Hitler was physically ill and mentally deranged convincing himself that he could still win the war in the west when things went wrong he blamed everyone but himself yet it was hitler whose ideas had become fossilised which prevented effective direction of the war he was obsessed with the war relying less on reason and more on gambling with the fate of other germans it was obvious that he had grown old before his time and by 1944 was a stooped warm out parody of the great dictator . Peter longerichs new biography of hitler is superb well written analytical and thorough longerich shows that hitler was not as some have suggested a passive leader who set the tone but ignored the details rather he intervened in events he cared about determining not only overall strategy but also surprisingly mundane details he deliberately undermined institutions so that he could keep a rein on by policy matters by ceding to people he trusted the authority to take over areas of gover. Hailed as the most compelling biography of the german dictator yet written ian kershaws hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subjects immense darkness from his illegitimate birth in a small austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the reich chancellery in berlin adolf hitler left a murky trail strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self created myths. Adolf hitler was the leader of nazi germany his fascist agenda led to world war ii and the deaths of at least 11 million people including some six million jews