The Nazis

World War II #21

by Robert Edwin Herzstein

Photographs help document the rise of the Nazi party, Hitler's private life, and the political intrigues of party members

Genres: History, World War II, Military Fiction, Military History, Nonfiction, European History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1979

About the author

Robert Herzstein was a historian who taught at the University of South Carolina. A graduate of New York University, in 1986 he helped to uncover Austrian politician and former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldhem's past association with the Nazi Party.

Reviews

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the Time-Life book series on World War II, The Nazis is a bit of a patchwork of different themes surrounding the war's main villains, but each chapter is fascinating (or perhaps terrifying) in its own way, making this one of the better volumes in the collection. The early aim of the book is tracking the party's rise to power, the personalities that surrounded Hitler, and the creation of the S.S. When people talk about current-day fascism using the Nazi playbook, well, this is the section that makes you well aware of that. There are important chapters on less reported elements like propaganda (again feels rather familiar today) and how the systemic looting of "enemies" foreign and domestic. The section on the Holocaust is harrowing of course, but doesn't use any sensationalistic pictures in the text pages (and still relatively tame in the following image gallery). This is a boon to those who want the information, but can't stomach the violence or exploitation of suffering that Time-Life could have serviced here. The final chapter is about how Hitler took control of the military and his generals' plots against him, but the history stops there (all the close calls had my time travel brain working overtime).

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating but brutal account of the Nazi regime. The authors not only looks at the rise of Hitler and his ideology, but of those closest to him such as Goring, Himmler, Bormann, etc. Their brutal regime is laid out in plain and somewhat depressing fashion. The Holocaust is illustrated in all of its brutality. The final chapter offers some hope in documenting the assassination attempt on Hitler and shows that not everyone was pleased with Hitler’s leadership and the direction he took Germany.

[Nilendu Misra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up this georgeous set of 39 books from a library sale ($20!). Started with the book - supremely delighted. Beautiful pictures on high grade paper, insightful and material writing from experts — brings the period alive.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more depressing of the series for obvious reasons. Interesting, but depressing.

[Al Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typically good book in the Time-Life WW2 series.

[William Razavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume from the old Time-Life WWII series is a bit of a sampler platter of Nazis and the things they did. The early focus is on the role of Martin Bormann as the gatekeeper to Hitler and one of the biggest takeaways here is once again about how inefficient the Nazis were and how much of that bureaucratic inefficiency was intentional as Hitler wanted to keep subordinates jockeying for power but that eventually meant that a lot of that overlapping power was exercises in weird ways by the "Little Hitlers."
Once again we see all we need to in order to bust the myth of the "good Germans" and the "clean Wehrmacht".
Still timely.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jumps around a lot, but still the only book that can match William L. Shirer's astoung, outstanding The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.

[Robert Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this Life Time series in the early 1980's on WWII, a volume came to the house every 2 or 3 months so I could take my reading. It was very informative and enjoyable read, I still use it for reference.

[Josh Dalzell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish reading this one. I had had my fill of evil people. I might go back. I don't really like this series because it jumps around too much and doesn't follow a timeline.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good visual overview of the Nazi era