Description
Book SynopsisExplores the failure of Germany's largest political party to stave off the Nazi threat. In this revisionist evaluation, Donna Harsch argues that the party's internal dynamics immobilized the SPD. Harsch looks closely at Social Democratic ideology, structure, and political culture, examining how each impinged upon the party's response to economic disaster, parliamentary crisis, and the Nazis.
Trade ReviewThe finest chronicle in any language of the twists and turns of the Führer's numerically largest opposition, the German Social Democrats, between 1928 and 1933.--
German Studies Review|
""[An] absorbing and sympathetic study of the debates within the SPD during the slump.""--Times Literary Supplement|""A valuable addition to the extensive literature on Weimar Germany and can be recommended to all readers interested in that fateful era.""--
Choice|""Better than any previous analysis, [Harsch's] book captures the rhythm of events as Social Democrats experienced them.""--
American Historical Review|""An important book that is rich in insight and sensitive in its treatment of the difficulties that the leaders of German Social Democracy faced in formulating and implementing an effective response to the challenge of Nazism. Based upon a thorough and careful examination of published and unpublished sources, Harsch's book sheds important new light on the weaknesses of Germany's democratic forces in the last years of the Weimar Republic.""--Larry Eugene Jones, Canisius College
