[.ca] The Nazis: A Warning from History (ISBN 1565844459)

From Amazon.com:
For this History channel tie-in book, Laurence Rees interviewed more than 50 people who were active participants of the Nazi regime. Galvanized by the unilateral collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the subjects are now free to relate their harrowing tales. One, a Lithuanian soldier, candidly recalls his vicious crimes against humanity, in service to the Nazis. Civilians--rarely heard from until now--also tell their side of the story. Popular myth says that the civilians were victims to the Nazi spell, but instead the interviews reveal the depth of German complicity with Nazi policy. As Rees writes, it wasn't just the "quasi-divine" character of Hitler that hypnotized an entire population, "there was massive voluntary collaboration with the Nazi regime." Germany's erratic state of democracy allowed Hitler and the Nazis to open a gateway into power, as did a German populace still reeling from the "unjust" surrender and humiliating terms of defeat at the end of the First World War that gave focus and justification to their enmity. Rees's painstaking work may not be comfortable reading, but in today's hot political climate--in areas like the former Yugoslavia and the fragile state of Russia--the message echoes with significance. --Jeremy Storey

a good overview of the subject:
this book provides a good introduction to the history of the nazi party. it is readable, even for someone who knows very little about the subject, and yet is also a good review for those familiar with WWII-era german history. the many pictures in the book are wonderful and help not only to break up long bits of text to keep the reading interesting, but also to remind one that the people being read about were living, breathing human beings. umm, i like it.

Thrilling dive into Nazi darkness:
Based upon a video series led by Prof. Ian Kershaw, this book posseses a renowned leading scholar to assert its in-depth discovery of the Nazi regime. Overall, we can assert that this book is above all a collection of pictures taken from 1933 to 1945, retracing the 12-year life of the 3d Reich through its leaders. The chronological structure helps the reader dive alongside the European people of the 30's into the abysses of the Holocaust. The latter step is reached after a series of thrilling and frightening visual and written testimonies of that period. Laurence Rees accurately explains the mecanisms of the Nazi regime and its policy towards peoples . Beware however, this bok is not dealing with the military aspect of the 3d Reich but packs a living testimony ,through contemporary witnesses of the deep horror of Hitler's killing machine.

A Photographic Journey Into The Hell Of Nazi Atrocities!:
For the serious history student interested in a quick cold-water style immersion in an excellent though disturbing look at the murderous excesses of the Nazi years, this startling book provides a sanguine, surprising, and totally readable overview of the brutalities, torturous acts, and murder accomplished by the Germans during their 12-year reign of terror, complete with hundreds of compelling photographs. Generated as a companion tome to a History Channel documentary, this is a good introduction to the scope and breadth of a mind-boggling range of Nazi atrocities perpetrated not only on European Jews, but also to the infirm, mentally impaired, and to anyone else they had motivation to exterminate. From the early acts of euthanasia of its own 'infirm' and "undesirables" to the systeamtic and publicly witnessed clubbing murder of hundreds of Jews in the streets of 'liberated' Latvian villages, this is a journey into the belly of the fascist beast. This is a cautionary (and absolutely historically accurate) tale, made especially relevant in the year 2000 by the recent "ethnic cleansing" barbarism in Bosnia and Kosovo, of what can happen when people begin to surrender to the worst impulses of the social realm, and decide to ignore, or stand aside, or to pretend they just don't see where it is all leading. It has something to teach us about the very real dangers associated with unleashing the politics of hate, of what happens when ordinary citizens let other groups break the law to bully and terrorize minorities, when we let the central Government get out of control. History, as told in this excellent book, can teach us about how easily we humans succumb to subconscious evil, and seem to passively slip, almost without really deciding to, down the social and political slope to easy excuses and euphemisms, toward depravity, torture, and genocide. This is a book I highly recommend, although given its provocative and graphic photographic contents I would use caution about limiting its viewing by younger readers.