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.
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.
classic
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.
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.
you could say the same thing about the famous battle.
No, that was Mel Gibson’s STALINGRAD!
i’ve read excerpts from kershaw’s “the hitler myth” which were very good.
i’m on volume 2 of the kershaw hitler bio.
“explaining hitler” by ron rosenbaum is really good.
That Speer book is worth reading, unreliable narrator, obv though.
slightly lame of me because i haven’t got round to it but this:
i’ve heard highly recommended.
not quite nazism specifically but Primo Levi’s “If This Is A Man” is a brilliant book about the holocaust...
“Les bienveillantes” by jonathan littell. Not a historical book but a novel. still reading it but pretty impressive so far.
if this is a man one of my favourite books. currently reading imre kertesz’s “fatelessness,” another, so far similar, auschwitz book.
i saw a middle-aged hasidic gentleman reading a bio of hitler on the train two nights ago. i was all wtf.
jewish people are sometimes interested in that period
any people can be interested in that period. thinking wtf anytime someone is interested in it is pretty wtf !
giorgio agamben’s “homo sacer” is super theoretical but pretty mind blowing (and depressing) if you can get a grad student to explain it
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.
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.
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
“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.
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!
glenn danzig to thread.
“Hitler
Tell your Gestapo not to come my way...”
ned clearly you need to see the danzig promo video from the first album, wherein glenn walks shirtless through his library.
I don’t think ANYONE needs to see that.
dude, SO WRONG.
YOUTUBE THAT, SON.
some of it is on youtube! i can’t find the particular library sequence i’m thinking of, tho.
i’d buy that for a dollar
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.
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. ;-)
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
anyone read “hitler’s willing executioners”? judging from the reviews, not worth it, but it sure stirred up some shit for a while.
i haven’t — but i think the one i linked to is maybe a kind of rejoinder to it?