The Hitler who arrived in Vienna in 1907 was a young aspiring artist; the man who left six years later was a hate-filled dictator in the making, destined to plunge the world into war. Jones' look at Hitler's formative years provides a startling and insightful picture into the future Fuhrer, examining his career as an artist, his acquaintances, and his developing political beliefs. Jones also explores the Vienna of those fragile years before World War I, a home to an amazing array of artists, thinkers, and future leaders, including Sigmund Freud, composer Gustav Mahler, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Communist leader Leon Trotsky, painter Gustav Klimt, composer Arnold Schoenberg, and many others. In this remarkable setting, where the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were running out and suicide became a widespread trend, Jones shows how the tumultuous period left a significant mark on the young Hitler.