The best "Gotterdammerung" book I have ever read.

I am a 70 year-old physician, specializing in addiction medicine, and still practicing. SUPERB BOOK.

41 people found this helpful

Heavy on Hitler, would have liked broader focus

Ohler takes what feels like a too brief (or at least not broad enough) look at drugs in Germany during the interwar and World War II period. The general public (at least those who are history buffs) have known for decades that amphetamines (e.g., the drug colloquially known as speed). But historians have known for decades that it wasn’t just amphetamines, but also methamphetamines. Both drugs were copiously consumed during World War II. In this book, Ohler covers the history of these drugs, how they came to be mass produced and mass ingested, and how this fueled and then derailed the Nazi war effort.

The book is most interesting, and most deserving of its title, in the chapters offering the foundation of the drug industry in Germany. Ohler also explains how use of such drugs made the Blitzkrieg possible – allowing soldiers to go on with minimal rest, manically energized and moving forward at blinding speed in that lightning war. Sections of the book examining use of drugs by the military and civilians are quite interesting and eye-opening.

But such sections end and the bulk of the book ends up being about Hitler’s private doctor and the regimen of injections (including addictive drugs) that Hitler was on for the duration of the war. This is worthy subject matter to cover, but overwhelms the rest of the book. What started out as a broader look at wartime Germany becomes a study of Hitler and his doctor, both of their motivations and psyches, and a description of Hitler’s degrading health and increasing dependence on drugs. This does not make the book a failure, but does end up narrowing the focus in a way that might be unexpected given the book’s title. Personally, I would have preferred a book with a broader lens on the entire German state and not such a tight and extended focus on Hitler.

26 people found this helpful

Another side of WWII history

Would you consider the audio edition of Blitzed to be better than the print version?

This narrator is great, and he did a really good job with pronunciation of names and terms from several languages (German, French, Russian, etc.). I did not read the print version, but my sister read the print version while I was listening and I think we got a different experience from the book. While I find it difficult to keep "characters" straight with audiobooks versus print, I think the listening brings the story a different quality.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I wouldn't call him my favorite character, but Hitler was very entertaining. He was such a horrible hypocrite and this book paints that hypocrisy in a new light. It's also very relatable to today's issues surrounding opiod use.

What about Stefan Rudnicki’s performance did you like?

He has a very deep voice that matches the menacing and down right despicable actions of the Nazis.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The alternate view of Hitler's psychosis and the Nazi actions in WWII

Any additional comments?

This is a fascinating story of not only big pharma mass producing extremely harmful products, but it gives another perspective of the level of manipulation by Nazi leaders in Germany during WWII.

11 people found this helpful

Eyeopening book

Anyone who is interested in war history or even medicine would find this book enlightening and captivating. Dr. Morell as a civilian physician served a significant role in affecting world history!! It was interesting to learn of the significant part the pharmaceutical giants Bayer and Merck,etc. played in the world war.
Having read this book, we experienced a little known part of history that most people are not aware of.

4 people found this helpful

This changes everything

If the content of this book is true, it changes almost everything about how I view WW II. It is no casual thing for an entire military force from the lowest grunts to the highest commanders to be on, and potentially addicted to, some of the most powerful and dangerous drugs that man had yet devised. Not only had I never heard anything about this phenomenon, the same can be said for every person who I described this book to.

Of importance is the fact that the author does have to speculate a bit when deciphering some things, like a doctor's personal journal, but the author is clear that he is doing this. Amid this speculation, it isn't clear that this book is 100% fact. However, the percentage that does appear to be factual is startling on its own and the rest also has a good chance of being true.

3 people found this helpful

A bus driver in Knoxville, TN recommended this

If you read "The Butchering Art" you know about the "cadaver hill" at the University of Tennessee. I asked the bus driver where it was and a discussion ensued. He read "The Butchering Art" (he does Kindle), so told me about "Blitzed" thinking I'd like it. Puts the European Theater of WWII in a new perspective.

6 people found this helpful

Worth persevering

I started this book on recommendation of my son and almost didn’t finish. I kept with it and was glad I did. If you’re a fan of alternate history (or just lesser known parts of history) you’ll find this account of extreme drug use by Hitler and the Nazi regime interesting. While it in no way excuses what happened, this book explores how much of the blitzkrieg and other military accomplishments was due to extreme drug use. It also provides an interesting account of Hitler’s decline.

2 people found this helpful

Amazing story you’ve never heard before

This is, finally, the explanation of how the Germans were so successful in WW2 with their old tanks and rag-tag army. Drugs.

2 people found this helpful

I’m surprised how interesting this book was

This book was way more interesting than I expected. The author does have a bit of a tendency to make it seem as if drugs were the only factor involved in major turning points in the war but it’s otherwise very informative. Weird side-note I read this book on the recomendation of Conan O’brian. A guest on his show askes him what he was reading and he said this book.

4 people found this helpful

good info but with an extreme bias

the writer takes a lot of pleasure in smearing Nazi Germany clearly. I was hope for strictly information without opinions rather than his emotional input on the subject.
The information is great aside from that.

1 person found this helpful