THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH by William Shirer

One truly chilling aspect of the first chapter of Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (all of which is great and essential reading), in which Shirer writes of Hitler's childhood and youth, is the extent to which this reads like the childhood and youth of any artist--albeit in Hitler's case a talentless one. Tragically talentless. If he had been accepted by the Viennese academy (as many equally mediocre artists undoubtedly were), the entire history of the modern world might have been changed for the better. Indeed, it might've been changed if someone, anyone, had spoken the following sentence in Vienna ca.1910: "You know, Hitler, you're a good painter, and if you work at it, you could be great." Such encouragement might've kept his imagination focused on canvas, where his monstrosities would've hurt no one. My kingdom for a time machine...