Hey, I want a readable book on how Hitler rose to power. I looked at the antebellum section of the subreddit book list, but none of the recommendations had descriptions. Could someone recommend a book and give some info on it so I can better choose which book to get. Thanks.
If you are looking for a short one, Turner's Hitler's Thirty Days to Power: January 1933 is pretty good, if what you are interested in is how Hitler went from elected chancellor into absolute Führer. It is not as comprehensive about the forces that led to the rise of Nazism in Germany (which is a big topic...), but in terms of the nuts and bolts of how Hitler managed to turn a democracy into a Fascist dictatorship (and who helped him do it, often without quite realizing it), it is very good.
A fair question, friend.
The first book I can recommend isn't a scholarly one, but it is one geared towards younger readers and very readable (pardon me if you're looking for a book for yourself rather than a student or younger relative). It's William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler." It's a very, very short book compared to his massive "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," and isn't footnoted as that dense book was, but it's a very good and brief overview of Hitler's childhood, personality, acquisition of political power, and eventually descent into megalomania and defeat.
Now, if you want meatier recommendations...
Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography of Hitler is on the reading list, and it's as good as the recommendation implies. He consciously attempts to "integrate the actions of the Dictator into the political structures and social forces which conditioned his acquisition and exercise of power, and its extraordinary impact" (p.xxix), and largely succeeds in that respect, IMO. He provides a great deal of background and detail on Hitler's childhood and psychological formation, and goes on to explore how Hitler both reflected and drove the course of many social and political currents in the Germany of his day.
Another source you might want to look at is Richard J. Evans' The Coming of the Third Reich. It focuses on the rise of the Nazi government more than the rise of Hitler himself, but also does an excellent job of charting out the ways anti-Semitism became an influential force in German culture and the way Hitler and the Nazis were able to ride it to power.