Rating: 
Summary: A Great Summation of the Effects of Nazi Destructiveness
Review: "The Third Reich: A New History" does not emphasize Hitler , nor the politics or personalities within the Nazi party itself, and, consequently, Burleigh rushes through the Nazi seisure of power. The book, rather, concentrates on the impact National Socialism had on the lives of people both within Germany and throughout Europe. To learn about Hitler, the Nazi organization itself, or how Hitler molded the party to his will, you will need to go to other sources; Bracher, Stern, and Kershaw, for example. But to read about the destructive effects the Nazi regime had on the lives of everday people, there is no better source than this new book. As one reviewer remarked, Burleigh has demonstrated an "extraordinary mastery of an immense monographic literature." Through it all Burleigh maintains a judicious and balanced approach to his subject, yet he does not hesitate to pass judgment. Burleigh's keen and always balanced evaluation and insight make the work more than a mere compilation. Early on he presents an excellent analysis of the various classes, occupations, and professions and why National Socialism appealed to them. With keen psychological and sociological insight he is excellent in his presentation of the various Nazi strategies for appealing to the differences in people. He shows, for example, how the Nazis were selective in their use of antisemitism. Yet, the heart of Burleigh's book is what he considers the defining characteristic of the Nazi experience; "the supercession of the rule of law by arbitrary police terror." He is strong on the Nazi approach to the law and the politicization of the police. He is strong on the Nazi attempt to purge what they believed are the "Jewish elements" within Christianity and the degrading effects the Nazi regime had on the churches and the clergy. Burleigh reveals the effects of the Anschluss on radicalizing Nazi anitsemitic policies, but he also clearly reveals that there were many other groups singled out for persecution and elimination than the Jews. The author is especially good at describing the Nazi euthanasia program in regard to the disabled and retarded. The author is also very strong in his discussion of the occupation of various parts of Europe and how Nazi policies differed from country to country. He reveals the extent to which the occupied countries engaged in their own ethnic housecleaning once the Nazi invasion undermined their stability. Through it all Burleigh does not condemn the German people as such, he doesn't portray them as morally bankrupt beings of a kind different than you and me. To the contrary, he reveals how the German people became the "emotional casualties of their own actions." He illustrates how good people felt corrupted by the Nazi regime and how people struggled with conflicting emotions under the terrible circumstances they found themselves caught up in. In the end the Germans became a people "bathed in narcissistic ethno-sentimentality." This was central to the problem then, and it is still a problem in today's world. Burleigh is not one to demonstrate the "positive" impact the Nazi regime had on Germany. Any success in the sphere of economic recovery was purchased at a heavy cost. Throughout the work the author cleary demonstrates the depravity and destructiveness of the Nazi's bankrupt ideology which, centered around the "supercession of the rule of law," became a substitute secular religion based upon bio-racial concepts. The destructiveness of the Nazi regime is always kept at center stage. There is no better summation of the brutality and savagery visited upon everyday people by the Nazis.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Revisionist Exploration of Nature Of Nazism!
Review: After carefully re-reading this book I came to the inescapeable conclusion that if ever there was a book whose theme revolves brilliantly around the single question of individual complicity with, participation in, and responsibility for the manifestations of evil, it is this one. In a work of amazing breadth and depth, historian Michael Burleigh masterfully weaves together a magisterial and complex theory regarding the nature of economic, social, and cultural life in Nazi Germany, and in so doing provides a convincing and seductive notion as to why the Germans succumbed as a people to the mind-numbing evil of the National Socialist regime. He contends that like communism, National Socialism provided a seductive political alternative to traditional religion, and by doing so seduced the German people into a pact with the devil. The book spins along with a breathless narrative that shows how the prevailing conditions in post WWI Germany, the history of prejudice, envy and fear of the Jewish people, and the lack of integration in various aspects of German life contributed to the existence of a unique cultural vulnerability, which the Nazis subsequently masterfully orchestrated and gradually integrated into what he contends was a secular religion, replacing the existing welter of beliefs with the singular faith and belief in the sacredness of the "Fatherland" as personified in Adolph Hitler. There is much evidence presented which supports such an interpretation. Yet, while all of this is brilliantly developed and related by Burleigh, in truth there is also much here that is not new or novel. Like William Shirer's masterful portrayal of the evils of the thugs, slugs, and gutter people who rose to power with the Nazi regime in "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", Burleigh painstakingly traces the ways in which life as a citizen in the new world of national socialism became more and more oriented around the precepts of fascism. Of course, the Nazis interfered massively with every aspect of society, in ways ranging from encouragement of so-called Aryan art and literature to applied eugenics (Josef Mengele was once a highly admired and respected medical scientist with an international reputation) to the establishment of Hitler Youth Core. In all this Burleigh reveals a people so starved for meaning and identity that they grasped at the straws of greatness that the Nazis dangled before them. Caught in a devil's bargain, of course, they gradually abandoned their traditional values and beliefs in the hopes of participating in the glory and dreams of the Fatherland. Of course, one does not sense anywhere in this narrative that there is any one critical moment in which they consciously decide to abandon the past in favor of the promise of the Nazi future; instead one gets the impression of a quite