‘Evil’ makes point

CBS and the producers of “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” deserve kudos for delivering a finely wrought historical portrayal of evil incarnate as well as a chilling warning about unchecked ambition and power (“Whence the Hate?” May 16). The fear that Hitler might have been “humanized” misses the whole point of the exercise. He was human and in many respects no different from any of us, but “extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.” The series may have painted one man as the face of evil, but it also pointed out that the rise of Nazism and its accompanying brutality was a phenomenon of the times and not of that one man.

Charles Shaughnessy

Santa Monica