sat in on Goebbels' propaganda press conferences, broadcast on CBS with SS censors breathing down his neck, and attended speeches by Hitler. Boomers and the Greatest Generation may not recognize William Shirer as the superb radio-journalist he was, but perhaps only remember him as a famous author. However, they will recognize his buddies such as Ed Morrow and Howard K. Smith who transitioned to television news after the War. But the reader cannot help but to have great respect for Mr. Shirer's excellent coverage that he gave the outside world from inside Germany. And for the dangers he put himself and his family into in order to tell the truth about what was happening in Germany before and during the War. And then to assess afterwards why the German people let it happen. Without any doubt, this is the best analysis of the post-War mood of the German people I've read, topped off with his notes from his sitting in on the Nuremberg Trials. Excellent narration, including accurate pronunciation of German terms and names.

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  • T. Clegg
  • 2020-05-13

beginning of the end the end of the beginnin

I feel the original Berlin diary was far more concise and had more meat to it but that could be because I have a feeling this was not exactly an intended follow up and I'm comparing it to a work completed much later. it is an adequate coda is Berlin diary. you can sense the initial forms of the rise and fall of the Third Reich and its pages but it's tantalizing ly sparse on those details.

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  • Christine Tachner
  • 2023-02-12

Don’t miss this piece of history!

Ever wonder how people in Europe put the pieces back together after WW2? Think it was all roses and reconciliation? Shirer was there when before the war, and returned as soon as he could to report on the above. As always, his shrewd observations prove to have a truth beyond their time.

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  • TMD
  • 2021-06-19

Good if you like Shirer

First hand accounts because Shirer was a correspondent. Good thoughts about history and the direction of the world after the war at the end. Some repetition of material from elsewhere but not bad. Worthwhile if you like Shirer. Thanks for other reviews, here, too.

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  • pinaki joadder
  • 2020-08-14

Wild Bill does it again, now I know what happened!

after reading the Berlin diaries I thought to myself that's all I didn't know there was a conclusion 🤷🏾‍♂️.
I mean what are you going to say about William shirer he's a god amongst men and his writing is such, this book is a great value not only does it fill in all the unknowns of Berlin diaries but it's a great accompaniment for the rise and fall of the third Reich,
the only way to get true history is you got to talk to the person that's there but there are dead or have dementia now so this is the next best thing. Great book guide recommended