Far-right political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisThis contributed volume is the first in-depth analysis of the health policies of populist radical right (PRR) parties worldwide and their actual involvement in health care. The prominence of authoritarian, nationalistic, and populist parties is expanding steadily. However, it is often difficult to discern what kind of policies they really stand for, particularly with regard to the welfare state and public health, where research remains sparse. This book fills this critical gap. The text connects PRR parties and leaders with actual health and social policy effects in Eastern and Western Europe as well as in the United States, Brazil, and the Philippines. The chapters highlight ten individual country case studies authored by young scholars and professors with political science and health experts: The Austrian Freedom Party in Government: A Threat to Public Health? The Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Health Policy: Normalization or Containment of Populist Radical Right Tendencies? Populist Radical Right Influence on Health Policy in the Netherlands: The Case of the Party for Freedom (PVV) The Evolution of the Populist Radical Right and Their Impact on Health in Italy The Populist Radical Right and Health in Hungary Is the Polish 'Law and Justice' (PiS) a Typical Populist Radical Right Party? A Health Policy Perspective The Case of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Rhetoric and Reality in the United States of America: Trump, Populism, and Health Policy Ruling Through Chaos in Brazil: Bolsonaro's Authoritarian Agenda for Public Health An Authoritarian Reaction to COVID-19 in the Philippines: A Strong Commitment to Universal Health Care Combined with Violent Securitization The Populist Radical Right and Health is exceptionally timely and essential reading for political science and health colleagues researching and writing about PRR parties and leaders; students and faculty in public health, health and social policy, and political science; and anyone interested in learning more about this topic.Table of ContentsI. Introduction (Falkenbach, Guicciardi, and Moise)• Current layout of PRR parties - who they are, how they are classified, and why we think a new classification is necessary.• Difference between Left and Right and why we focus on the Right (see image in original proposal - attachment tab).• Current layout of PRR parties and their impact on health - who made it into government and a brief overview of the very limited resources available on this topic.• Policies important to these parties while in government. o Compare PRR parties’ manifestos to what they actually accomplished.• Limitations to the definition of health policy.II. Framework (Falkenbach, Guicciardi, and Moise)• The development of a new framework to identify PRR parties worldwide• Placing them on a spectrum (perhaps 2- or even 3-dimensional) - see below example (attachment tab), third-dimension economics could be added. o Add clientelism and corruption for eastern countries as neededIII. Case Studies – the case studies chosen for this project represent countries that either have or had PRR parties in government and continue to struggle with their electoral strength or have been experiencing a steady increase in support for PRR parties.• INTRO - Short history of the party, with a focus on the cultural/social background of the country. § How did the PRR party develop? § What kind of a role did they play in politics and were they accepted by other parties (SD/CD)? § Did the party’s tactics change over time, why? § Current strength/influence of the party in relation to other parties.• Reasons why we can consider the party as being PRR – follow conceptual framework.• POLICY FOCUS - Starting point for policy focus beginning 2000s unless there were influential policies previously passed that still have an impact today.• List relevant health policies adopted or proposed in the suggested table format.• CONCLUSION - Impact of the PRR party’s policies, with references to quantitative/qualitative studies.• Prediction of PRR parties influence in general over the next years - i.e., will they still be in government, why, why not?• Potential new health policies in the next few years.• Summary box with the most important 4 or 5 “take-home messages”.a. Austria – Falkenbach & Heissb. Italy - Guicciardic. Hungary – Moise & Loblovad. Poland – Moise & Loblovae. UK - Jarmanf. USA – Willisong. Germany – Wackerh. Netherlands – Bekker & Rinaldii. Denmark & Sweden – McManus & Falkenbach TBDj. Brazil k. Philippinesl. Switzerlandm. TBDIV. ConclusionTying together the cases with overall findings.• Health is typically ignored by the PRR, often too controversial.• If there is a coalition partner (in most cases there will be), they will usually be of a Christian Democratic nature and will usually have more power/say than the PRR that will result in the PRR getting stuck with partially unpopular ministries (other than defense and interior), where they will be forced to make rather unpopular reforms that serve the agenda of the stronger coalition party (CD)• Highlight possible outcomes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisComplicated Complicity is about the forms taken, motives and spectrum of actions of European collaboration with the Nazis. State authorities, local military organizations and individual players in different countries and areas including France, Scandinavia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Italy, Portugal and the countries of the former Yugoslavia are discussed in the context of the history of World War II, the history of occupation and everyday life and as an essential influencing factor in the Holocaust. New forms of right-wing populism, nationalism and growing intolerance of Jewish fellow citizens and minorities have made such historically sensitive studies considerably more difficult in many countries today. In this time of increasing historical revisionism in Europe, such elucidating discourse is particularly relevant.

