palaris's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

Very informative and well written. I found lots of parallels between them and common day.

whalerunes's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

this book was so fucking good and sooo fucking bleak  

titus_hjelm's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Tässä kirjassa ei ole paljoa uutta sotienvälisen Saksan/Euroopan historiaa tuntevalle. Se ei esitä esim. uutta tulkintaa Hitlerin valtaannoususta, mutta yksityiskohdissaan menee kyllä syvemmälle kuin moni yleisesitys. Kirjan heikkous ja vahvuus on sen keskittyminen lähes yksinomaan kulisseissa käytyihin kädenvääntöihin puoluekentällä. Se on heikkous, koska äänestäjien näkökulma jää vähälle huomiolle. Se on kuitenkin myös vahvuus, koska se alleviivaa sitä, että Hitlerin diktatuuri ei ollut mikään vääjäämätön demokratian tulos, vaan perinteiset porvaripuolueet (ja Hindenburg) ojensivat vallan Hitlerille. Vaihtoehtoja olisi ollut muitakin, mutta sosiaalidemokraattien ja kommunistien (joita Hett kuvaa parhaimmillaan yksinkertaistavasti) pelko oli suurempi tekijä kuin julkisesti antidemokraattisen Hitlerin pelko. Vuoteen 1932 tullessa ei myöskään ollut kenellekään epäselvää, että natsien alla ihmisoikeuksia ei enää olisi. Hett selittää pätevästi, miksi konservatiivit päätyivät ratkaisuunsa (ja sittemmin keskitysleireille tai salamurhatuksi), mutta massojen näkökulma olisi täydentänyt kirjaa hyvin.

hawkia75's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Hett gives a succinct history on the democracy of the Weimar era, and the way the miscalculations of many people led to the suspension of the Constitution and the Nazi power grab. I'm not a scholar of history by any means, but Hett gives enough background context and detail without getting bogged down. This is one of many (so many!) examinations of the time, but this was written in 2018 to give particular emphasis to our current political situation, although he doesn't mention anyone by name. Where have we seen a democracy being undermined by a populist demagogue who is brought to power by conservatives who underestimate his lunacy in an attempt to stave off a center-left political alliance? Parallels? What parallels? He doesn't make a one to one comparison, perhaps not wanting to lose out by invocation of Godwin's law, but also because Hitler and the circumstances of the Weimar Republic really were sui generis. But one can hopefully learn something from history, which I've heard doesn't quite repeat itself as much as it rhymes.

burrowsi1's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

dredadonx's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative tense

5.0

crownedinpages's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

kitausu's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.75

Occasionally a little dry, but overall a very interesting and sometimes far too familiar read. Many things that occurred during Hitler's rise to power are being mirrored now in 2025 and it's alarming but important to recognize what's happening. 

kpeps's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging informative medium-paced

4.75

An incredibly in depth look at the end of the government of Weimar Germany and who/what allowed Hitler to take totalitarian control. 

franklyfrank's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.25