Overview

In this up-to-date, succinct, and highly readable volume, Alan E. Steinweis presents a new synthesis of the origins, development, and downfall of Nazi Germany. After tracing the intellectual and cultural origins of Nazi ideology, the book recounts the rise and eventual victory of the Nazi movement against the background of the struggling Weimar Republic. The book details the rapid transformation of Germany into a dictatorship, focusing on the interplay of Nazi violence and the readiness of Germans to accommodate themselves to the new regime.  Steinweis chronicles Nazi efforts to transform German society into a so-called People's Community, imbued with hyper-nationalism, an authoritarian spirit, Nazi racial doctrine, and antisemitism. The result was less a People's Community than what Steinweis calls a People's Dictatorship – a repressive regime that acted brutally toward the targets of its persecution, its internal opponents, and its foreign enemies even as it enjoyed support across much of German society.

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9781107012363

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Reviews

'An outstanding study, wide-ranging yet concise with vivid examples and pointers to fresh scholarship. Steinweis expertly guides the reader through complex issues, highlighting the interconnectedness of Nazi expansionism and racial policy, and offering cogent reflections on the relationship between the Nazi regime and the German people.' Elizabeth Harvey, University of Nottingham 'This is an admirably lucid, reliable, and comprehensive account that will benefit students and specialists alike. Bringing to bear a wide variety of source materials and angles of vision, Steinweis provides not only a fine introduction to the history of Nazi Germany, but also a sure footed guide to the state of knowledge on a host of formerly or currently contested issues. Highly recommended.' Peter Hayes, Northwestern University 'Many Germans persuaded themselves they were building a “people's community”; instead, they enabled a dictatorship. Alan Steinweis explores how the Nazi elite achieved this but also deftly incorporates recent insights from social and cultural history to show both approval and rejection of Nazi policy among the population at large.' Geoffrey J. Giles, University of Florida

'An outstanding study, wide-ranging yet concise with vivid examples and pointers to fresh scholarship. Steinweis expertly guides the reader through complex issues, highlighting the interconnectedness of Nazi expansionism and racial policy, and offering cogent reflections on the relationship between the Nazi regime and the German people.' Elizabeth Harvey, University of Nottingham 'This is an admirably lucid, reliable, and comprehensive account that will benefit students and specialists alike. Bringing to bear a wide variety of source materials and angles of vision, Steinweis provides not only a fine introduction to the history of Nazi Germany, but also a sure footed guide to the state of knowledge on a host of formerly or currently contested issues. Highly recommended.' Peter Hayes, Northwestern University 'Many Germans persuaded themselves they were building a people's community ; instead, they enabled a dictatorship. Alan Steinweis explores how the Nazi elite achieved this but also deftly incorporates recent insights from social and cultural history to show both approval and rejection of Nazi policy among the population at large.' Geoffrey J. Giles, University of Florida

Author Information

Alan E. Steinweis is Professor of History and Raul Hilberg Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Vermont. He is the author of three previous books about Nazi Germany: Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany: The Reich Chambers of Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts (1993); Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany (2006); and Kristallnacht 1938 (2009). He has been a visiting fellow at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the University of Oxford and has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Hannover, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Munich, and Augsburg.

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