A Native's Return: 1945-1988

I've read a number of Shirer's works, including the other two volumes of his three-part memoir. When reading part 1, I felt that Shirer stretched his story into too many books. Part 3 makes me feel the same way, though it is definitely a more worthwhile book the Volume 1.

It covers Shirer's life after WWII, and thus deals with things like his writing and publication of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Shirer's biggest work. It also covers fascinating topics like his experience being unfairly tarnished during the Communist scare of the 1950s.

The problem is that Shirer spends page after page discussing reviews of his books (and responding to the negative reviews). The fact that this man, in his mid-80s at the time of writing Volume III, still was so bothered by unfair reviews that he felt a need to rectify them decades later, is interesting.

I like Shirer, and have followed his story. For anybody else, moments like this would likely get too boring.

Having read so much of Shirer's younger years in the other memoirs, plus Berlin Diaries, it is poignant when he discusses his declining health and what he knows will be his last visit to Europe.

All in all, Shirer lived a fascinating life, and his work – both in print and radio – during and after the war had a profound impact on our understanding of some of the biggest moments in the 20th Century.