bbskinnerbox 's review for:

The Wave by Todd Strasser
2.0

The Wave - basically a book exploring the psychological realms of a crowd obediently following their 'leader'.

After Ben Ross, a history teacher, showed a documentary on the Holocaust in class, he is met with disbelief by his students on how the whole society of Nazi Germany had silently been following the orders of their leaders rather than loudly opposing the atrocities. Out of curiosity, and partly because he could not find an answer to the question, said teacher starts an experiment with his class, by recreating an atmosphere similar to the one during Nazi Germany. The experiment is carried out eagerly by the students and starts to turn into a movement, which more and more gets out of control.

The book (based on a true story) clearly demonstrates that humanity does not learn out of history. It explores behavioural patterns of those leading a crowd and those being led.
I definitely enjoyed the idea behind it and the underlying thought of questioning the morality of one's actions. The writing, however, could have been much much better.