Read more less

Book Synopsis20 July 1944 is usually associated with the bomb plot to murder Hitler. However, what distinguishes Colonel Stauffenberg’s plan from all others is that the attempt on the Führer’s life was only to be the initial stage of a full military coup d’état. The aim was to overthrow the murderous regime, and to end the war as soon as possible. The conspiracy has long been analyzed from political, social, religious, or moral points of view. This book asks what the military dimension of the plan was. What traditions in the German army were at work, how was planning and preparation done, and why did the plot fail eventually? What is more: how did the conspiracy affect the German armies created in East and West after World War　II, and also the Austrian Army? As the politicians among the conspirators thought in categories of Imperial Germany or at least the Weimar Republic, the officers among them were conditioned by the Reichswehr. Yet, Stauffenberg and some others were also bright intellectuals who were willing to incorporate their war experience into their plans, rendering them surprisingly modern at times. The coup d’état had been planned as meticulously as circumstances in war-torn Berlin allowed. However, as most officers had foreseen, once it became public knowledge that Hitler had survived Stauffenberg’s bomb, army units refused to act. The myth surrounding the "Führer" effectively prevented any military action against him. Still, the failed uprising had its effects: the regime took the opportunity to tilt the balance of power further in favor of Himmler and his fiefdom (SS, Gestapo, Police), to the detriment of the army which Hitler felt was too reactionary anyway. The leadership of the West German Bundeswehr always saw the failed uprising as part of its tradition, but it took time for this attitude to percolate down to the rank and file. For decades, some of the former Wehrmacht soldiers viewed Stauffenberg and his friends as "traitors". The book is the first to approach this important event in German history from a specifically military point of view, and that results in some surprising new results.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow do scholarship and practices of remembrance regarding Nazi Germany benefit from digital tools and approaches? What challenges arise from "doing history digitally" in this field – and how should they best be dealt with? 　The eight chapters of this book explore these and related questions. They discuss the digital initiatives of various archives and source databases, highlight　findings of research undertaken with digital tools, and examine how such tools can be used to present history in education, exhibitions and memorials. All contributions focus on recent or, in some cases, ongoing digital projects related to the history of National Socialism, World War II, and the Holocaust.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAvailable for the first time in English language translation, the third volume of Totalitarianism and Political Religions completes the set. It provides a comprehensive overview of key theories and theorists of totalitarianism and of political religions, from Hannah Arendt and Raymond Aron to Leo Strauss and Simone Weill. Edited by the eminent Professor Hans Maier, it represents a major study, examining how new models for understanding political history arose from the experience of modern despotic regimes. Where volumes one and two were concerned with questioning the common elements between twentieth century despotic regimes - Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Maoism â this volume draws a general balance. It brings together the findings of research undertaken during the decade 1992-2002 with the cooperation of leading philosophers, historians and social scientists for the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Munich.Following the demise of Italian Fascism (1943-45), German National Socialism (1945) and Soviet Communism (1989-91), a comparative approach to the three regimes is possible. A broad field of interpretation of the entire phenomenon of totalitarian and political religions opens up. This comprehensive study examines a vast topic which affects the political and historical landscape over the whole of the last century. Moreover, dictatorships and their motivations are still present in current affairs, today in the twenty-first century. The three volumes of Totalitarianism and Political Religions are a vital resource for scholars of fascism, Nazism, communism, totalitarianism, comparative politics and political theory.Table of Contents1. Introduction: On the Interpretation of Totalitarian Rule 2. The Classical Understanding of Tyranny and Despotism 3. The New Approaches 4. On the Concept and Theory of Political Religions 5. Fascism and Non-Democratic Regimes 6. Interpreters of Totalitarianism: A Lexicographical Survey 7. Bibliographic Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisSince the 1990s, there has been a growing concern about the resurgence of extremist and radical movements in the Western world. Although a variety of challenges to the liberal democratic order have emerged, the main focus of concern among academics, policy-makers and practitioners within Europe and beyond has been on the growth and activities of Islamists and to a lesser extent the extreme right. However, these forms of extremism are seldom placed alongside each other, and in a manner that is sensitive to both the causes and consequences of extremist mobilization. This book presents new empirical research on the causes of these two new' extremisms in 21st Century Britain and the appropriate responses to it by both the state and civil society. Both forms of extremism pose vital questions for those concerned with the development of a more cohesive and stable society. Unlike many studies, this volume adopts a holistic approach, bringing together experts from a variety of Trade Review'[The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain] offers a fresh approach to understanding extremism, which other works in recent years have missed. The anthology is a timely contribution after the BNP sending its first elected members to European Parliament in 2009. The book is an excellent contribution to the study of extremism and radical British politics.' - Ryan Shaffer, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 51, 1, January 2012‘This work is an ambitious attempt to examine in detail the causes and impacts of far right extremism alongside Islamist inspired extremism. Many may be uneasy about such comparisons but this volume lays to rest such concerns. Above all, it contains choice articles by a strong team of experienced researchers and commentators. There are superb contributions on state-group relations, policing issues and public attitudes. It should be consulted by all those interested in extremism in modern Britain.’ - Shamit Saggar, Professor of Political Science, University of Sussex‘The New Extremism in 21st Century Britain is by far the most important consideration yet of the two principal extremist challenges to the existing political order, namely militant Islamism and far right politics. Eatwell and Goodwin have assembled an expert range of contributors to explore the causes, challenges and coping strategies associated with the rise of extremism in a hitherto largely benign polity. Chapters draw upon a range of attitudinal and electoral evidence to assess the levels of potential and actual support for the British National Party amongst the white working class and for Islamic militancy among British Muslims. Measured, informed and well-researched throughout, The New Extremism needs to be read by any student interested in the ongoing challenges to consensus in British politics.’ - Professor Jon Tonge President, Political Studies Association of the UK, University of Liverpool.‘This book provides some real academic rigour to support the growing development and practice of community cohesion. It will help academics, policy makers and practitioners to understand how this agenda fits together and how national and local interventions in this complex but crucial area can be underpinned by empirical research.’ - Ted Cantle CBE, Executive Chair, Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo)‘This book sheds considerable light on the causes and consequences of extremism in society. The evidence and argument presented by an expert set of authors is convincing and compelling. This book deserves a wide readership in academia and also among practitioners and policy-makers.’ - Professor Gerry Stoker, Centre for Citizenship, Globalization and Governance, University of Southampton. ‘For too long politicians have failed to understand, or chosen to ignore, the reasons for the rise of the BNP. It might make uncomfortable reading but Britain, and Britain’s politicians, need to wake up to the realities of the rise of Nick Griffin’s racist party. This book provides one of the most challenging and in-depth studies of the BNP. The authors lifted up the stone and peered beneath. It may be an unpleasant picture, but it must not be ignored.’ - Eric Pickles, Chairman of the Conservative PartyTable of ContentsIntroduction: The 'New' Extremism Roger Eatwell and Matthew J. Goodwin Part 1 1. Religious Extremism in Britain and British Muslims: Threatened Citizenship and the Role of Religion Maria Sobolewska 2. Mobilization, Recruitment, Violence and the Street: Radical Violent takfiri Islamism in Early 21st Century Britain Jonathan Githens-Mazer 3. Faith and State: British Policy Responses to ‘Islamist’ Extremism Erik Bleich 4. Policing the ‘New Extremism’ in 21st Century Britain Frank Gregory 5. Policing within a Counter-Terrorism Context Post 7/7: The Importance of Partnership, Dialogue and Support when Engaging with Muslim Communities Basia Spalek and Robert Lambert 6. Preventing Violent Extremism: Why Local Context Matters Vivien Lowndes and Leila Thorpe Part 2 7. Who Might Vote for the BNP? Survey Evidence on the Electoral Potential of the Extreme Right in Britain Robert Ford 8. In Search of the Winning Formula: Nick Griffin and the ‘Modernization’ of the British National Party Matthew J. Goodwin 9. Who Votes Extreme Right in Twenty-First Century Britain? The Social Bases of Support for the National Front and British National Party Matthew J. Goodwin, Robert Ford, Bobby Duffy and Rea Robey 10. Responses to the Extreme Right in Britain Roger Eatwell. Conclusion Roger Eatwell and Matthew J. Goodwin

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe best known but least understood organ of the Nazi state, the SS grew from a minor politician''s small, unpaid bodyguard into a force which dominated the racial, cultural and professional spheres of the most powerful empire Europe has ever seen. Often referred to as ''the state within a state'', the SS was Heinrich Himmler''s personal fiefdom and its influence pervaded all walks of German life, both private and public. Its tentacles extended into the army and police, the business world and of course the death camps.The author reveals Himmler to be a man despised but indulged by Hitler who was obsessed with crackpot theories of Germanic mythology and deeply involved in the Final Solution. He assesses the career of Reinhard Heydrich, who put the organisational muscle and ruthlessness into the SS. The Totenkopt Brigade, set up specifically to run the concentration camps and death camps, is examined, as is the Waffen-SS, the military formation which killed thousands of Jews and partisans across Eastern Europe and fought bitterly against the Allies in Normandy.The postwar story of the SS is also outlined, from clandestine organisations of former SS men to the activities of ex-Nazis today. Supported by photographs and the words of former SS men, their close friends and colleagues, Guido Knopp brings back to life a generation whose fanaticism and violence shaped the identify of the Third Reich.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA book of everyday objects which unlock the secrets of the pastTrade ReviewExtraordinary … History at its most sensitive and evocative. Pearson’s astonishing detective work has uncovered stories so poignant and original that they cannot fail to leave an indelible mark. A remarkable book that takes us to the very core of human experience -- Julia Boyd, author of Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday PeopleJoseph Pearson has found an exceptional approach to narrate a time that has become increasingly difficult to write about. By looking at objects that shaped the Second World War, My Grandfather’s Knife uses an original, unideological angle to approach historical truth. Literary non-fiction at its best -- Norman Ohler, author of Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi GermanyMy Grandfather’s Knife is that important and genuinely insightful work that comes along all too infrequently. Through his deft employment of artefacts as touchstones of history, Pearson links the past with the present in a most emotive and tactile fashion, which sweeps the reader down a harrowing yet sentimental path of war, history and fickleness of human memory -- David O'Keefe, author of One Day in August: Ian Fleming, Enigma and the Deadly Raid on DieppeI hugely enjoyed My Grandfather's Knife, which is both sophisticated and accessible, an engrossing and moving story of global entanglements which still resonate today. Pearson strips back each layer of the past with the forensic skill of the detective. He also writes extremely well -- Brendan Simms, author of Europe: The Struggle for SupremacyJoseph Pearson invites us to ponder what rich hidden stories can be gleaned from seemingly ordinary inanimate objects and how this can help us better understand the complexities of history, particularly that of the Second World War ... My Grandfather’s Knife makes a powerful case for those who wish to study the Second World War to become ‘material historians’, too, and use objects as hooks to uncover hidden strands of this vast and overwhelmingly complex part of 20th-century history ... Its original approach makes My Grandfather’s Knife an intriguing addition to the vast field of literature on the Second World War -- Katja Hoyer, Engelsberg Ideas

