Product Description

This book is the culmination of more than three decades of meticulous historiographic research on Nazi Germany by one of the period's most distinguished historians. The volume brings together the most important and influential aspects of Ian Kershaw's research on the Holocaust for the first time. The writings are arranged in three sections: Hitler and the 'Final Solution', popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the 'Final Solution' in historiography. Kershaw provides an introduction and a closing section on the uniqueness of Nazism. Kershaw was a founding historian of the social history of the Third Reich, and he has throughout his career conducted pioneering research on the societal causes and consequences of Nazi policy. His work has brought much to light concerning the ways in which the attitudes of the German populace shaped and did not shape Nazi policy. This volume presents a comprehensive, multi-faceted picture both of the destructive dynamic of the Nazi leadership and of the attitudes and behaviour of ordinary Germans as the persecution of the Jews spiraled into total genocide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25820 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
'This short book goes to the heart of the great debates over Nazism, then examines the progress of the debates themselves... an important contribution to the historiography of the Second World War. Plus it's a page-turner.' Andrew Roberts, The Mail on Sunday. 'An excellent chance to acquire, in a single volume, Kershaw's writings on the Holocaust... The classic essays in the first two sections of the book will remain required reading for students of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust for years to come.' Dan Stone, BBC History Magazine. 'To a field that is increasingly fragmented, faddish and cursed by jargon, Kershaw brings a grounded, unified perspective that is conveyed with precision and clarity. His unflashy style, personal reticence and sheer decency are, sadly, too often absent among 'celebrity historians''. David Cesarini, Literary Review --The Mail on Sunday, BBC History Magazine, Literary Review

BBC History Magazine, July 2008
'The classic essays in the book will remain required reading for students of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust for years.'

Review
"... a compilation of a lifetime's perceptive essays on the Holocaust and related matters."

Customer Reviews

Comments by Michael Calum Jacques author of '1st Century Radical'.
This collection of essays by Ian Kershaw - perhaps best known as Hitler's biographer - has already received broad and deep plaudits from both historical and political scholarly camps.

Kershaw has been among the most persistent and intuitive historians writing about the subject of Nazi Germany. This work may be added to his other definitive studies on the phenomenon of and the phenomena surrounding the Third Reich as well as, of course, his aforementioned monumental biography of Hitler. This work is a vast read which pools a number of diverse articles into one volume; it remains unified, however and is, at no point, disparate.

Kershaw is a well-established historian of the socio-political history of the Third Reich, and the causes and subsequent (and much cataloged) consequences of Nazi policy. His views have attracted much attention particularly with respect to the vexed question of how much or how little the attitudes of the German populace influenced or did not influence Nazi policy. This single volume proffers the reader a thorough, well chronicled outline both of the catastrophic damage inflicted by the Nazi leadership, as well as the prevalent views and attitudes of the 'run of the mill' German folk as what started out as the basic segregation of the Jews then hurtled headlong into dire persecution, culminating in an attempt at outright, blanket genocide.

This work is, apparently, the culmination of over thirty years of in-depth historical research on Nazi Germany by one of that era's most acclaimed historians. It also has the merit of collating many characteristic and defining aspects of Ian Kershaw's previous research on the Holocaust for the first time, making it especially useful as a one-off 'drop in' resource for a private or institutional reference library.
The book is are structured in five sections, dealing with
(Introduction)
Hitler and the Final Solution
Popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany
The Final Solution in historiography
The Uniqueness of Nazism.

The can be little doubt about the quality of the research or of the 'readability of this book. Much valuable information is crammed into its 400 odd pages. This reviewer, for one, reckons that many if not all of Ian Kershaw's readers and followers will be delighted by this one!

Michael Calum Jacques (author of 1st Century Radical: the shadowy origins of the man who became known as Jesus Christ)