'Scholar Hansen employs his considerable knowledge of Allied movement into Germany at the close of the war to reveal where the pockets of resistance were located, especially in light of Hitler's furious, scorched-earth endgame... An authoritative, compelling study sure to raise hackles' Kirkus Reviews'A vivid and compelling portrait of the resistance in France to Hitler's instructions that Paris 'is to become a heap of rubble.' Above all, Hansen's book is a chilling look at Nazi Germany in collapse' Globe and Mail'In Disobeying Hitler, Canadian historian Randall Hansen breaks some fresh ground by examining and documenting German resistance efforts after July 20, 1944, the date of the assassination attempt... Hansen makes a compelling case that the German leaders of the resistance who survived the Nazi purges that followed the failure of the July 20th assassination attempt should be credited with saving many thousands of lives on both sides in the European conflict' Winnipeg Free Press'Randall Hansen, an historian at the University of Toronto, devotes three fascinating chapters to General Dietrich von Choltitz, the German commandant of Paris, who was widely hailed after the war as the saviour of the City of Light, a Prussian militarist who had deliberately defied Hitler at this risk of his own life and preserved Paris from destruction. The truth was rather more complex, and much more interesting.'Many military officers and Nazi officials, obedient to the last, did exactly as Hitler instructed, and fought to the end, squandering countless lives and wreaking devastation in a final explosion of vandalism. But a number did not, choosing instead to disobey Hitler's decree. These individuals are the focus of Disobeying Hitler, a welcome counterpoint to the Hollywood image of German resistance as portrayed by Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. The truth was rather more complex, and much more interesting. Hansen has done a fine job of rescuing from obscurity these few, morally hazy individuals, making decisions at the messy end of a cataclysmic war' Ben Macintyre, The Times'Randall Hansen here offers a comprehensive review of instances when German military and civilian individuals holding relevant positions deliberately chose to disobey Hitler's orders... Hansen shows in carefully crafted accounts how some German commanders saved cities and towns by negotiating local surrenders with American, British, French and Soviet generals' Gerhard L. Weinberg'Disobeying Hitler offers stories not often told. They are stories about the falling apart of a totalitarian state and the opening of personal choice for those with the courage to disobey. Ordinary people are given brief chances for heroism that only sometimes ends well' Seattle Times‘It is hard to find anything new to say about Nazi Germany, but Hansen manages this with an excellent, carefully researched and well written account of German resistance’ Evening Standard