Synopses & Reviews
In Nazi Germany, they were called the Schutzstaffeln. The world would know them as the dreaded SSthe most loyal and ruthless enforcers of the Third Reich.
It began as a small squad of political thugs. Yet by the end of 1935, the SS had taken control of all police and internal security duties in Germanyranging from local village gendarmes” all the way up to the secret political police and the Gestapo. Eventually, its ranks would grow to rival even Germanys regular armed forces, the Wehrmacht.
Going beyond the myths and characterizations, Army of Evil reveals the reality of the SS as a cadre of unwavering political fanatics and power-seeking opportunists who slavishly followed an ideology that disdained traditional moralityan ideology that they were prepared to implement to the utmost murderous extreme, which ultimately resulted in the Holocaust.
This is a definitive historical narrative of the birth, legacy, and demise of one of the most feared political and military organizations ever knownand of those twisted, cruel men who were responsible for one of the most appalling crimes against humanity in history.
INCLUDES RARE PHOTOGRAPHS
Review
"Richard J. Evans's
The Coming of the Third Reich...gives the clearest and most gripping account I've read of German life before aznd during the rise of the Nazis."andmdash;
A. S Byatt, in the
Times Literary Supplement
"Richard J. Evans's The Coming of the Third Reich is an enormous work of synthesisandmdash;knowledgable and reliable..."andmdash;Mark Mazower in the New York Times Book Review
"and#91;Aand#93; first-rate narrative history that informs and educates and may inspire readers to delve even deeper into the subject."andmdash;Booklist
andldquo;andhellip;Brilliantandhellip;andrdquo;andndash;Washington Post
andldquo;The generalist reader, it should be emphasized, is well served. andhellip;The book reads briskly, covers all important areasandmdash;social and culturalandmdash;and succeeds in its aim of giving andldquo;voice to the people who lived through the years with which it deals.andrdquo;andmdash;Denver Post
andldquo;One finally puts down this magnificent volume thirsty, on the one hand, for the next installment in the Nazi saga yet still haunted by the questions Evan poses and so masterfully grapples with.andrdquo;and#8213;Abraham Brumberg, The Nation
andldquo;This first part of what will be Evansandrsquo; three-volume history of Hitlerandrsquo;s regime is the most comprehensive and convincing work so far on the gall of Weimar and Hitlerandrsquo;s rise to power.andrdquo;and#8213;Foreign Affairs
Review
“Exceptional.”—Andrew Roberts,
New York Times Bestselling Author of
The Storm of War “Compelling...This is an extremely important book, which I recommend most highly.”—Michael Burleigh, Author of Moral Combat
“In this landmark history, Adrian Weale tells the twenty-year story of the SS with much brio and authority, and presents a story rich in drama and horror. This is a major achievement by a historian at the top of his game.”—Guy Walters, Literary Review (UK)
“Riveting…a chilling examination of the SS makeup, structure, and ideology.”—Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand than Hitlerandrsquo;s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the worldandrsquo;s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evansandrsquo;s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historianandrsquo;s art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged.
About the Author
Adrian Weale was born in London in 1964. A military intelligence officer in the British Army, he served on operations in Cold War Berlin, Northern Ireland and Central America before leaving the Army in the 1990s to work as a writer and journalist. A well-known face on Discovery and History Channel military documentaries in the US and Europe, he has published a number of books in the UK on themes relating to 20th Century history, conflict, the military and the Third Reich, as well as ghost-writing autobiographies for former special forces soldiers. In 2003, he was mobilized for military service in Iraq, where he was appointed Deputy Governor of Dhi Qar Province. In this role, he organized and supervised the first free local elections in Iraqi history in August and September 2003.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Maps and Diagrams
Preface
1. The Legacy of the Past
German Peculiarities
Gospels of Hate
The Spirit of 1914
Descent Into Chaos
2. The Failure of Democracy
The Weaknesses of Weimar
The Great Inflation
Culture Wars
The Fit and the Unfit
3. The Rise of Nazism
Bohemian Revolutionaries
The Beer-Hall Purtsch
Rebuilding the Movement
The Roots of Commitment
4. Towards the Seizure of Power
The Great Depression
The Crisis of Democracy
The Victory of Violence
Fateful Decisions
5. Creating The Third Reich
The Terror Begins
Fire in the Reichstag
Democracy Destroyed
Bringing Germany Into Line
6. Hitler's Cultural Revolution
Discordant Notes
The Purge of the Arts
'Against the Un-German Spirit'
A 'Revolution of Destruction'?
Notes
Bibliography
Index