Nazism and War
- ISBN-10
- 0307558525
- ISBN-13
- 9780307558527
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 320
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2009-03-04
- Publisher
- Modern Library
- Author
- Richard Bessel
Description
An incendiary work of scholarship arguing that racism was the driving force behind Nazism, rather than a by-product of it—essential reading in an age of renewed fears of bigotry, tyranny, and fascism. World War II was the defining event of the twentieth century, redrawing the political map in ways that continue to affect nearly the entire human race. What was unprecedented, however, was not simply the war’s scale, but its causes. Unlike previous territorial or political clashes, the war launched by Nazi Germany was an ideological one, waged to wipe entire peoples and cultures from the face of the earth. In Nazism and War, Richard Bessel, one of the preeminent authorities on the social and political history of modern Germany, demonstrates that “Nazi war was racial struggle; Nazi racial struggle was war.” War was the anvil on which Hitler’s worldview was forged: German National Socialism emerged triumphant over a country deeply scarred by defeat and eager to reclaim its greatness. As a political philosophy, Nazism glorified struggle and conflict, viewing them as the purpose of a nation and a measure of its overall condition. As a political movement and state system, Nazism made its ideology real, plunging the European continent into a war of annihilation and a sea of blood. Nazism destroyed the old Europe, and thus helped to create the world in which we live. Praise for Nazism and War “[A] stimulating and thoughtful volume.”—Richard Overy, Literary Review “[A] rich, well-rounded portrait . . . offers both the serious scholar and the lay reader a concise yet comprehensive perspective on the events and horrors of that period.”—Publishers Weekly “[An] impressive study . . . highly recommended.”—Library Journal “Clear, engaging, and quietly profound.”—Booklist
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Nazism, War and Genocide: New Perspectives on the History of the Third Reich
By Neil GregorThis volume of specially commissioned essays from internationally recognized scholars, available for the first time in paperback, provides a new approach to Nazism in its full spectrum of influence—the history of its racial policy, social ...
-
Islam and Nazi Germany's War
By David MotadelDavid Motadel provides the first comprehensive account of Berlin’s ambitious attempts to build an alliance with the Islamic world.
-
The Nazi War on Cancer
By Robert N. ProctorThis is a disturbing and profoundly important book.
-
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War
By Artemis JoukowskyOfficial companion to the Ken Burns PBS film. For readers captivated by the story of Antonina Zabinski as told in The Zookeeper's Wife and other stories of rescue missions during WWII, Defying the Nazis is an essential read.
-
Nazi War Aims: The Plans for the Thousand Year Reich
By John Robert BengtsonNazi War Aims: The Plans for the Thousand Year Reich
-
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
By Petie Kladstrup, Donald KladstrupThis is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them.
-
All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel
By Erich Maria RemarqueConsidered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece of the German experience during World War I. I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but ...
-
Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich
By Omer BartovIn Hitler's Army, Bartov focuses on the titanic struggle between Germany and the Soviet Union--where the vast majority of German troops fought--to show how the savagery of war reshaped the army in Hitler's image.
-
Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Destructive Impact on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy
By Christopher SimpsonW. Park Armstrong memorandum to Kennan, Davies, Saltzman, Thompson, and Humelsine, subject: “Refugee Problem and SANACC 395,” November 8, 1948 (top secret), obtained through the FOIA. Armstrong comments: Armstrong interview, June 17, ...
-
Nazi Prisoners of War in America
By Arnold KrammerThis is the only book available that tells the full story of how the U.S. government, between 1942 and 1945, detained nearly half a million Nazi prisoners of war in 511 camps across the country.