Book Review: A Concise History of Nazi Germany by Joseph W. Bendersky

A Concise History of Nazi Germany by Joseph W. Bendersky
Kindle, e-Book, 228 pages
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
September 11, 2006
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-Fiction

Source: Purchased for my Masters class

This balanced history offers a concise, readable introduction to Nazi Germany. Combining compelling narrative storytelling with analysis, Joseph Bendersky presents an authoritative survey of the major political, economic, and social factors that powered the rise and fall of the Third Reich. Now in its third edition, the book incorporates the significant research of recent years. 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.

Bendersky’s A Concise History of Nazi Germany offers an excellent short introduction to Germany as it existed under Nazi control. It covers the elements that contributed to the Nazis attaining power and the downfall of the Weimar Republic, the peak of power, and lastly the collapse of Nazi power following the Second World War. I especially appreciated the last two chapters with a look at the propaganda and the Nuremburg trials. It didn’t just abruptly end with the end of the war as some other books on the subject do, but looked at the extended legacy. This account read as balanced and not incendiary or with an agenda.

Bendersky includes a lot of information into this short book, however it does not feel dense or fact-packed as can tend to happen in short tomes. This is an excellent starting point or refresher for anyone wanting to understand the developments of Nazi Germany and it was an excellent text for class. It does not have the space to dig deeply into the individual elements, but gives enough information on a wide variety of elements to be a sound starting point. For more depth it would benefit to be paired with another work as well.

I would have appreciated the inclusion of footnotes throughout this work, or even endnotes. Instead it was structured where at the end of the text sources were presented in paragraph form based on subject. This makes it difficult if you are to use the work for any sort of research, but helpful if you just want to find further reading.

 
Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

 
Also by Joseph W. Bendersky:

The Jewish Threat: Anti-Semitic Politics of the American Army

 













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