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, Claudia Leeb discusses guilt and democracy in the case of Austrian Nazi perpetrators and recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities. She shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno, Claudia Leeb discussesguilt and democracy in the case of Austrian Nazi perpetrators and recent public controversies surrounding Austria's involvement in the Nazi atrocities. She shows us that only by guilt can individuals and nations take responsibility for their past crimes.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt is difficult for Italians to have much faith in the future. The last Labour Minister said it was a good thing if young people emigrated, to stop them 'getting under our feet'; one recent Prime Minister said that young Italians should not invest their hopes in securing a stable job, for that would be 'boring', anyway.Examining Italy's history since the end of the Cold War, Italy is the Future argues that its dismal situation should not be understood in terms of a stereotyped narrative of Italian chaos or backwardness. In a country that could once boast Europe's strongest Left, Italy today epitomises the crisis of democracy in the West.The scandals of Silvio Berlusconi's rule, the pervasive corruption of public life and sky-high youth unemployment are indicators of a particularly sick society. Yet what is also apparent is the difficulty of any new force emerging to renew Italy's institutions, as its atomised citizens lose hope in political change.What has broken apart in Italy is not just its once-mighty Left but the very bases of social solidarity. The parties of the 1990s and 2000s directly express the social demolition wrought by neoliberalism, as isolated and endangered individuals face the consequences of the crisis alone. Not this or that political party, but public life itself, is in full-scale collapseTrade ReviewIn this well-researched and engagingly written book David Broder shows how the rise of Lega and of its current leader Matteo Salvini emerged out of decades of economic stagnation, social despair and political nihilism in Italian society. And how the abject failure of the Italian Left to represent workers' interests has contributed to the success of the Lega's nativism. -- Paolo GerbaudoExpertly dissects the political and social trends that account for the League's revival since 2013. -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *No other book offers such a clear and concise analysis of just how much Italy has changed, for the worse in this neo-liberal world. -- Chris Bambery * Brave New Europe *Highly useful in understanding how politics have changed since the Second World War, and where Italy is going in the very unpredictable Europe of today. -- Nicholas Dima * Newsmax *David Broder has done us a great service with this succinct account of Italian neoliberal democracy, and he tells it well. If we see what has occurred in Italy as exceptional then we not only don't understand what has taken place, but we don't get the warning that what happens there can happen here. We have been warned. -- Chris Bambery * Counterfire *Broder unravels the mystery of how one of Europe's most stable democracies, boasting superb labour rights and a thriving manufacturing economy, became a basket case almost over night - plagued by political instability, poverty, and mass emigration. -- Robert Maisey * Tribune *Insightful -- Derek Gadd * The Article *

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeventy-five years ago, Henry Wallace, then the vice president of the United States, mounted a campaign about the "Danger of American Fascism." As fighting in the European and Japanese theatres drew to a close, Wallace warned that the country might win the war and lose the peace; that the fascist threat the United States. was battling abroad had a terrifying domestic variant, growing rapidly in power: wealthy corporatists and their allies in the media. Wallace predicted that if the New Deal project was not renewed and expanded in the postwar era, American fascists would use fear mongering, xenophobia, and racism to regain economic and political power. He championed a progressive postwar world-an alternative to the rising triumphalist "American Century" notion in which the United States rejected colonialism and imperialism.Wallace's political vision-as well as his nomination to remain vice president-was sidelined by Democratic big city bosses and southern segregationists. In the decades to come, other progressives would mount similar campaigns: George McGovern and Jesse Jackson most prominently. As John Nichols chronicles in this book, they ultimately failed-a warning to would-be reformers today-but their efforts provide us with insights into the nature of the Democratic Party and strategic lessons for the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Trade Review"Every progressive must read this book. John Nichols reminds us that Henry Wallace was the true heir to Roosevelt's New Deal. He stood up against militarism, championed health care as a right, and fought for racial justice. When the party bosses denied Wallace a place on the Democratic Party's 1944 ticket, they chose caution over a bold vision for 'winning the peace' with an Economic Bill of Rights and the Four Freedoms. As Nichols reveals, that set a pattern for compromise that sold the party and the nation short. Now, seventy-five years later, as progressives again fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, Nichols gives us the history and vision for a new progressive era." -REPRESENTATIVE RO KHANNA "Henry Wallace is a political figure--one of the giants of the mid-twentieth century--who has kind of been pushed out of the national political discussion ... Nichols [tells us] that one of the reasons Wallace was not renominated in 1944 was because of his opposition to racism. The segregationists didn't want him around." -SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS "More than a history book--this is an examination of what progressives must do to retake our democracy. Nichols points the way toward how we can build a party based on peace, liberty, and justice for all." -REPRESENTATIVE ILHAN OMAR "Nichols is a remarkable thinker and writer. He recognizes that fights that were not won in the past by advocates of economic and racial justice and peace can now be won--if we are determined enough, and hopeful enough, to carry the struggle forward." -REVEREND JESSE JACKSON "Nichols is so good at exploring the roots of U.S. radical politics, including our long socialist history. He puts the fights we're in now into perspective--and gives us inspiration to carry on." -MARIA SVART, National Director of Democratic Socialists of America "Henry Wallace thought we could avoid the Cold War internationally and work on addressing racism at home. He was ahead of his time, and he was punished for that. Maybe, now, we can recognize he was right about a lot of things." -NOAM CHOMSKY

