’A series of eerily evocative set-pieces that pulsate with demonic prescience and Freudian menace’

--Stephen Amidon, Sunday Times

’One must agree with Mailer: helping us to understand this"most mysterious human being of the century" is indeed a timely undertaking... [A] very considerable contribution to historical fiction’

--J.M.Coetzee

Who was Adolf Hitler? How do we explain his hatred? Where did it come from? Could it happen again?

Spanning three generations, and a hundred years of history, Norman Mailer’s compulsively readable novel brings to life the Hitler family - grandparents, parents, siblings and young Adolf- in an energetic and highly entertaining family saga. Playful yet profound, this stirring blend of fact and fiction will cause readers to re-examine all their preconceived ideas about Hitler and the nature of his evil.

BOOK I

THE SEARCH FOR HITLER’S GRANDFATHER

BOOK II

ADOLF’S FATHER

BOOK III

ADOLF’S MOTHER

BOOK IV

THE INTELLIGENCE OFFICER

BOOK V

THE FAMILY

BOOK VI

THE FARM

BOOK VII

DER ALTE AND THE BEES

BOOK VIII

THE CORONATION OF NICHOLAS II

BOOK IX

ALOIS JUNIOR

BOOK X

TO HONOR AND TO FEAR

BOOK XI

THE ABBOT AND THE BLACKSMITH

BOOK XII

EDMUND, ALOIS, AND ADOLF

BOOK XIII

ALOIS AND ADOLF

BOOK XIV

ADOLF AND KLARA

AN EPILOGUE

THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST

Acknowledgments

Bibliography