William L. Shirer

This gripping docuseries examines Adolf Hitler and the Nazis' rise, rule and reckoning from pre-WWII to the Holocaust to the Nuremberg trials.

The Valiant Years was a documentary produced by ABC based on the memoirs of Winston Churchill, directed by Anthony Bushell and John Schlesinger, narrated by Gary Merrill and with extracts from the memoirs voiced by Richard Burton. It ran in the United States from 1960 to 1961, in 27 30-minute episodes and was broadcast in the UK by the BBC from February to August 1961. Its incidental music was written by Richard Rodgers, who won an Emmy for it in 1962. Scriptwriters included Victor Wolfson a dramatist and writer, Quentin Reynolds, William L. Shirer an American journalist, war correspondent and historian, and Richard Tregaskis. One of the program's London-based producers was actor Patrick Macnee, just prior to his being cast as secret agent John Steed in the long-running cult TV series The Avengers.,

Actor becomes Hitler's valet, murders him, takes his place and ruins Nazi Germany's war efforts.

This documentary showcases Hitler's strategy for conquering hearts and minds by exploiting people's capacity to hate, something as relevant in our time as it seems to have been in his. This is a lesson which is especially worth remembering at this point in history.

William L. Shirer, the author of The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich, talks about the youth who were under Hitler. He speaks on the influence, hate, death, war and conquest has on the youth. How these concepts are built into them the moment they are born.