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1935–37 America passed several Neutrality Acts, vowing never again to take sides in a European conflict. In 1938 public attitudes changed, with the American people beginning to favour Britain and turn against Germany – but what caused this shift of opinion?One reason was a tip-off received by the FBI on the eve of the Second World War, which led to the exposure of a Nazi spy ring operating right there in America. The FBI was able to bring the group to justice and launch a campaign to warn the American people about the Nazi threat to their shores and society.In Ring of Spies, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones reveals how this case helped to awaken America to the Nazi menace, and how it skewed American opinion, thus spelling the end of US neutrality. Using evidence from FBI files he uncovers a story straight out of a detective novel featuring honey traps, fast cars and double agents.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisHeinz R. Böhme has been collecting artworks of the Lost Generation for more than twenty years. The main focus of his private collection in Salzburg is the recognition of more than eighty artists whose creative work was massively restricted under the National Socialist regime. Large-format illustrations, extensive biographies and a clearly structured list of the pictures in the collection, which currently contains over 350 works, document impressively the achievements of these artists, who were once ostracised and defamed as “degenerate”. Expanded by an interview with the collector, Heinz R. Böhme, and an art-historical and historical overview, the publication traces the fate and life’s work of an almost-forgotten generation of painters and thus permits the general public to rediscover these pioneering artistic positions. and tells a new, exciting history of the modern age Through her artworks.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn American Zealots, Arie Perliger provides a wide-ranging and rigorously researched overview of right-wing domestic terrorism. He analyzes its historical roots, characteristics, tactics, rhetoric, and organization, assessing the current and future trajectory of the use of violence by the far right.Trade ReviewAmerican Zealots is an immensely timely and important publication. Written by one of this country's foremost authorities on far-right extremist violence, it provides a comprehensive analysis of this movement's evolution and trajectory and its implications for American society and politics. -- Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside TerrorismWith unparalleled expertise, Arie Perliger makes sense of the complicated and contentious reality of domestic right-wing terrorism. His explanation of the complexities, deep historical roots, and ideological diversity of the threat is clear and dispassionate. His conclusions are all the more important for being bluntly realistic: there is unlikely to be a decline in right-wing violence unless we devise a wide-ranging public policy response. -- Martha Crenshaw, Stanford UniversityAt a time when both DHS and the FBI have underlined the threat posed from the radical right, Arie Perliger’s American Zealots is a comprehensive and comparative study of right-wing terrorism that sheds light on how the movement emerged, grew within the US military, and our society to become the center of current domestic political debates. Using original data that he collected, the book is anchored in rigorous empirical evidence to explain how we got here and identify the path forward. -- Mia Bloom, author of Small Arms: Children and TerrorismThis arresting book explores the backgrounds of right-wing activists who have terrorized America’s heartland from Oak Creek, Wisconsin to El Paso, Texas in recent decades. Far from being lone wolves, they are supported by a vast community of hatred, this revealing study shows. It descends into America’s underground cultures of violence and helps the reader understand the motivations and organizations of what has become America’s number one terrorist threat. It is essential reading for anyone concerned about the widening chasms of political extremism in the United States. -- Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious ViolencePerliger is impassioned and cleareyed about how troubling the trends are...a plainspoken and data-driven yet essential book for understanding the underpinnings of today’s domestic terrorists. * Kirkus Reviews *This book illuminates the threat of the far-right in an accessible, non-jargony way and Perliger’s introduction to the topic may encourage readers to become more informed about some of the complexities and nuances of the far-right...a multifaceted analysis. -- Samantha Kutner, Khalifa Ihler Institute * Critical Studies on Terrorism *A refreshing and valuable perspective...American Zealots provides a valuable contribution to the growing literature of the contemporary far-right in the United States. -- Matthew Valasik * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews *An exceptional read into the domestic terrorist threat....for anyone interested in reading into domestic terrorism, its cultural impact, and the potential for continued acts of violence the book is highly recommended. * Populism *Offers a useful ideological typology of the American far right. * Survival *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. The Challenges of Comprehending and Responding to Domestic Terrorism2. An Ideological Typology of the Violent Far Right3. Historical Pillars of the Violent American Far Right4. Tactics of the American Far Right5.The Rise and Decline of Far-Right Violence in the United States6. Perpetrators of Far-Right Violence7. Contemporary Discourse of the American Far Right8. The Future of the Violent American Far RightAppendix: Methodology and Statistical ResultsNotesReferencesIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTarquini offers a rich and stimulating synthesis, the best single-volume work available on this complex and challenging subject. This history reveals how the fascists used culture to build a conservation revolution that purported to protect what was good in the traditional social fabric while presenting itself as oriented toward the future.Table of Contents Contents Note to the New Edition Introduction 1. The Historiographical Debate from 1945 to Today 2. 1920s Cultural Politics 3. Intellectuals and Artists in the 1920s 4. The Ideology of the Totalitarian State 5. Cultural Politics in the 1930s 6. 1930s Intellectuals and Artists 7. Cultural Politics and Intellectuals in the 1940s Conclusion Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawing from diaries, journals, school textbooks, and printed propaganda, J.W. Mohnhaupt tells the stories of animals during the Third Reich, focusing each chapter on a different facet of Nazism by way of a specific animal species: red deer, horses, cats, and more.Table of Contents Introduction: The World behind the Wire 1 Blood Ties 2 Digestive Affinities 3 Drawing the Curtain on Larval Stages 4 Morituri 5 Raufbold 6 Not Really Stroganoff Conclusion: Until the Last Dog Is Hung Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers an analysis of the relationship between communism and fascism. This title examines the ideological appeal of these radical, revolutionary political movements, the visions of salvation and revolution they pursued, the value and types of charisma of leaders within these political movements, and their legacies in contemporary politics.Trade Review"[A] fine and undoubtedly enduring study. This affinity of Leninism with Nazism is the argument of Tismaneanu's book. It is a claim that since 1945, and particularly the Cold War, has generated much controversy. A distinguished book." -- William Pfaff New York Review of Books "This volume achieves the rare distinction of being at once nuanced and impassioned. It is likely to remain a durable contribution to a deeper understanding of the great historical outrages of the past century which were closely linked to the concept and reality of totalitarianism." -- Paul Hollander New Criterion "An ambitious and challenging rereading of twentieth-century history." -- John Gray Times Literary Supplement (TLS) "A definitive account of the origins, the appeal, the doctrinal foundations and the political technology of history's two bloodiest political faiths ... this profound and rich book is also a cautionary tale." -- Leon Aron Wall Street Journal "The parallels between communism and fascism have often been noted, fueling endless debates over whether the movements were fundamentally similar or different. The Devil in History ... presents a genuinely fresh perspective on this topic." -- Andrew Nagorski Foreign Affairs "Tismaneanu's lucid narrative walks us through an intellectual landscape that traces the trajectory of totalitarian thinking back to its origins." -- J. P. O'Malley The Daily Beast "At a time when liberal values are showing their frailty and salvationist mythologies are returning to favour in different places, an absorbing comparative essay is provided on the origins, ravages and ultimate failure of the radical totalitarian movements of the last century: communism and fascism. Vladimir Tismaneanu is an appropriate guide, a polymath steeped in the philosophical, literary and social science texts spawned by defenders, apostates and analysts of this phenomenon." -- Tom Gallagher International Affairs "Tismaneanu's real concern is to examine what he calls the 'maximalist utopian aspirations' expressed by communist and fascist regimes in Europe to try to understand how it is that systems that set out with a utopian agenda-world revolution or national rebirth-end up constructing murderous dystopias. There is a consensus in the Western world that these were 'delusional visions', as Tismaneanu calls them, but both European communism and fascism have died as mainstream political forces, making it easier to see them as deluded. The core of this perceptive and intelligent analysis is addressed to the more troubling question of how they were possible at all." -- Richard Overy Times Higher Education "A fascinating, brilliant and captivating book. It is a stupendous achievement." FrontPage Magazine "The book offers a fascinating read with an incredible wealth of bibliographic sources that will benefit all those interested in the topic. The author has succeeded in giving not only a solid account of the spirituality and history of communist and fascist regimes, but also an outstanding testimony of liberal political and normative thinking." -- Camil Roman Cambridge Review of International Affairs "Vladimir Tismaneanu is the perfect political analyst for today, for he is an expert on both the legacies of Nazism and Communism. In spite of optimistic diagnoses and rampant wishful thinking, these two pathologies are not dead. Vladimir Tismaneanu's illuminating book is an antidote against new experiments in utopian radicalism and social engineering." -- Ion Mihai Pacepa WND "Many books have been written about the similarities and differences between communism and fascism, both in theory and practice. None, however, matches the insight, analysis, and deep thought found in The Devil in History." -- Ronald Radosh Weekly Standard "The account provided is particularly strong on separating the critical paradigms of Marxism that emerged in East and West... Getting the record straight here is important and challenges any simplistic notion of Eastern Europe's conversion to liberalism." -- Richard Shorten American Historical Review "Tismaneanu seeks to fulfill the ancient Jewish commandment of remembering and reminding, zachor, lest we forget and it may return... Tismaneanu argues convincingly that a reckoning with the past can be both exorcism and therapy, and insists that there should be no silence or thick line separating the present from the embarrassing past. No reader of this book can accuse its author of ignoring the past." -- Aviezer Tucker Perspectives on PoliticsTable of ContentsForeword Prologue: Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris 1. Utopian Radicalism and Dehumanization 2. Diabolical Pedagogy and the (Il)logic of Stalinism 3. Lenin's Century: Bolshevism, Marxism, and the Russian Tradition 4. Dialectics of Disenchantment: Marxism and Ideological Decay in Leninist Regimes 5. Ideology, Utopia, and Truth: Lessons from Eastern Europe 6. Malaise and Resentment: Threats to Democracy in Post-Communist Societies Conclusions Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Germans and the Final Solution stand as the fullest assessment to date of the attitudes of the German public to the Nazi policy of antisemitism and its genocidal conclusion. David Bankiera s pathbreaking work will be widely read by scholars and students of contemporary European Jewish history and the history of Nazi Germany.Trade Review"This is a subtle and well-documented argument that notably advances our understanding of German popular opinion towards the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies." Inside Out "A well written and important book that deserves to be widely read and to be placed in every public library." Times Higher Education Supplement "Bankier's book will be welcomed by anyone teaching German history, Nazism, or the Holocaust, because it is the first book to answer comprehensively the most common student question in any discussion of the Holocaust: What did average Germans know and how did they feel about Hitler's antisemitic propaganda and mass murder?" ChoiceTable of ContentsAcknowledgements. Introduction. 1. Image and Reality in the Third Reich. 2. Institutionalization and Radicalization. 3. International Crises and Foreign Policy. 4. Public Responses to Anti-semitism 1933-1938. 5. Workers, Peasants and Businessmen. 6. The Awareness of the Holocaust. 7. Public Responses to Anti-semitism 1939-1943. 8. Image and Reality - The End. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA collection of some of the writing on the diverse aspects of Nazi Germany. This work provides readers with an insight into the different perspectives on traditional understandings of the Third Reich and covers the central aspects of the period, from the rise of the Nazis and the internal organization of the regime, to Germany's role in WWII.Trade Review"The essays are of high quality, written by respected authors, and some are classics." (Times Higher Education Supplement)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Glossary. General Introduction. 1. Rise of the NSDAP. 2. Seizure and Consolidation of Power. 3. Foreign Policy. 4. Economy. 5. Army. 6. Working Class and Volksgemeinschaft (National Community). 7. Police State. 8. Women. 9. Hitler as Dictator. 10. Resistance. 11. Holocaust/Final Solution. Index.

