Description
Book SynopsisAdolf Hitler is the greatest mystery of the 20th century, and the mystery surrounding him consists of two unanswered questions that have baffled biographers and historians. First, how did he ever rise to power? Second, who was he really?Hitler had the power to mesmerize crowds as the most dynamic orator of the modern age. Yet, his power was not in his ideas, which he collected from the gutter sheets of Vienna, nor was it in his personality; his biographers describe him as an unperson and his character as a void and a black hole. What, then, was the source of his power? Was he a medium or a magician with paranormal powers, as many contemporaries thought? Or did he have a secret or method that has not yet been revealed?Ben Novak spent fourteen years searching for the secret of Hitler''s political success and his power as a speaker. Hitler''s most astute contemporary observer, Konrad Heiden, who wrote the first objective books on Hitler warning that this man was the greatest massdisturber
Trade ReviewHitler and Abductive Logic: The Strategy of a Tyrant is thought-provoking and extremely creative, exploring aspects and influences of Hitler’s formative years that other biographers and historians have not examined to the same degree of detail. The application of the logic of abduction to Hitler’s mental development is fascinating, and clearly no other author has tried to apply Peirce’s description to Hitler in such a way. -- Beth A. Griech-Polelle, Pacific Lutheran University
The amount of literature on Adolf Hitler is astounding. And yet, as Ben Novak demonstrates, historians still have not fully explained how this ill-educated and irrational provincial Austrian actually rose to power in Germany. This work uses the concept of abductive logic both as a means of investigating the mystery of Hitler's rise to power and as a way to understand the mind and character of Hitler. Novak's book, written in an engaging narrative style, offers a compelling argument for a new approach to the mystery of Hitler's rise to power. -- Jackson Spielvogel, Pennsylvania State University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: The Historical Problem of Hitler Chapter 2: The Third Logic: The Background and Formal Structure of Abduction Chapter 3: Characteristics of Abduction Chapter 4: Abductive Logic in Literature Chapter 5: The Application of Peirce's Abductive Theory to Unraveling the Mystery of Hitler's Youth Chapter 6: The Genesis of the Fuehrer: The Birth of Hitler's Character Chapter 7: In That Hour it Began Chapter 8: Closing Argument: How Did He Do It?
