"Berlin Diary. The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1940", by William L. Shirer, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1941. First edition, First printing with '1941' on the title page and "Published June 20, 1941" without any other printings on the copyright page.

Hard boards, publisher's variant gray-blue binding with black and red inscriptions on the front cover and spine, Knopf's Borzoi emblem is embossed on the back-board [some wear, darkened spine]; 6" x 8.3/4"; 605 pages + xxi pages of Index + Knopf's colophon, very good condition.

Berlin Diary ("The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934–1941") is a first-hand account of the rise of Nazi Germany and its road to war, as witnessed by the American journalist William L. Shirer.

Shirer covered Germany for several years as a radio reporter for CBS. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable as the Nazi press censors made it impossible for him to report objectively to his listeners in the United States, Shirer eventually left the country. The identities of many of Shirer's German sources were disguised to protect these people from retaliation by the German secret police, the Gestapo. It provided much of the material for his subsequent landmark book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

The book was published in New York by Alfred A. Knopf on June 20, 1941, almost six months before Germany declared war on the United States. It was "the first attempt by a big-name American journalist to shed light on what was really happening in Nazi Germany." The book was widely praised by academics and critics at the time of its publication. A recent literary study comparing the original diary in Shirer's literary estate with the published text revealed that Shirer made substantial changes, such as revising his early favorable impressions of Hitler.

William Lawrence Shirer (1904-1993) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years. Shirer was born in Chicago and graduated from Coe. Originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the International News Service, Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a CBS radio team of journalists, and he became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II (1940). With Murrow, he organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by news broadcasts. Shirer wrote more than a dozen books including Berlin Diary (published in 1941); The Collapse of the Third Republic (1969) and a three-volume autobiography, Twentieth Century Journey (1976 to 1990). Shirer received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Reporting and Interpretation of News for his work at CBS. His book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, won the 1961 National Book Award for Nonfiction and Carey-Thomas Award for non-fiction.

US: Priority(c.2-6 days) ---------- $12.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ---- $32.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) ----- $48.50