Read more less

Book Synopsisaeo Comprises 12 seminal articles on Nazi Germany. aeo Covers all major aspects of the period, including the rise of the Nazi party, social and economic change, Hitlera s personality, German public opinion. aeo Developed specifically for use with students, to encourage critical study.Trade Review"The essays are of high quality, written by respected authors, and some are classics." (Times Higher Education Supplement)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Glossary. General Introduction. 1. Rise of the NSDAP. 2. Seizure and Consolidation of Power. 3. Foreign Policy. 4. Economy. 5. Army. 6. Working Class and Volksgemeinschaft (National Community). 7. Police State. 8. Women. 9. Hitler as Dictator. 10. Resistance. 11. Holocaust/Final Solution. Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHeinz Rutha, pioneer of a youth movement that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czechoslovakia, was arrested in 1937 for corrupting male adolescents. This led to an international scandal. Cornwall’s biography is the first to tackle the long-taboo intersection of youth, homosexuality, and fascist nationalism.Trade ReviewTo get right to the point: The Devil’s Wall is without doubt one of the most interesting and innovative books on German–Czech history published in recent years. -- Volker Zimmerman * Journal of Modern History *Brilliantly recreates an intellectual universe in which central Europeans attempted to make sense of homosocial and homosexual relations after World War I… No one, including perhaps Rutha himself, has understood the rising Sudeten German nationalist better than Cornwall… This impressive book presents Rutha as a tragic figure. Cornwall’s decision to begin with Rutha’s suicide gives the entire narrative a sense of painful inevitability. His defining portrait of Rutha is of a man motivated by his sexuality but left increasingly vulnerable by those same sexual inclinations. The Devil’s Wall is an artfully done biography that offers new perspectives on a number of themes dear to historians of Bohemia, sexuality, and early twentieth-century European nationalisms. It is, above all, a compelling story of a surprisingly influential figure in central European history and for that it deserves a wide audience indeed. -- Chad Bryant * Slavic Review *Cornwall’s work is convincing, meticulously grounded in the sources, and at times really path-breaking. For the theme of homosexuality…is still completely ‘under researched’ in the German-speaking culture of the Bohemian lands… The Devil’s Wall is indisputably a significant book, which furthers our understanding considerably. -- Martin C. Putna * Bohemia *The Devil’s Wall looks at how youth, nationalism and homosexuality overlapped with fascism and the Czech–German struggle of early-20th-century Europe. Focusing on Heinz Rutha, a pioneer of a youth movement emphasizing male bonding, Cornwall’s biography of this unusual and possibly repressed figure promises to be engrossing. -- Will Davis * Attitude *Cornwall’s book challenges the historiography of the Czech–German relationship during the 1930s in various ways by bending the historiographical spotlight from the antagonism between Nazi-Sudeten Germans and nationalistic Czechs and focusing instead on the detailed interpretation of the Sudeten German movement and its development prior to 1938. In addition, Cornwall analyzes Heinz Rutha’s sexual life, a study that has not previously been made by historians and was only possible because of unique primary sources and contemporary witnesses. The author, therefore, is able to explain Rutha’s unique concept of Eros within, as well as apart from, his homosexuality. In this aspect, he is in a line of scholars who, during the past two decades, have called for a growing awareness for more sensitive topics such as (homo)sexuality and Eros in the Third Reich. Overall Mark Cornwall’s book will, it is hoped, spark discussion in every aspect. It is well written, as well as convincing, and as such has the potential to make the Sudeten German question known to a wider public. -- Eva Pfanzelter * Austrian History Yearbook *Mark Cornwall has written a superb and necessary examination of the life of Heinz Rutha (1897–1937) and his work as an influential youth leader and prominent figure in the Sudeten German nationalist movement… This book is eminently readable and engaging, making it suitable for both an undergraduate audience as well as experts with a focus on diplomacy and nationalism or the history of sexuality and gender. Cornwall is an exceptional guide through the conflicted and politically volatile historical narratives of Central European history, while consistently adding new insights. The end result challenges accepted preconceptions about the development of Sudeten German nationalism while simultaneously confronting the reader with Rutha’s troubling personal legacy. -- John H. Roper, Jr. * Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth *In The Devil’s Wall Mark Cornwall, Professor of Modern European History at Southampton University, reclaims for LGBT history the little-known story of Heinz Rutha (1897–1937), a German-speaking activist in Czechoslovakia in the years leading up to World War II. Rutha was part of the Wandervogel movement, ostensibly an organization of clean-living lads, but in reality an all-male hothouse which produced a generation of right-wing homosexuals… He was poised to become a leading figure in German politics. But he may have been betrayed by Czech cops, who accused him of (illegal) homosexuality. -- David McGillivray * QX Magazine *[A] remarkably researched biography… The Devil’s Wall rescues Rutha from an undeserved obscurity born of a now bygone taboo. Cornwall promises, and delivers, fresh perspectives on the internal dynamics of the Sudeten German movement, as well as on international dimensions to the Czech–German conflict after 1933… Perhaps the most riveting chapters stretch from the Great War to about 1933. Drawing on a long-lost diary that Rutha kept for half of 1918, Cornwall captures the anxieties of a lower-middle-class Catholic at the age of twenty-one as he experienced not only combat and political catastrophe but attraction to fellow men… Cornwall has written a thorough and thought-provoking study. -- Jeremy King * Slavonic and East European Review *A remarkable book. With his painstaking reconstruction of Heinz Rutha’s short and turbulent life, Cornwall asks us to rethink—often radically—the history of Central Europe in the twentieth century. He successfully demonstrates that Sudeten German nationalism was, in the main, neither inspired nor directed by the Nazis, but was a movement in its own right. He also shows how Rutha’s attempts to deal with his homosexual longings informed his understanding of Sudeten German identity. Highly original in its character and brimming with implications, The Devil’s Wall offers novel and valuable insights to historians of nationalism, diplomacy, and gender and sexuality alike. -- Pieter M. Judson, author of Guardians of the Nation: Activists on the Language Frontiers of Imperial AustriaCornwall’s exquisitely revelatory study of charismatic youth leader and Sudeten German nationalist Heinz Rutha—earnest, seductive, and deeply conflicted—is luminously written and consistently absorbing. From the suicide with which it opens to the haunting aftermath of confused allegations over political betrayal and cross-generational homosexuality, the book beautifully recreates the complex and ambiguous emotional landscape inhabited by pan-German nationalists flirting with Nazism during Czechoslovakia’s brief experiment with democracy between the end of World War I and the annexation of 1938. -- Dagmar Herzog, author of Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century HistoryHighly original and refreshingly challenging, The Devil’s Wall forces us to rethink many of our assumptions about the so-called Sudeten Question. By focusing on Heinz Rutha and youth movements instead of high politics, Cornwall argues for an alternative history of the demise of interwar Czechoslovakia, in which the Sudeten movement is authentically home-grown and not simply the willing puppet of masters in Berlin. The book’s gripping narrative helps us understand that the dramatic outward shift in Sudeten German allegiance in the 1930s was only the final manifestation of a gradual inward development over the preceding decades. In both its textured reconstruction of a single life and its incorporation of gender and sexuality into the history of interwar East-Central Europe, there is truly nothing like this book. -- Benjamin Frommer, author of National Cleansing: Retribution against Nazi Collaborators in Postwar Czechoslovakia

