Tag: Hitler

Making History

Making History

by Stephen Fry (Hutchinson, 1996)

audiobook ready by Stephen Fry and Richard E. Grant (Penguin, 2021)

Book cover: “Making History” by Stephen Fry (Hutchinson, 1996); audiobook ready by Stephen Fry and Richard E. Grant (Penguin, 2021)

A cleverly conceived, assiduously researched but poorly paced take on the classic ‘Kill Hitler’ time alteration tale. Fry writes in a conversational style and displays an undoubted gift for off-the-cuff storytelling. As a novelist, however, his expressiveness manifests too often as waffle.

The Great Dictator

The Great Dictator

dir. Charlie Chaplin (1940)

Chaplin_Great Dictator

A political satire that, even at the time, carried a poignance well beyond its surface humour. Chaplin, playing a Jewish barber Hitler lookalike, struck an uneasy but quite brilliant balance between serious filmmaking (Chaplin the writer-director) and comic business (Chaplin the actor).

 

 

Hitler’s Daughter

Hitler’s Daughter

by Jackie French (HarperCollins, 1999); audiobook read by Caroline Lee (Bolinda, 2014)

French_Hitler's Daughter

The framing narrative of this cleverly structured middle grade book sees three rural Aussie kids sharing a story while waiting for their school bus. The tale of Hitler’s daughter raises the disturbing question: should children be held responsible for their parents’ beliefs.