About this title: Few twentieth-century political leaders enjoyed greated popularity among their own people than Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s. This remarkable study of the myth that sustained one of the most notorious dictators, and delves into Hitler's extraordinarily powerful hold over the German people. In this 'major contribution to the study of the Third ...
read more
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780192822345ISBN:0192822349
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Audience: General/trade. Bk is clean & tight, light edgewear & rubbing. No creasing on spine. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 12/13/2001
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: Fine. 0192802062 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small blue OUP stamp on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Edition: 2 REV ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 312 pages. (312 pages) this study of the myth that sustained one of the most notorious dictators, delves into hitler's powerful hold over the german people. in this work, ian kershaw argues that it lay not so much in hitler's personality or his bizarre nazi ideology, as in the social and political values of the people. edition 2 rev ed (Paperback) read more
Edition: 2 Rev ed
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press (United Kingdom)
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 196 High by 129 Wide by 22 deep in mm. (312) few twentieth-century political leaders enjoyed greated popularity among their own people than hitler in the 1930s and 1940s. this remarkable study of the myth that sustained one of the most notorious dictators, and delves into hitler's extraordinarily powerful hold over the german people. in this 'major contribution to the study of the third reich' (times literary supplement), ian kershaw argues that it lay not so much in hitler ... read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1987-08-06
ISBN-13:9780198219644ISBN:0198219644
Description: Good. Cover and pages in good condition. Ex library with usual stickers and markings. Dustjacket shows moderate wear. Online seller since 2004. E-mail sent when shipped. b3s2. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1989-06-01
ISBN-13:9780192822345ISBN:0192822349
Description: Good. Good Condition With Little Wear! ! ! Some highlighting within text. 100% Money Back Guarantee! ! ! We Ship Immediately! ! ! Recycle An Old Book and Support World Literacy Today! ! ! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 2001-12-13
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: Very Good. Slight wear on cover. May have personal inscription. Otherwise in like new condition. Usually ships next business day. Buy with Pride! Zinc Media, Feel the Power of Knowledge! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1989-06-01
ISBN-13:9780192822345ISBN:0192822349
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Description: Acceptable. Normal wear--cover corners bent, page edges slightly dirty, some page corners bent, sticker on spine, back cover has small damage, some underlining 100% Money Back Guarantee. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 2001-12-13
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780192802064ISBN:0192802062
Description: New. This study of the myth that sustained one of the most notorious dictators, delves into Hitler's powerful hold over the German people. In this work, Ian Kershaw argues that it lay not so much in Hitler's personality or his bizarre Nazi ideology, as in... read more
"For those Catholic-bashers out there, Kershaw points out that Catholic leadership vocally resisted Nazi doctrine and openly attacked Hitler as "the incarnation of evil". For their efforts, heroic resistors such as Dr. Fritz Gerlich and Fr. Ingbert Naab were murdered or sent to the concentration camps. There exists, especially in the United States, a popular misconception that the Holocaust was the product of 'good people doing nothing'. Many good people did stand up to the Nazis and paid for it with their lives. History is rarely as simplistic, and moral, as most would have it. The good people of history are all too often pushed aside or eliminated by the mass of idiots. Kershaw shows how relentless Nazi propaganda, with a complete monopoly of media control after 1933, converted the good to idiocy. Few 'good people' existed. however, to raise their voices against the murder and extermination of German Communists, who went to the concentration camps two years before the passing of the Nuremburg Laws against German Jews."
"One of the most pressing and difficult to answer questions of the 20th century remains why did the German people embrace Hitler. Ask the guy sitting next to you at a bar and you may get a simple answer. Read Ian Kershaw, one of the finest scholars on the Third Reich (and author of the unparalleled, two-volume Hitler biography), and you gain an understanding of the complex, larger historical forces at work in Germany long before most Germans would become familiar with the beer hall agitator.
What separated Nazism from other extreme right-wing fringe and ultra-nationalist parties was not its ideological roots or anti-semitism, although the Nazis were more vulgar and fanatical than most.
It was the personality of the Party's Fuhrer, Adolph Hitler, and the personality cult than grew around him-- and which he shrewdly fed. The personality cult would intoxicate his closest, most fanatical followers, win over larger sections of the population yearning for a strong leader to restore Germany's honor and strength, and earn ambivalence among other groups, like practicing Christians, who had little use for Nazism but were led on by Hitler's appeals to nationalism.
Nationalism is one answer to the huge question. However, the roots of the "heroic leadership cult" are complex and can be traced to Germany's infancy as a state in the mid-1850s.
Kershaw, through meticulous research of public opinion reports compiled by the Reich security services and other sources, demonstrates how the different sectors of the German population viewed the person of Hitler and what were the driving aspects of the personality cult.
You might be surprised to learn Hitler's anti-semitism was of secondary importance to most people. In fact, the Fuhrer intentionally did not mention the "Jewish Question" in most public speeches from the mid-1920s through the mid-1930s. There were other enemies to villify, other "cosmic" causes around which to rally the people.
Striking was the difference between public opinion of Hitler and of his Party. While Hitler himself enjoyed overwhelming support and confidence of most Germans after 1933, the Nazis (and their ideological imperatives) never caught on with millions of Germans.
This psychological separation allowed the Hitler Myth not only to thrive but also to protect Hitler from the criticism heaped on his Party "hacks" because of their corruption and ideological heavy-handedness.
In short, Nazism and the Party never reached the heights of popularity as did Hitler himself. "Hitler's fine, if he only knew about his underlings." Incredible was the German people's ignorance of the reality that it was Hitler who was the driving force behind the most unpopular, illegal, radical, or violent actions of the regime, but time and again he would escape almost all blame.
This separation was further reinforced when Hitler did step in to take action, as when he ordered the murderous purge of the SA (Brownshirts) in 1934. Although he sanctioned mass murder, citizens weary of revolutionary street violence saw Hitler as the defender of law and order. Hitler acted when he saw action was necessary. So when local Party bosses, for instance, corruptly enriched themselves and nothing was done to stop it, many people just assumed it was because Hitler didn't know.
Kershaw tracks the roots of the "heroic leadership cult" in Germany, its attachment to Hitler, it's rise to unprecedented heights (few leaders in world history enjoyed such popularity), and it's final destructive decline.
Back to nationalism. If many ordinary Germans never embraced much of Nazism and even recoiled at its vulgar anti-semitism (the highest percentage of the vote the Nazis ever won in a free election was 37% in the fractured polity that was Weimer Germany), then what was it that intoxicated them about Hitler?
To a large degree it was the same force present in so many other European countries following WWI, nationalism embodied in the desire for national greatness, strength, and expansion; exalting the state over the individual, unity over partisan bickering, and authoritarism over plutocracy.
Hitler tapped into those forces which were especially ripe in Germany, the Versailles-humilated loser of WWI.
Germany was a cauldron and Hitler was the master of its ingredients.
"Kershaw is perhaps the greatest expert on Hitler, having written a classic two-volume biography. This book is a thorough lesson in how political spinmeisters work, in this case to create an image of a psychotic twit as a statesman in the minds of tens of millions of people."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