Read more less

Book SynopsisTracing teachers' experiences in the Third Reich and East Germany, this title analyzes developments in education of crucial importance to both dictatorships.Trade ReviewA compelling study that makes an original contribution. Lansing presents an intriguing local case, the industrial city of Brandenburg an der Havel, which allows him to probe the interaction of the district administration with the citywide teaching staff, individual schools, and specific teachers. This is a considerable advance in the literature, which has so far mostly been confined to the national level. Through this case study Lansing portrays a more graphic view of how dictatorships work or fail to work on the local level. -- Konrad H. Jarausch, University of North CarolinaLansing takes a fascinating subject--how two German totalitarian regimes tried to transform the teaching bodies they inherited from previous regimes--and shows the degree to which both regimes were forced to compromise and restrict their ambitions for making large scale changes. This is the only book that traces the transformations--from republican through Nazi and Communist rule--in a single town, a unique perspective that provides valuable insight into shifts in political and academic culture at the local level. The material is fresh, the arguments original, the writing clear. This is an important, even pioneering, work of German and European history. -- John Connelly, University of California, Berkeley

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplains why a philo-Semitic association was dissolved even as anti-Semitism was condemned, how the Vatican concluded a concordat with the Third Reich in 1933, why Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was never proscribed by the Church, and what factors surrounded the Pope's silence on the persecution of the Jews.Trade ReviewPope and Devil is a must-read for anybody interested in the Vatican's relationship with Germany in the tumultuous years leading up to World War II, including the hotly debated issue of 'the silence of Pius XII.' This book brings new complexity and insight to the debate on Pius XII's 'silence.' -- John W. O'Malley, S.J., author of What Happened at Vatican II[An] excellent examination of the Pius XI archives...No stranger to the dark side of church history, and intimately familiar with ecclesiastical dogma, politics, and procedure, Wolf presents sensitive material with admirable evenhandedness, avoiding both apology and easy condemnation...Pope and Devil gives us a behind-the-scenes exploration of what made the Vatican tick, providing the sort of background information with which political historians contextualize the decisions of secular leaders like Churchill or Roosevelt. Wolf shows that in the last months of his life Ratti became consumed with the issue of Nazi-inspired racism, and devoted much of his waning energy to it; while Pacelli, for his part, "was clear in his rejection of racial anti-Semitism, and...believed that the church had a general responsibility to support human rights." Both men, however, understood their responsibilities in the light of traditional Catholic priorities. Both viewed Catholic dogma as immutable; and both consistently put Catholic institutional objectives--understood as an essential requirement of salvation--first and foremost. -- Michael R. Marrus * Commonweal *Hubert Wolf's extraordinarily lucid and well-researched Pope and Devil performs the much valued task of throwing light into dark corners sans the sensationalism and tendentious argumentation that have defined too much scholarship in the area...Pope and Devil takes the reader through the labyrinthine corridors of Vatican diplomacy in the 1920s and 1930s, the political turmoil that defined those papal strategies that tried to make sense of or at least limit the damage of the rising totalitarianism inundating Europe, and the intrigue and politicking that characterized the often fraught relationship among such parties as the nuncios or Vatican ambassadors in Berlin and Munich, the papal Secretary of State and the Head of the Supreme Congregation more commonly known as the Holy Office of the Roman Inquisition. No easy feat and Wolf manages it in a way that is both enlightening and entertaining. -- Michael W. Higgins * New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal *Wolf's absorbing study shows in fascinating detail how ready Pius XI was to sup with authoritarian devils of both left and right in hopes of striking the best balance he could. -- Michael Kerrigan * The Scotsman *The Vatican's dealings with the Third Reich during the reign of Pius XII's predecessor, Pius XI (1922-1939), have received rather less attention. But since the archives for that pontificate were opened in 2006, our understanding has increased enormously. Hubert Wolf's book contributes greatly to that understanding. -- John Pollard * Times Higher Education *Wolf has written a very important book. It does not explain the 'silence' of Pius XII, though it certainly exonerates him of the charge that he was in any way sympathetic to the regime in Germany. It also reveals a man with a misplaced confidence in his own competence. -- Michael Walsh * The Tablet *[Pope and Devil] is useful in helping us understand the reasons for the Vatican's consistent refusal to take a bold stand against Hitler and his policies in the years leading up to the war. -- Sergio I. Minerbi * Haaretz *The "silence of Pius XII" remains a contentious issue among historians studying the Third Reich and the Holocaust. Based on documents released by the Vatican Secret Archives during the last decade, Wolf offers an analysis of the pontificate of Pius XI (1922-1939). He carefully sketches the Vatican view of Germany during these years when Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, was a nuncio in Germany and subsequently cardinal secretary of state. Wolf's explication of these documents reveals the historical environment within which Pacelli matured and developed his Roman perspectives on Germany and so helps explain his future "silence" as pope. The documents (memoranda, etc.) offer clarifying insights into the sometimes convoluted policies of the Vatican with respect to its position on anti-Semitism, racism, the negotiations surrounding the Concordat of 1933, and the relationship between politics and dogma, always a tense problematic within the Roman Catholic Church. This book also opens windows on the Vatican perception of German Episcopal reactions to Hitler's ideology and to such issues as the euthanasia policy. Wolf's groundwork will make future archival releases more comprehensible. -- D. J. Dietrich * Choice *[An] important book...In 2008, [Pope] Benedict [XVI] resuscitated a Good Friday prayer for the Jews, and last year he raised the cause of canonizing Pius XII to a higher stage. For many students of church history, such steps have been deeply troubling. Those hoping to form a judgment of Benedict's course should read Wolf's learned book and ask themselves whether the Pius they encounter in the memoranda salvaged from the Vatican's secret archives seems like a saint--with a charisma that speaks through the ages--or whether he appears as fallible as any of us, a man who sought wisdom but ultimately failed to see beyond the horizons of his own time. -- John Connelly * New Republic online *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat has Germany made of its Nazi past? This book explores the legacy of the Nazi regime, exposing the workings of past beliefs and political interests, and how differently the two Germanys have recalled the crimes of Nazism.Table of ContentsMultiple restorations and divided memory; German communism's master narratives of antifascism - Berlin-Moscow;East Berlin, 1928-1945; from periphery to centre - German communists and the Jewish question, Mexico City, 1942-1945; the Nuremberg interregnum - struggles for the recognition in East Berlin, 1945-1949; purging 'cosmopolitanism' - the Jewish question in East Germany, 1949-1956; memory and policy in East Germany from Ulbricht to Honecker; the Nuremberg interregnum - divided memory in the western zones, 1945-1963; atonement, restitution, and justice delayed - West Germany, 1949-1963; politics and memory since the 1960s.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhy did ordinary Germans vote for Hitler? In this dramatically plotted book, organized around crucial turning points in 1914, 1918, and 1933, Peter Fritzsche explains why the Nazis were so popular and what was behind the political choice made by the German people.Trade ReviewPeter Fritzsche, in his Germans into Nazis, makes a…crucial point about public opinion in the 1930s and 1940s. He recalls—and this is something that foreigners living in Germany have always understood more readily than academics—that the popular appeal of Hitler’s movement lay much more in the hope and optimism it generated than in its various invitations to hate and to fear. -- Neal Ascherson * Los Angeles Times Book Review *The question still haunts: Why did Germans embrace Hitler? Dr. Fritzsche rejects the standard view that Germany welcomed Nazism because of the harsh strictures of the Treaty of Versailles, the economics hardships of the Depression or a long-standing hatred of Jews, and argues instead that Hitler’s ‘program’ articulated the aims and desires of the lower and middle classes. Perhaps the most unsettling view in this thoughtful book is that the German people saw Hitler and his plan as embodying their hopes for their future. And what would that triumph have produced? -- Lee Milazzo * Dallas Morning News *Historians examining nations over periods of time have somehow to find a balance between what is inherent in a people and what is not, in order to attempt explanations of national attitudes and conduct. This balance is not often found in the study of Germany during the fateful pre-Hitler period. The question is clear enough: Why did a civilized Central European power suddenly and swiftly descend into moral depths? …[A unified explanation] is unlikely to be found. But Peter Fritzsche has come up with new light on an old question. Instead of starting from 1918, he goes further back, and…looks at Germany as a nation undergoing redefinition, an animal changing out of all recognition… Fritzsche writes attractive, polished prose, and non-specialists should have no trouble in following his line of thought. -- Ralph Amelan * Jerusalem Post *Drawing on a wealth of documentation, including newspaper reports, historical analyses and studies of everyday life, Fritzsche gives a fascinating look at the rise of Nazism, the dynamics of populism and the power of ideology. -- Victoria Barnett * Christian Century *In this book Mr. Fritzsche gives us an original, new and extremely helpful way to understand how Nazi Germany came into being. This is one of the best books on Nazi Germany published in many a month. * Contemporary Review *Peter Fritzsche’s Germans into Nazis is an interpretive study of the rise of Nazism which uses the key events of four crisis periods—August 1914, November 1918, January 1933 and May 1933—to explain the success of the Nazis in their drive to gain and solidify their power by winning over the German people… This book is gracefully written, provides provocative challenges for more extensive reinterpretations, and is worthy reading for all students of Nazi Germany. -- Paul Bookbinder * English Historical Review *Fritzsche presents a well-informed argument that uniquely identifies a political process in the Nazis’ climb to power and not just the feeding of racial hatred or the failure of the Weimar Republic. -- Mary F. Salony * Library Journal *Well researched and succinct, this history offers a nuanced view of a complicated history. * Publishers Weekly *Fritzsche convincingly explains the rise of