William Shirer

William Shirer (1904-1993) was an American journalist and historian, specializing in Nazi Germany. He is best known for his 1960 book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

He had been a reporter in Europe, when he became Berlin correspondent for the Universal News Service, which shut down in 1937. Edward R. Murrow, then heading the European staff of CBS News, put him in their Vienna office, where he stayed until the 1938 unification with Germany. He moved to Geneva from Vienna, and then moved back to Berlin in 1939, returning to the U.S. in December 1940.

On his return, he lectured, worked in broadcasting, and wrote. He returned to Germany to cover the Nuremberg Trials, resigning from CBS in 1947 over a policy dispute with Murrow.