A Concise History of Nazi Germany

by Joseph W. Bendersky author of A Concise Histo

Overview

This balanced history offers a concise, readable introduction to Nazi Germany. Combining compelling narrative storytelling with analysis, Joseph W. Bendersky offers an authoritative survey of the major political, economic, and social factors that powered the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Now in its fifth edition, the book incorporates significant research of recent years, analysis of the politics of memory, postwar German controversies about World War II and the Nazi era, and more on non-Jewish victims. Delving into the complexity of social life within the Nazi state, it also reemphasizes the crucial role played by racial ideology in determining the policies and practices of the Third Reich. Bendersky paints a fascinating picture of how average citizens negotiated their way through both the threatening power behind certain Nazi policies and the strong enticements to acquiesce or collaborate. His classic treatment provides an invaluable overview of a subject that retains its historical significance and contemporary importance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538140826
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/28/2020
Edition description:	Fifth Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.93(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joseph W. Bendersky is professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Chronology

Nazism and the Contemporary World: Meaningful and Dubious Historical Parallels

Part One: The Origins and Development ofNazism, 1919–1928

1 Weimar Democracy in Crisis

2 The Rise of Hitler and Nazism

3 The Historical Roots of Nazi Ideology

4 Party Structure, Propaganda, and Followers during the “Early Years of Struggle”

Part Two: The Seizure and Consolidationof Power, 1929–1934

5 Parliamentary Paralysis and the Nazi Breakthrough of 1930

6 Hitler’s Legal Path to Power

7 The Pseudolegal Revolution

Part Three: The Nazification ofGerman Society, 1934–1938

8 The Total State versus the Dual State and Polycracy

9 Political Biology, Culture, and Society

10 SS Terror, Anti-Semitism, and Resistance to Nazification

Part Four: The Rise and Fall of theNazi Empire in Europe, 1933–1945

11 The Führer as Statesman: Ideology and Foreign Policy

12 The Führer as Warrior: Victory and Conquest

13 From Domination to Retreat

14 The Holocaust, Resistance, and Defeat

Afterword: From Nuremberg to Vergangenheitsbewältigung

Appendix: The Intractable Nazi Legacy in Film: Propaganda and History

Subjects Recommended for Reading and Research

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

For anyone interested in how a democracy can develop into a brutal dictatorship, this book is indispensable reading. Bendersky provides not only the details but also the analysis and the historical insight that explain the weak points of democracies and the characteristics of totalitarian rule. Both thoughtful and emotionally compelling, this book illuminates with the precision of the specialist and yet the language of the casual reader the everyday decisions that led to the single greatest catastrophe of the modern world.

David Pan

Widely used in university classrooms, Bendersky’sA Concise History of Nazi Germany has long been a classic text. Based on the latest scholarship, it is a reliable and a very accessible guide through the Nazi regime and its relevance to understanding contemporary challenges.

Gerald J. Steinacher

Those looking for a concise description and explanation of Nazi Germany cannot do better than to read Joseph Bendersky’s book, with its balanced and penetrating new introduction. Bendersky decries loose and polemical analogies based on the Nazi experience. But nazism, he argues, does relate to some anti-democratic and anti-Semitic currents in the twenty-first-century world.

Richard Breitman

Those seeking to understand the hows and whys of Hitler’s Third Reich should start here with Joseph Bendersky’s masterful synthesis of the German experience during the 1930s and ‘40s.

Karl A. Schleunes

Incorporating significant research of recent years, analysis of the politics of memory, German controversies and more material on non-Jewish victims of the war, Bendersky examines concisely the rise and fall of the Third Reich. He begins with the origins and development of Nazism from 1919 to 1928, discussing the Weimar Republic in crisis, the rise of Hitler, the history of the roots of Nazi ideology, and party structure, propaganda, and followers during the early days. He then works through the seizure and consolidation of power from 1929 to 1934, including the parliamentary struggles for power, Hitler's use and abuse of the legal system, the nazification of German society from 1934 to 1938, and the rise and fall of Nazism in Europe from 1933 to 1945. He closes with the aforesaid material on the current struggle for justice and accurate historical memory.

Inc. Book News

An incisive introduction to the Nazi regime, employing both narrative and analytical approaches to account for Hitler's rise to power, Nazi ideology, the polycratic nature of the regime, territorial expansion, and the Final Solution.. .. Bendersky provides an exceptionally thoughtful discussion of German constitutional and legal matters.. .. His synthesis offers an attractive alternative for classroom use. Recommended.

Choice Reviews

An incisive introduction to the Nazi regime, employing both narrative and analytical approaches to account for Hitler's rise to power, Nazi ideology, the polycratic nature of the regime, territorial expansion, and the Final Solution....Bendersky provides an exceptionally thoughtful discussion of German constitutional and legal matters....His synthesis offers an attractive alternative for classroom use. Recommended.

Choice

Praise for the previous edition:

An incisive introduction to the Nazi regime, employing both narrative and analytical approaches to account for Hitler's rise to power, Nazi ideology, the polycratic nature of the regime, territorial expansion, and the Final Solution....Bendersky provides an exceptionally thoughtful discussion of German constitutional and legal matters....His synthesis offers an attractive alternative for classroom use. Recommended.

CHOICE

For anyone interested in how a democracy can develop into a brutal dictatorship, this book is indispensable reading. Bendersky provides not only the details but also the analysis and the historical insight that explain the weak points of democracies and the characteristics of totalitarian rule. Both thoughtful and emotionally compelling, this book illuminates with the precision of the specialist and yet the language of the casual reader the everyday decisions that led to the single greatest catastrophe of the modern world.

Those looking for a concise description and explanation of Nazi Germany cannot do better than to read Joseph Bendersky's book, with its balanced and penetrating new introduction. Bendersky decries loose and polemical analogies based on the Nazi experience. But nazism, he argues, does relate to some anti-democratic and anti-Semitic currents in the twenty-first-century world.

Those seeking to understand the hows and whys of Hitler's Third Reich should start here with Joseph Bendersky's masterful synthesis of the German experience during the 1930s and '40s.

Widely used in university classrooms, Bendersky'sA Concise History of Nazi Germany has long been a classic text. Based on the latest scholarship, it is a reliable and a very accessible guide through the Nazi regime and its relevance to understanding contemporary challenges.

From the Publisher