the Nazis as the success of populist nationalism—‘the culmination of a process of popular mobilization going back to 1914 and beyond’… This is a fascinating issue—what consciousness of being ‘German’ was and how it was shaped. A well-crafted, well-informed, well-written and convincing account. It should be accessible to its intended audience of general public and university students. -- Richard Bessel, The Open UniversityThe book’s strength lies in the vigor and colorfulness with which Fritzsche presents his ideas. He has style and class in his writing, and that should attract general readers as well as specialists. Fritzsche has a sharp eye, moreover, for vivid or illuminating details, and he uses them very effectively to weave his narrative… The book provides a combination of scholarly research and literary skill, a combination too rare in academic works. -- Theodore S. Hamerow, author of On the Road to the Wolf’s LairTable of ContentsIntroduction July 1914 November 1918 January 1933 May 1933 Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisEarly in his career, Hitler took inspiration from Mussolini—this fact is widely known. But an equally important role model for Hitler has been neglected: Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, who inspired Hitler to remake Germany along nationalist, secular, totalitarian, and ethnically exclusive lines. Stefan Ihrig tells this compelling story.Trade ReviewA thorough and inspired account of how the formation of modern Turkey influenced Hitler and other Nazi ideologists by providing a model of armed resistance to the Versailles Treaty, as well as an imagined example of muscular nationalism for a new century. -- Steve Coll * New York Review of Books *For decades, historians have seen Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 as emulating Mussolini’s 1922 March on Rome. Not so, says Stefan Ihrig in Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination. Hitler also had Turkey in mind… Atatürk’s subordination of Islam to the state anticipated Hitler’s strategy toward Christianity… Impeccably researched and clearly written…Ihrig’s book will transform our understanding of the Nazi policies. -- Dominic Green * Wall Street Journal *Middle Eastern heads of state have not tended to create exemplary leadership templates that aspirant rulers elsewhere have sought to emulate. But there is one notable exception: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination, Stefan Ihrig argues that the man who created modern Turkey inspired the tyrant who sought to make Germany the hub of a new National Socialist Europe: Adolf Hitler. His argument, based on extensive study of German print media in the 1920s and 30s, is compelling… Ihrig has unearthed an important subject within Second World War scholarship that, strangely, has remained overlooked for many decades. -- Gerald Butt * Times Literary Supplement *Fascinating… This is a gap-filling book that’ll be of deep interest to students of both World War II and National Socialism. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *Stefan Ihrig’s brilliant new book Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination demonstrates convincingly that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s conquest of Turkey was the most important model for the Nazis’ remaking of Germany, far more so than Mussolini’s 1922 March on Rome, which is usually cited as Hitler’s main inspiration. -- David Mikics * The Tablet *Ataturk in the Nazi Imagination by Stefan Ihrig…make[s] fascinating reading and highlight[s] the variety of ways in which the German state sought to subvert the Muslim soldiers’ professional loyalty to the Allied armies in the two wars… [Ihrig] must be lauded for [his] painstaking research in producing [this] highly readable [volume] that include[s] relevant photographs as well. -- Muhammad Ali Siddiqi * Dawn *It is Stefan Ihrig’s contention, in his fascinating Atatürk and the Nazi Imagination, that it was Atatürk who in many ways molded and inspired the Nazi enterprise. -- Mitchell Abidor * Jewish Currents *[An] insightful, instructive work, a genuinely original contribution to Nazi historiography… Makes us ponder, among so much else, the contribution that Ataturk’s capture and all-encompassing control of his nation and its people made to [Lenin’s, Stalin’s, Hitler’s, and Mussolini’s] evil works. -- Martin Rubin * Washington Times *Stefan Ihrig has written a valuable and important book. He has shed light on an overlooked, remarkable, and significant aspect of National Socialism: namely, the prominent role played by Turkey and Kemal Atatürk in the Nazi imagination. This is a notable accomplishment. -- Thomas A. Kohut * Weekly Standard *From the Armenian massacres to the Turkish War of Independence and the rise of Kemal Atatürk, Turkish events attracted deep interest in Germany. As Ihrig shows, politically active Germans of the Weimar Republic, especially on the far right, saw in Turkey a model for successful revisionism, authoritarian rule, secular modernization, and the political utility of genocide. This brilliant and original study sheds new light on the rise of Nazism and the prehistory of Nazi racial policy. -- Christopher Clark, University of CambridgeThis is a most important and refreshingly original book about a hitherto unknown yet pivotal influence on Adolf Hitler and other National Socialists. Its eye-opening conclusions will change how we think about German and European history as well as the Holocaust. -- Thomas Weber, University of AberdeenIn this richly documented and exhaustively researched study, Stefan Ihrig investigates the Nazi movement’s obsessive interest in modern Turkey and its leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Focusing on the image of Atatürk as a national savior and state-builder, Ihrig examines how fascinated the extreme Right and radical nationalists in Germany were with Atatürk’s Ankara government and its achievements in the interwar era. The resulting analysis carries some surprising findings for specialists of both German and Turkish history. Ihrig demonstrates that the Turkish nationalist movement, its leader, and his policies were much more influential for the Nazi worldview in the 1920s than many other potential examples, including Mussolini’s Italy…Those who look for European right-wing echoes of single-party-era Turkey’s policies will benefit from Ihrig’s most seminal finding, that in the development of the Nazi movement’s ideas, Atatürk’s Turkey acted as a role model…Atatürk in the Nazi Imagination is a bold and pathbreaking book. It draws attention to a largely overlooked connection between Nazi Germany and Kemalist Turkey, and contributes to the scholarship on the cross-fertilization of authoritarian nationalist ideas in the post-World War I years…Ihrig’s book is an insightful and highly original work. In the future, it will be difficult to discuss the transnational undercurrents of the radical Right in interwar Europe or German-Turkish relations under the Nazis without taking into consideration Ihrig’s arguments. -- Emre Sencer * H-Net Reviews *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"A small book, but powerful all out of proportion to its size in exposing a shameful history."--Kirkus "Interesting and eye opening... In spite of the Nazis' disdain, to put it mildly, for our stated and evident liberal and democratic principles, they eagerly looked to the United States as the prime example for their own goals of protecting the blood, restricting citizenship, and banning mixed marriages. Reading this book could make many Americans doubt the possibility of ever forming a more perfect union with such a legacy."--Thomas McClung, New York Journal of Books "The admiration for American immigration policy expressed in Mein Kampf was not a passing thought on the day's news ... Nor a one-off remark. Its place in the full context of Nazi theory and practice comes into view in Hitler's American Model... Many people will take the very title as an affront. But it's the historical reality the book discloses that proves much harder to digest. The author does not seem prone to sensationalism. The argument is made in two succinct, cogent and copiously documented chapters, prefaced and followed with remarks that remain within the cooler temperatures of expressed opinion."--Scott McLemee, InsideHigherEd.com "Stunningly well-timed."--Tim Stanley, Daily Telegraph "[This] new history argues convincingly that institutionalized racism and common-law pragmatism in the United States inspired Hitler's policies... Historians have downplayed the connection between Nazi race law and America because America was mainly interested in denying full citizenship rights to blacks rather than Jews. But Whitman's adroit scholarly detective work has proved that in the mid-'30s Nazi jurists and politicians turned again and again to the way the United States had deprived African-Americans of the right to vote and to marry whites. They were fascinated by the way the United States had turned millions of people into second-class citizens."--David Mikics, Tablet Magazine "Whitman argues convincingly that American jurisprudence-federal and state alike-provided both inspiration and a model for the most radical Nazi lawyers."--Matthew Harwood, Reason "Hitler's American Model is overall, an erudite, well-researched, and thought-provoking study that raises important questions about America's laws - and leaders - in the not-so-distant past."--Rafael Medoff, Haaretz "In Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, James Whitman ... makes a stunning and unsettling claim about the Nuremberg Laws."--Glen Altschuler, Jerusalem Post "Through intensive scrutiny of German language transcripts and other primary sources that he translated himself, Yale Law School professor James Whitman develops a story in Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law of unintended American inspiration for the infamous Nazi anti-Jewish laws. It's a story that will shock readers."--David Wecht, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Eerie... [Whitman] illustrates how German propagandists sought to normalize the Nazi agenda domestically by putting forth the United States as a model."--Brent Staples, New York Times "In his startling new history, Whitman traces the substantial influence of American race laws on the Third Reich. The book, in effect, is a portrait of the United States assembled from the admiring notes of Nazi lawmakers, who routinely referenced American policies in the design of their own racist regime... Whitman's book contributes to a growing recognition of American influences on Nazi thought."--Jeff Guo, Washington PostTable of ContentsA Note on Translations ix Introduction 1 1 Making Nazi Flags and Nazi Citizens 17 The First Nuremberg Law: Of New York Jews and Nazi Flags 19 The Second Nuremberg Law: Making Nazi Citizens 29 America: The Global Leader in Racist Immigration Law 34 American Second-Class Citizenship 37 The Nazis Pick Up the Thread 43 Toward the Citizenship Law: Nazi Politics in the Early 1930s 48 The Nazis Look to American Second-Class Citizenship 59 Conclusion 69 2 Protecting Nazi Blood and Nazi Honor 73 Toward the Blood Law: Battles in the Streets and the Ministries 81 Battles in the Streets: The Call for "Unambiguous Laws" 81 Battles in the Ministries: The Prussian Memorandum and the American Example 83 Conservative Juristic Resistance: Gurtner and Losener 87 The Meeting of June 5, 1934 93 The Sources of Nazi Knowledge of American Law 113 Evaluating American Influence 124 Defining "Mongrels": The One-Drop Rule and the Limits of American Influence 127 Conclusion 132 America through Nazi Eyes 132 America's Place in the Global History of Racism 137 Nazism and American Legal Culture 146 Acknowledgments 163 Notes 165 Suggestions for Further Reading 197 Index 201