gradual, almost glacial drift toward identification with the existing regime and its blueprints for the future. Certainly, however, by the moment in which the terror of events such as the Kristallnacht pogrom, they had begun to realize what they had bought into. By then, of course, it was far too late, for the Nazis had a very firm grip on power and were not afraid to use whatever methods necessary to maintain control. From that point on, there was no turning back. What seems most unique and convincing here, however, is what historian Richard Overy refers to as "the vast panorama on which it is set". Burleigh writes with convincing authority about the ways in which the secular religion of fascism is sold to the German people, wrapped in the cloak of tradition, folklore, and mysticism. It is no mistake that the Nazi regime seemed Wagnerian; their alignment with such glorious interpretations of German destiny was quite intentional. Seen in this way, the German people were gradually led into subscribing to a whole new culture, one based on the substitution of the Fatherland and its personification in Adolph Hitler for all that had preceded it. Of course, so wrapped in tradition and folklore, the beatification of evil was hardly recognizable at first. It was only with the initial successes of 1939 and 1940 that the truth about the aims and goals and culture of the Nazi regime began to emerge. It is a truism that Hitler could not have come to power without the tacit consent of a majority of the German people. In this book Michael Burleigh provides a fascinating thesis regarding how that consent was engineered, and the ways in which the German people became involved and embroiled in the most disastrous series of international conflicts in the history of the modern world. While one suspects this is hardly the final word on the subject of the nature of the German state or the people who populated and supported it, this thoughtful and provocative book adds fuel to the fire ignited by Daniel Goldhagen in his book "Hitler's Willing Executioners", and sets the stage for an even more engaged discussion of the nature of human evil. I highly recommend this book, along with Ian Kershaw's recent two-volume study of Hitler (see my reviews), which also uses the new treasure trove of information newly released by the Russians and others. Together the two authors provide a fascinating and fresh look at the nature of the Nazi regime and the murder and mayhem it spawned.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Just Another Potted History
Review: After wading through the slightly disappointing Kershaw 2-volume biography of Hitler, I wasn't eager to read yet another account of Nazi Germany. And Burleigh doesn't make life easy with an idiosyncratic writing style that occasionally has you grabbing for a dictionary. But one must persist in the interests of enlightenment. This is *not* your average potboiler treatment of the topic. Burleigh revels in the obscure, and brings deep knowledge of the Weimar Republic and its failings to the table. It is not a retelling of Shirer, but a fundamentally new approach to the familiar story, emphasizing the way the Nazis infiltrated and influenced everyday life, through such institutions as trades unions and the churches. He spends a good deal of time on the roots of extermination politics, which started with the mentally ill and disabled. He's by no means weak on the Shoah, but he does restore some much-needed perspective to the subject, and shows -- to the extent possible -- how it came about. The final desperate days of the Nazis are captured perfectly. And his chapters on the German resistance cast an interesting new light on the origins and motivers of those rival interests. Throughout, Burleigh ignores the usual cliched "dates, battles and generals" approach to the subject, and brings a new understanding to the resistible rise, and inevitable fall of this bizarre pseudo-religion. I don't think you have a *choice* about reading it, because it is going to alter a lot of popular viewpoints over the next few years.
Rating:
Summary: Incidious Regimes Start In Our Minds
Review: Any one who has read "The Nazi Seizure of Power" will feel very much at home with Burleigh's methodology and analysis which, by the way, is most compelling and believable. A tremendous work that accounts for why, how and to what depths the beastial Third Reich wormed its way into the receptive hearts and minds of the German people...and found sympathizers and supporters outside of Germany's borders. When you finish this book, read Gordon R. Craig's "The Germans" for a better understanding of cultural motivations.
Rating:
Summary: Revelatory
Review: As a general reader with only an occasional interest in this period, I was drawn to this account as a result of the many glowing reviews, both here and elsewhere. I hoped to find the answers to the perennial question, "Why?" and amazingly found it - in its many shades - in this book. Indeed, this interpretative history seems to me to be more preoccupied with the "How?" and "Why?" issues than simply the dry retelling of the "When?" and "Where?" narrative. On occasion this approach led to some small frustration. I am not a scholar of the period and the author's tendency to occasionally gloss over specific detail of some infamous events on the assumption that the reader possesses the requisite detail (of the beerhall putsch or the burning of the reichstag building, for example) sometimes left me wishing for an occasionally more fullsome account in these instances. Nevertheless, the basic outline of these events, and certainly their motivation and impact is never unclear. Referring to one or two reviewers above, I greatly enjoyed the author's prose, combining at turns the academic with the anecdotal, the formal with the personal. This gave me the sense that I was in the company of a real human being, learned, but never indifferent. It also provided a real sense of outrage - all the more so because of the author's restraint - at the bestial behaviour described. This book is often uncomfortably, grimly compelling. I don't know whether "The Third Reich, a new history" is a "classic" of the literature or not - I haven't read enough of this stuff to compare. But I do know that it is a most profoundly insightful and detailed account of how social, philosophical and economic forces combined at a particular historic juncture to produce a window of opportunity for a small group of criminals to sieze their moment and steer a nation, sometimes willingly, sometimes passively, towards its darkest imaginings. An important revelation.
