Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution - Hardcover

"Hitler, the Germans, the Final Solution constitutes an invaluable tool to better understand the Third Reich. Both those who are historical novices in this period and those who are well immersed in it will benefit from Kershaw's insights on Nazi Germany in general and on Hitler and the Final Solution in particular. While most of these essays have appeared at different times and in different journals, having them all together between the covers of one volume enhances their importance and reaffirms Kershaw's place as one of the stellar historians of the period."-Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Emory University -- Deborah E. Lipstadt "Following on the success of his bestselling biography of Hitler, Sir Ian Kershaw has assembled here, in a very accessible format, a collection of seminal essays that perfectly complements his two-volume study of the Nazi dictatorship, not least because it offers a most welcome guide through the maze of research on the origins and dynamics of the Holocaust and Hitler's role in it."-V. R. Berghahn, Columbia University -- V. R. Berghahn "In this superb collection of essays, Ian Kershaw again demonstrates his mastery in interpreting the history of Nazi Germany and Hitler's policies regarding the Jews in particular. This is must reading."-Saul Friedlander, Professor of History, UCLA -- Saul Friedlander "This valuable collection of Ian Kershaw's seminal essays, spanning a quarter of a century of path-breaking scholarship on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, will be required reading for students of the period. As Kershaw's excellent Introduction indicates, these essays have both had a major impact on the historiography of their day, and indicate the evolution of historical interpretation, emphases, and understanding of what has come to be recognized as the most devastating event in modern history."-Omer Bartov, author of Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine -- Omer Bartov "Over the past three decades, Ian Kershaw has been one of the most insightful and productive historians of Nazi Germany, contributing pioneering studies on public opinion and popular attitudes in the Third Reich as well as his monumental biography of Hitler. It is simply splendid that his many seminal articles are now available in one volume."-Christopher R. Browning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Christopher R. Browning A comprehensive view of the destructive force of the Nazi leadership and of the attitudes and behavior of Germans in the persecution of the Jews... This is a precise and sensitive account of an aspect of the Holocaust."-Booklist Booklist "[Kershaw] once again demonstrates how much can be revealed by a fresh perspective and approach to the ineradicable stain of Nazi Germany... What emerges from these fascinating pages ... is an infinitely more complex picture... Masterly."-Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer -- Desmond Ryan Philadelphia Inquirer "[A] wonderful volume... This is a deeply insightful and well-written social history of the Nazi period, an excellent review of the scholarship of one of the greatest living historians of that era."-Jewish Book World Jewish Book World

This book is the culmination of more than three decades of meticulous historiographic research on Nazi Germany by one of the period's most distinguished historians. The volume brings together the most important and influential aspects of Ian Kershaw's research on the Holocaust for the first time. The writings are arranged in three sections--Hitler and the Final Solution, popular opinion and the Jews in Nazi Germany, and the Final Solution in historiography--and Kershaw provides an introduction and a closing section on the uniqueness of Nazism. Kershaw was a founding historian of the social history of the Third Reich, and he has throughout his career conducted pioneering research on the societal causes and consequences of Nazi policy. His work has brought much to light concerning the ways in which the attitudes of the German populace shaped and did not shape Nazi policy. This volume presents a comprehensive, multifaceted picture both of the destructive dynamic of the Nazi leadership and of the attitudes and behavior of ordinary Germans as the persecution of the Jews spiraled into total genocide.