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"In Hitler’s Munich: Jews, the Revolution and the Rise of Nazism explores the great variety of roles played by Munich’s Jews in those years, putting to rest any simple characterization of pre-World War II German Jewry."---Robert Siegel, Moment"In his excellent new book, the noted German Jewish historian Michael Brenner explains and analyses how and why Munich became the bedrock of Nazism."---Colin Shindler, Jewish Chronicle"Michael Brenner. . . has written a book that tells the tragic story of the city and its Jews after World War I without fear or favor and, indeed, in this particular case, without either pride or shame."---Steven E. Aschheim, Jewish Review of Books"Brenner’s scholarship is rigorous and impressive. . . . [He] never lets us forget that these were people, not just figures in a historical text. . . . Although he did not intend or fore­see it when he began to write, it quick­ly became appar­ent to him that what he was describ­ing res­onat­ed uncom­fort­ably with the events of Jan­u­ary 6th, 2020 — the storm­ing of the Capi­tol in Wash­ing­ton. At every turn the read­er is remind­ed of the lessons of history."---Mark Welch, Jewish Book Council"Deep, important research by a master historian." * Kirkus Reviews *"Michael Brenner. . . provides important lessons which might help thwart the ongoing collapse of democracies across the world. . . . the book is a timely lesson on how it’s imperative to shake up people gullible enough to fall into the trap of manufactured lies and give their unequivocal allegiance to forces that silently work towards genocidal politics and the weakening of the fabric of constitutional democracy. As democracies are imperilled, Brenner’s relevant account of the anti-Semitic discourse that underpinned the early years of Hitler’s quest for power becomes a wake-up call."---Shelley Walia, The Hindu"Anyone who wants to understand the rise of the Nazis would do well to read Brenner's book."---Sabine Beppler-Spahl, Radicalism of Fools: Rethinking Anti-Semitism"An indispensable account of how, after the failed left-wing November Revolution of 1918–19 in Munich, the new conservative government of Germany promoted the lie that Jews were responsible for Germany's defeat in World War I and the rise of Bolshevism in Germany. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice Reviews *"Munich as the point of origin for the explosion of antisemitism in Germany in the early 1920s is the focus of In Hitler’s Munich. For Michael Brenner what mattered most was not the reprieve Jews experienced in 1923 but the failed revolution of 1918–1919 that put them at so much risk in the first place."---Christopher R. Browning, New York Review of Books

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisReferring to a situation in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, which was home to many survivors of the Holocaust in the 1970s, and where American Nazi sympathizers wished to demonstrate, the author of this book argues that freedom of speech must be defended even in the most abhorrent of circumstances.Trade ReviewA meticulous and graceful narrative of one of the most gripping free speech conflicts of modern times." —Rodney A. Smolla, author of Free Speech in an Open Society"Strum succeeds brilliantly in telling the two stories of Skokie-the constitutional struggle over free speech and the human agony and conflict that permeated it. In clear, rigorous, and vivid prose, she recreates the legal and political culture when the case arose in the 1970s and then shows how more recent intellectual theories bear on what happened. A simply wonderful book." —Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor, NYU, and president, ACLU, 1976-1991"Strum paints a remarkably complete picture of the entire Skokie controversy and helps put the debate over the First Amendment protection for 'hate speech' into meaningful perspective." —David Goldberger, Ohio State University College of Law professor and former ACLU attorney for Frank Collin and the National Socialist Party of America"A book that students will read eagerly and that teachers will find a pleasure to use." —Melvin I. Urofsky, author of Affirmative Action on Trial: Sex Discrimination in Johnson v. Santa Clara

Read more less

Book SynopsisA bold thesis arguing that fascism is not the main enemy today - but a dangerous alliance of new political formations on the right Far-Right in Britain, the US and France.To understand why is the first step to stopping them. A terrifying issue that is being hotly debated across the world from a highly respected theorist of fascism.Trade Review'The best available account of today's far right and how we can stop it' -- Elane Heffernan, Anti-Nazi League, 1992-2003 'Renton is a stalwart of the anti-racist movement and his book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the changing nature of the right' -- Sasha Das Gupta, organiser, Momentum 'At a time when the international far right is ascendant Renton deftly explains the long terms factors behind its rise, lays out the true nature of the threat and importantly, offers some suggestions for what might be done to fight back' -- Joe Mulhall, Hope not Hate 'David Renton's new book is greatly to be welcomed for its forensic attempt to identify what is genuinely new about 'the new authoritarians' and, more importantly, his argument that the left cannot oppose them successfully by simply repeating strategies that were developed under different conditions' -- Neil Davidson, editor, 'The Longue Duree of the Far Right' 'Renton's book is a superior guide for understanding - and combatting - right and far-right movements across the globe today' -- Bill Mullen, Campus Anti-Fascist Network 'A essential intervention that helps us understand the political shifts taking place on the right, and points a way for the left to halt an unfolding disaster' -- Dan Trilling, author of 'Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right'Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. When Right-Wing Parties Change 2. Brexit and the Prospect of Convergence 3. Remaking the G.O.P. 4. Breaking the Centre: National Rally and its Rivals 5. The Internationalism of the Far Right 6. Benefits and Trade 7. Could the Far Right Change Back? Conclusion: Stopping the Right

Read more less