Rating: 
Summary: A bloody profession
Review: Burleigh can be a great academic observer of National Socialism but seems to suffer from a bizarre inability to see that a new history of the third reich adds nothing new. We in fact do know what the regime was all about and in fact Burleigh has obviously written a strange diatribe that feigns difference. In passing I noticed that he seems to have a won a substantial sum as a prize for this work. professor we know it was a Racial State honestly! We know that Himmler was not a very nice person, no really! Guess what? The vast majority of the world does indeed believe that genocide happened on a huge scale... Nice cover art though and well chosen it will look great on the shelf.. As we all know there`s no business like Shoah business. Be a bestseller and live in the sacred grove.. Who could criticise you for the death and despair you deal with on a daily basis? Well I could.. Stop! enough! we have heard this history before. Want a detailed analysis of the regime? Read Bracher`s book... and there are many others, many many other good books on the Hitler period. What do I know though? At the end of the day Herr Burleigh is a Distinguished Herr Professor and its a bloody profession for him and there`s always a sore area or two to deal with.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of the Third Reich
Review: Burleigh gives a masterful summary of the Third Reich from its conception in the minds of Germany's radical right to its fiery end and all the Allies all too quick attempts to bring it to justice. Burleigh covers every aspect of the Third Reich in great detail. His chapters on the Holocaust were especially enlightening and he has done excellent job of connecting the myriad of topics without losing valuable detail. From start to finish the reader never loses a sense of the impact that this dictatorship had on Europe, not to mention the entire world. Simply put, if you want a history of the Third Reich this is the one to get. Not only is it a good, indepth introduction to the subject but it is also a valuable reference resource.
Rating:
Summary: Hard pounding but gold in them their hills
Review: Burleigh uses complex syntax and obscure words for some other reason than to make his book accessible, especially in the early chapters...so it is hard going and best read in small doses. The book suffers from ommitting maps and a basic chronology to guide the reader. It assumes much knowledge. I can believe that it is a compilation of essays written around a lecture course or equivalent. At the same time, many sections are deeply moving and insightful about aspects of the horror that overtook Europe during the Third Reich period, and ...when Burleigh relaxes and lets himself go...exceptionally persuasive. It brings an at times disturbing insight into what the Nazis thought and did. It reminded me of other sweeping books in the history of European ideas eg "The crooked timber of humanity" by Berlin.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant analysis flawed by poor editing
Review: Burleigh's historical overview of the Third Reich is a remarkable work in many ways. The author's undoubted scholarship and attention to detail are impressive. The book reads like a series of lectures presented by a brilliant historian. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. I did not see a totally new interpretation, but Burleigh does put together a more complete picture of the Third Reich than is available in any other single volume. The picture is necessarily complex and the treatment given does the subject justice. The book has a strong bias, but what book on the Third Reich lacks one? Unfortunately, as other reviewers have correctly pointed out, the book does not read well. Geared to impress an academic audience, Burleigh's writing style is arcane. The book cries out for a good edit. My wife, a college professor herself, said she would grade the book "A" for content, and "F" for writing style and said that it is very typical of PhD types who are trying to impress. Spare us Dr. Burleigh, you do not need to work so hard to impress, your scholarship and your research speak loudly enough. Write for the wider audience that needs to read and understand this important book. For the reader willing to sit with a good, comprehensive dictionary in hand, wading through this book is worth the effort because the insight gleaned does prove valuable. For those not so inclined, this latest effort at a solid, single volume history of the Third Reich falls short. We are still waiting for that book to be written.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant analysis flawed by poor editing
Review: Burleigh's historical overview of the Third Reich is a remarkable work in many ways. The author's undoubted scholarship and attention to detail are impressive. The book reads like a series of lectures presented by a brilliant historian. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. I did not see a totally new interpretation, but Burleigh does put together a more complete picture of the Third Reich than is available in any other single volume. The picture is necessarily complex and the treatment given does the subject justice. The book has a strong bias, but what book on the Third Reich lacks one? Unfortunately, as other reviewers have correctly pointed out, the book does not read well. Geared to impress an academic audience, Burleigh's writing style is arcane. The book cries out for a good edit. My wife, a college professor herself, said she would grade the book "A" for content, and "F" for writing style and said that it is very typical of PhD types who are trying to impress. Spare us Dr. Burleigh, you do not need to work so hard to impress, your scholarship and your research speak loudly enough. Write for the wider audience that needs to read and understand this important book. For the reader willing to sit with a good, comprehensive dictionary in hand, wading through this book is worth the effort because the insight gleaned does prove valuable. For those not so inclined, this latest effort at a solid, single volume history of the Third Reich falls short. We are still waiting for that book to be written.
|
