I bought this Alfred A. Knopf first edition over the internet a number of years ago as a gift for my father. As my father read Shirer's book he found himself reliving those tumultuous times which lead to his own service in World War II. My father found this book, as I did, to be a compelling read. "Don't give me another book like this," he cautioned me later--"because I could hardly put it down!"Shirer's book is, from all appearances, an actual diary. Every short section (many of which consist of a page or less) gives the city and date of the account. Shirer criss-crosses Europe as he follows events spanning 1934-1941, beginning with Lloret de Mar, Spain on January 11, 1934 to Lisbon on December 13, 1941. The cities that he visited included Paris, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Nuremberg, and Munich, to name a few. On August 15, 1940 in Calais he observed "German bombers roaring their way to England." On August 18 he was aboard a German army transport plane from Brussels to Berlin. On June 18, 1941 in Paris he described the eerie feeling that came with the 9 PM curfew that the occupying Germans had imposed on that great city.For me, Shirer's most compelling account is that of the 1938 Munich conference and agreement. On the eve of that infamous accord, on September 27, 1938 in Berlin, Shirer assessed the body language of Hitler while it still seemed possible that the Germans might have to fight to overcome the Sudenten mountain fortifications that might well have stymied their advance."Hitler has finally burned his last bridges. Shouting and shrieking in the worst state of excitement that I've ever seen him in, he stated in the Sportpalast tonight that he would have his Sudetenland by October 1--next Saturday, today being Monday."Shirer goes onto to say:"I broadcast the scene from a seat in the balcony just above Hitler. He still got that nervous tic. All during his speech he kept cocking his shoulder, and the opposite leg from the knee down would bounce up. Audience couldn't see it, but I could. As a matter of fact, for the first time in all the years I've observed him he seemed tonight to have completely lost control of himself."Reporting from Munich just a few days later, on September 30, 1938, Shirer observed Hitler after he got everything he wanted with having to fire a single shot:"It's all over. At twelve thirty this morning--thirty minutes after midnight--Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain, and Daladier signed a pact turning over Sudetenland to Germany."Shirer also had the opportunity to observe Hitler very early that morning in Munich:"How different Hitler at two this morning! After being blocked from the Fuhrerhaus all evening, I finally broke in just a he was leaving. Followed by Goring, Ribbentrop, Goebbels, Hess, and Keitel, he brushed past me like the conqueror he is this morning. I noticed his swagger. The tic was gone!"Shirer's book is truly an amazing account--to think that he was often near enough to Hitler that he was even able to evaluate his body language!