Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History (5th Edition)

Throughout, Spielvogel succeeds in making the contemporary reader understand how the Nazis could come to power in "the land of Bach and Beethoven." This is a crucial question, not only for historians, but for every citizen of the world. As recent events in the Balkans and Africa have demonstrated, it is all too easy for the veneer of civilization to crack and expose the barbarism beneath.

I would recommend this volume to anyone with an interest in World War II, modern Europe and Germany, or the desire to be a better and more responsible human being.


Comprehensive overview that is thorough yet easy-to-read   April 18, 2005
Randy Martens (Denver, CO USA)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

I can only wholeheartedly agree with the review by "zdravstvui" from Colorado Springs.

Spielvogel's outstanding book is very accessible for the general reader, yet at the same time rich in insightful detail that contributes toward a sound understanding of exactly HOW the horror of Nazi Germany was able to arise amongst a great and cultured people, and not all that long ago, 70 years being a fairly short span of time when seen against the broad sweep of man's history.

"Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History" was recommended to me by someone last year, so I bought a copy, perused it quickly, and unfortunately let it sit for too long on my bookshelf unread. But having recently viewed PBS's sobering TV series "Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State" I was prompted to visit this book again for a more thorough understanding of Nazi Germany, and am glad I did.

It's hard for Babyboomer's like myself born after World War II to comprehend the widespread scope of this terrible conflict, and the epicenter which began it all: the ideology passionately held by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. We can all too easily arrive at the foolish conclusion that such a tragedy could simply never happen again. But the genocide of the Cambodian people by Pol Pot in the late 1970's, the more recent mass slaughter in Rwanda during the mid 1990's, as well as the "ethnic cleansing" campaigns in areas of the former Soviet Union, remind us all too well that the shocking conflagration of mass genocide can ignite and spread on the world scene very quickly.

Read this book to see not only how it actually DID happen on a massive scale in Nazi Germany and it's occupied territories, but especially the underlying ideological and social conditions that lead up to it, and how it could happen again, perhaps, God-forbid, on an even larger scale.


Useful Tool   January 27, 2008
S. Truesdell (BC, Canada)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book was chosen by my professor for our German History class. An easy read and very informative. There are great pictures and quotations. I would recommend it for a class or history buff that wanted a good read.


Great Place to Start for an introduction to Hitler and Nazi Germany   June 21, 2008
Drewry F. Wofford III (Raleigh, NC USA)
This is a comprehensive introduction to Hitler and Nazi Germany; it is not by any means a brief history of WW II. While the war is mentioned within the context of looking at Nazi history, the book focuses on Hitler, the rise of the Social Democrats, and how the Nazi party affected the people, economy, social, political and artistic life within Germany.There is also focus on the "Final Solution" - Hitler's maniacal obsession with anti-semitism. But that is just one facet of this complete study.

The book is perhaps most valuable for the bibliography at the end of each chapter which extensive readings for further study. Recommended for students starting serious study of the period, or others just wanting to know how such evil could so easily infect one of the most cultured, civilized countries in Europe. Or perhaps, how the victors of World War One could have so blindly imposed penalties and reparations that created the desperation within Germany that allowed Hitler to easily fill the void.


Hitler and Nazi Germany   September 30, 2008
343 Guilty Spark (Installation 04)
This book is an excellent look at Nazi Germany and it arrived quickly. I needed it as my textbook for a class and it came extremely fast and was a great buy.