William L. Shirer

William L. Shirer (1904-1993) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian best known for his eyewitness reporting from Nazi Germany and his seminal nonfiction work The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960), a comprehensive history of Nazi Germany that won the National Book Award. Beginning his career as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in Europe and India in the 1920s and 1930s, he joined CBS Radio under Edward R. Murrow, pioneering live broadcasts including the first world news roundup in 1938. Other notable works include Berlin Diary (1941) and The Collapse of the Third Republic (1969), along with a three-volume autobiography 20th Century Journey.