books on nazism: S/D

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i started reading shirer's "the rise & fall of the third reich" a while back and i'm finding it pretty gripping so far, if a bit hard to read too much of at one time. i appreciate the sober, old-fashioned journalistic type angle.

h. arendt's "eichmann in jerusalem" is great, tho all its impact really comes from its being somewhat dry for like 200 pages and then, bam! the most devastating conclusion i've ever read in a nonfiction book.

my girlfriend is a big fan of albert speer's "inside the third reich," which i haven't gotten to yet.

― j.d. (j.d.), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 06:50 (seventeen years ago) link

The Devil's Disciples by Anthony Read is a strong study of the other core leaders of the Reich besides Hitler himself, so I might recommend that, though if you're looking at a more all inclusive/sociological angle, then hmm. There's lots of specialized texts on various aspects of the regime out there these days.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 06:55 (seventeen years ago) link

classic

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 07:01 (seventeen years ago) link

i am halfway through shirer. i have been halfway through shirer for about a year now. war is about to erupt but for some reason i'm stuck in the pre-invasion politicking.

i also have kershaw's hitler vol 1 which comes highly recommended of course but which i've been too timid to crack so far.

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 07:02 (seventeen years ago) link

The Kershaw books are pretty monumental, yep. But worth it.

I might also suggest Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad, in that while it's obv. less focused on a study of 'Nazism' in general it's still a harrowing portrayal of a Lebensraum logic taken to its uttermost extreme. Deserved every award it got.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 07:13 (seventeen years ago) link

you could say the same thing about the famous battle.

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 07:17 (seventeen years ago) link

No, that was Mel Gibson's STALINGRAD!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 07:23 (seventeen years ago) link

i've read excerpts from kershaw's "the hitler myth" which were very good.

― derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:18 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm on volume 2 of the kershaw hitler bio.

"explaining hitler" by ron rosenbaum is really good.

― latebloomer (clonefeed), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 10:34 (seventeen years ago) link

That Speer book is worth reading, unreliable narrator, obv though.

― Norman Phay (Pashmina), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 11:11 (seventeen years ago) link

slightly lame of me because i haven't got round to it but this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Men-Reserve-Battalion-Solution/dp/0141000422/ref=pd_sim_b_1/202-1996617-8706205

i've heard highly recommended.

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 11:19 (seventeen years ago) link

not quite nazism specifically but Primo Levi's "If This Is A Man" is a brilliant book about the holocaust...

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 11:37 (seventeen years ago) link

"Les bienveillantes" by jonathan littell. Not a historical book but a novel. still reading it but pretty impressive so far.
http://www.amazon.com/Bienveillantes-Jonathan-Littell/dp/0828854939/sr=8-1/qid=1165324832/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6935550-5442519?ie=UTF8&s=books

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link

if this is a man one of my favourite books. currently reading imre kertesz's "fatelessness," another, so far similar, auschwitz book.

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 14:31 (seventeen years ago) link

i saw a middle-aged hasidic gentleman reading a bio of hitler on the train two nights ago. i was all wtf.

― ian (orion), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:24 (seventeen years ago) link

jewish people are sometimes interested in that period

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

any people can be interested in that period. thinking wtf anytime someone is interested in it is pretty wtf !

― AleXTC (AleXTC), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 16:56 (seventeen years ago) link

giorgio agamben's "homo sacer" is super theoretical but pretty mind blowing (and depressing) if you can get a grad student to explain it

― max (maxreax), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 17:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Shirer does his research well and writes beautifully, but his homophobia gets tiring very quickly. And I get a "party line" feeling about his book. Brilliant for facts and narrative, not so great on interpretation.

― My Life in the Ghosts of Bush (Modal Fugue), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 17:16 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah he's pretty queasy about the homo stuff, no question about that.

and also yeah, he IS the party line. or was, according to history student friends--he's kind of frowned on these days for his personal interjections and interpretation.

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 17:19 (seventeen years ago) link

although i do love whenever he interjects with a "I myself had a chance to witness this sturdy Teuton strolling down the lanes of Karlovy Vary in the tense days before the conference..." etc etc

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link

"The Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester is fantastic, but it covers something like 400 years of Rhineland/Prussian/German/Euro history before it gets to the Nazis (whom it then gives a lengthy treatment). its long but the scope is huge and it's a good read.

― a giant mechanical ant (a giant mechanical ant), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0679756868.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― deep space nine (deep space nine), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

although i do love whenever he interjects with a "I myself had a chance to witness this sturdy Teuton strolling down the lanes of Karlovy Vary in the tense days before the conference..." etc etc

I read too much Shirer in the end because I think in no less than three books he talks about seeing dumpy, out-of-shape British prisoners being ordered around by happy, healthy Germans. At least change your frickin' adjectives!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link

glenn danzig to thread.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 18:38 (seventeen years ago) link

"Hitler
Tell your Gestapo not to come my way..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link

ned clearly you need to see the danzig promo video from the first album, wherein glenn walks shirtless through his library.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think ANYONE needs to see that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 19:33 (seventeen years ago) link

dude, SO WRONG.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 19:48 (seventeen years ago) link

YOUTUBE THAT, SON.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 19:49 (seventeen years ago) link

some of it is on youtube! i can't find the particular library sequence i'm thinking of, tho.

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 19:54 (seventeen years ago) link

i'd buy that for a dollar

― hank s1ockli (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 20:16 (seventeen years ago) link

My friend, a Russian Jewish godess who lived in Israel and now resides in Belgium, gave me the book saying I HAD TO READ IT. She now, after I kept reading trashy novels, ORDERED me to start reading the book after I finish Devil Wears Prada. She *claims* it's a fast read. Uh, I. Don't. Think. So. But hey I'll give it a try. I inflicted Dan Brown's book on her (saying it was popcorn though). Payback is due. ;-)

― nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 5 December 2006 21:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Defying Hitler, the posthumously published 1930s memoir of Aryan emigree Sebastian Haffner, is definitely worth reading. It's been so long since I read it that I struggle to offer anything more than a recommendation, but Salon have an introduction/review: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2002/09/03/haffner/print.html

― caek (caek), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 02:29 (seventeen years ago) link

anyone read "hitler's willing executioners"? judging from the reviews, not worth it, but it sure stirred up some shit for a while.

― j.d. (j.d.), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 09:44 (seventeen years ago) link

i haven't -- but i think the one i linked to is maybe a kind of rejoinder to it?

― temporary enrique (temporary enrique), Wednesday, 6 December 2006 09:45 (seventeen years ago) link

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