The Third Reich is a series of books published by Time-Life Books that chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, relating historical events as experienced by the German side. The series began its release run on the home market from 1988 onward, followed a year later by a European dissemination release, typically by series subscription through the "Time-Life Books B.V." Amsterdam-branch subsidiary, among others in the UK.; the (English-language) releases intended for international dissemination, concerned second (or higher) US edition reprints as indicated in the colophons of volumes released in Europe by Time-Life Books B.V. Each book focused on a different topic, such as the SS, Afrika Korps and various campaigns.

Release overview Each volume in the series was 192 pages in length, heavily illustrated and with pictorial essays on specific topics within the volume. Each book was executed in faux black leatherette with silver and red text imprints, and featured a large glued-on picture on its front. The books were issued without a dust jacket. Each volume came additionally with a bookmark/map key insert explaining the military symbology used on the maps as featured in the series.

The overall Editor-in-Chief for the series was the renowned military historian Col. John R. Elting, who was already a regular contributing editor on Time Life's prior World War II (the de facto progenitor series for The Third Reich publication) and The Civil War series. The second-most prolific series contributor concerned American military historian Charles Victor Pennington von Luttichau, who was singularly well suited to serve as such as he had been a participant on the German side in several of the campaigns covered in the series as a Luftwaffe antiaircraft officer during the war; shortly before the outbreak of war his American mother managed to evade Nazi Germany, but her son was not able to, resulting in that he became drafted by the Wehrmacht.; after the war, von Luttichau did rejoin his mother in the USA and eventually became a naturalized US citizen.

The technical hardware illustrations were done by John Batchelor, a renowned British technical illustrator of the era.

International editions In stark contrast to the World War II progenitor series (which had seen a plethora of international editions in translation), there are only two other international editions of The Third Reich known. The first one concerned the later UK-specific first print versions with redesigned covers and newly assigned ISBNs published by the London-based Caxton Publishing Group, who partially reissued the series (British-spelled this time around, contrary to the ones released earlier by Time-Life themselves) on their home market in the years 2004-06 for sale through the regular bookstore retail channel. They did so under a full license from the Amsterdam "Time-Life Books B.V." European branch (as specified in the colophons of the UK volumes), which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after its American "Time Life Books, Inc." mother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher. Contrary to the US home market version these volume releases were issued with dust jackets, indicative of being from the start destined for the regular bookstore channel.

Two other-language editions are known to have been released: The first had been the 2000-2001 Chinese-language 第三帝国 (Dì sān dìguó) release by Haikou, China-based licensee Hainan Publishing House, and which was reissued in whole in 2015 with new cover illustrations and new ISBNs. Both Chinese issues were released in the paperback format, contrary to all other editions. The second other-language edition concerned the 2008-09 Spanish-language El III Reich y Hitler series released by Time-Life Books' regular go-to licensee in Spain, Barcelona-based Ediciones Folio, S.A. likewise fully licensed by "Direct Holdings Holland B.V." (the Dutch branch of the worldwide holding company that had acquired Time Life in December 2003) per the book colophons, as Time-Life Books B.V. had by then become defunct as well – likewise with radically redesigned covers. Noteworthy was, that the Spanish edition had three 248-page UK/non-Time-Life pedigree volumes included which had been lacking from the originating English-language release; the first "Hitler: máquina de guerra" title by William Carr () had originally been the "Hitler's War Machine" release () from 1975. The second by military historian Christopher Chant authored "Los generales de Hitler" () actually concerned his older "Hitler's Generals and Their Battles" title () he had already written in 1976. The third "La Luftwaffe de Hitler" () title by historians Bill Gunston and Tony Wood, had likewise been a reissue of their older "Hitler's Luftwaffe" book () from 1977.

Interested customers in other-language territories elsewhere were, alongside their 1990s UK and Spanish contemporary counterparts, offered the opportunity to acquire the original American version via mail through their nearest Time Life Books subsidiary, the aforementioned Time-Life Books B.V. in particular, typically by series subscription.

+Volume titles of The Third Reich Title Consultants/Authors Volume Year published (US, UK) ISBN (US, UK 1st printing) The SS George H. Stein 01 1988, 2004 Fists of Steel George H. Stein 02 1988 Storming to Power William Sheridan Allen 03 1989 Wolf Packs Timothy Patrick Mulligan 04 1989, 2004 The Reach for Empire Gerhard L. Weinberg 05 1989, 2006 The New Order William Sheridan Allen 06 1989, 2006 Afrikakorps Williamson Murray 07 1990 The Twisted Dream Robert G. L. Waite 08 1990 Barbarossa Charles V.P. von Luttichau, Williamson Murray 09 1990 The Southern Front Charles V.P. von Luttichau 10 1991 War on the High Seas Robert O. Dulin, Jr., William H. Garske, Jr., Charles S. Thomas, Charles V. P. Luttichau 11 1990, 2004 Lightning War Charles V.P. von Luttichau, Williamson Murray 12 1989 Conquest of The Balkans Charles V.P. von Luttichau, Williamson Murray 13 1990 The Center of the Web Peter Hoffmann, Robert G. L. Waite 14 1991 Apparatus of Death John M. Bridgman, Sybil Milton 15 1991 Road to Stalingrad Charles V.P. von Luttichau 16 1991, 2004 The Heel of the Conqueror Norman Rich 17 1991 Fortress Europe John M. Bridgman 18 1991 Scorched Earth Charles V.P. von Luttichau 19 1991 The Shadow War Charles V.P. von Luttichau 20 1991 Descent Into Nightmare Charles V.P. von Luttichau 21 1991, 2004

Spin-off Contrary to several other Time Life Books history series, no spin-offs from this particular series are known, save one; it turned out that Time Life had been commissioned by the BBC to sell their 1997 six-part The Nazis: A Warning from History documentary series on DVD in North America. For the BBC's North American July 2006 four-disc DVD set release, Time Life provided retail distribution and promotional services, which included at least one television commercial.

Promotion Time Life Books' usual standard operating procedure in the late 1970s and 1980s to promote their book series was to embark on a vigorous television ad campaign in the form of a series of commercials transmitted either in first-run syndication or during late-night television programming. This was complementary to their standard practice of sending out elaborate multi-sheet mailings to their already existing customer base, in which a series was introduced in detail to a potential subscriber; having taken out a subscription once, a customer was then registered in Time Life Books' customer database, at the time a crucial business model marketing tool for the company, making that customer eligible for receiving the company's mailings henceforth.

However, in this particular case though, Time Life appeared to have taken a more low-key approach because of the sensitive nature of the series' subject matter, particularly restraining themselves in regard to television ads, as very few were aired, though there is at least one known. That one commercial was subdued in comparison to Time Life's sensationalized commercial made a decade earlier for "The Nazis" volume of the progenitor World War II series, or even the later one they did for BBC's above-referenced The Nazis: A Warning from History documentary series.

As was customary for Time Life Books at the time, the first book ordered (typically volume 1 in this case) was sent on a ten-day trial basis at a reduced price, after which each bi-monthly next installment could be assessed by customers on the same basis. That first book came additionally with a free bonus gift in the form of a facsimile reproduction – taken from the in the Imperial War Museum kept only known surviving original – of Hitler's 31 August 1939 four-page "Anweisung Nr. 1", considered his very first wartime general directive to his armed forces. The four single print pages came along with an extra publisher's note and translation double print page in a document folder adorned with the Nazi eagle. Customers were allowed to keep the reproduction even if they decided to return the volume it came with.

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