Life in the Third Reich

The Third Reich, a regime which instigated the most destructive war in modern history, still evokes fascination and horror today. Yet how were the lives of ordinary German people of the 1930s and 1940s affected by the politics of Hitler and his folllowers? Looking beyond the catalogue of events, this book reveals that daily life involved a complex mixture of bribery and terror, of fear and concessions, of barbarism and appeals to conventional moral values, employed to maintain a grip upon society. The essays presented here by eight leading historians shed fresh light on familiar topics, the role of political violence in Nazi seizure of power, the German view of Hitler himself, and also focus upon less well-known aspects of life in the Third Reich, such as village life, the treatment of 'social outcasts', and the Germans own retrospective view of this period of their history.

Table of Contents:
1: Richard Bessel: Introduction 2: Richard Bessel: Political Violence and the Nazi Seizure of Power 3: Gerhard Wilke: Village Life in Nazi Germany 4: Detlev Peukert: Youth in the Third Reich 5: Ian Kershaw: Hitler and the Germans 6: Michael Geyer: The Nazi State Reconsidered 7: William Carr: Nazi policy against the Jews 8: Jeremy Noakes: Social Outcasts in the Third Reich 9: Ulrich Herbert: Good Times, Bad Times: Memories of the Third Reich

About the Author :
Richard Bessel is Professor of Twentieth Century History at the University of York. He works on the social and political history of modern Germany, the aftermath of the two world wars and the history of policing. He is co-editor of German History and is a member of the editorial board of History Today. His recent publications include Patterns of Provocations: Police and Public Disorder, and 'Mobilizing German Society for War', in R. Chickering and S. Foerster (eds) Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization in the Western Front, 1914-1918.

Review :
`Review from previous edition 'Altogether a most welcome addition to the ever-increasing pile of books on this topic and likely to prove more attractive to our pupils than many of them.'' Teaching History Review ``Life in the Third Reich is an excellent book. It aims, successfully, to present the fruits of recent scholarship in an accessible form.'' Catherine Merridale, Journal of European Studies ``an informative and useful introduction to various aspects of the social history of the Third Reich and an opportunity to become acquainted with recent research in this area ... this collection should become the first essential reading for any would-be student of the social history of the Third Reich'' Helen L. Boak, City of London Polytechnic, German History