1st Edition

Nazism as Fascism Violence, Ideology, and the Ground of Consent in Germany 1930-1945

By Geoff Eley Copyright 2013
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    Offering a dynamic and wide-ranging examination of the key issues at the heart of the study of German Fascism, Nazism as Fascism brings together a selection of Geoff Eley’s most important writings on Nazism and the Third Reich.

    Featuring a wealth of revised, updated and new material, Nazism as Fascism analyses the historiography of the Third Reich and its main interpretive approaches. Themes include:

    Detailed reflection on the tenets and character of Nazi ideology and institutional practices

    Examination of the complicated processes that made Germans willing to think of themselves as Nazis

    Discussion of Nazism’s presence in the everyday lives of the German People

    Consideration of the place of women under the Third Reich

    In addition, this book also looks at the larger questions of the historical legacy of Fascist ideology and charts its influence and development from its origin in 1930’s Germany through to its intellectual and spatial influence on a modern society in crisis.

    In Nazism as Fascism Geoff Eley engages with Germany’s political past in order to evaluate the politics of the present day and to understand what happens when the basic principles of democracy and community are violated. This book is essential reading not only for students of German history, but for anyone with an interest in history and politics more generally.

    Preface. 1. Origins, Post-Conservatism, and 1933: Nazism as a Breach 2. Driving for Rule, Extracting Consent: Bases of Political Order under Fascism 3. The Return of Ideology: Everyday Life, the Volksgemeinschaft, and the Nazi Appeal 4. Missionaries of the Volksgemeinschaft: Ordinary Women, Nazification, and the Social 5. Empire, Ideology, and the East: Thoughts on Nazism’s Spatial Imaginary 6. Putting the Holocaust in History: Bringing the Genocide Back Home 7. Where are We Now with Theories of Fascism?

    Biography

    Geoff Eley is Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History at the University of Michigan.  His previous works include A Crooked Line: From Cultural History to the History of Society (2005) and  Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000 (2002).

    'A tour de force. Whether revisiting his classic arguments about fascism or tackling the latest debates about the role played by imperialism in German history, Geoff Eley's major synthesis is a reminder of why he is one of the surest guides to twentieth century German and European history.' - Prof. Dan Stone, Royal Holloway, UK

    'Eley asks what was and what was not uniquely German about National Socialism, and tackles this vast task with his characteristic combination of deep learning and polemical verve. An invaluable tool for all those interested in current historical thinking about fascism and the Third Reich-- student, scholar, and layman alike' - Prof. Maiken Umbach, University of Nottingham, UK

    "Geoff Eley… has written an outstanding, compelling, and overall convincing book in which he masterfully evaluates recent historical research on Nazi Germany. [This] is a fascinating account providing a myriad of new ideas and insights written in a precise analytical prose, which will surely stimulate further research. It is grounded in a deep concern for the present political, economic and fiscal crisis and shows the author’s continuing commitment to politically engaged history."-Armin Nolzen, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

    "In this concise survey, Geoff Eley identifies the main shifts in perspective from the crude totalitarian models of the Cold War to the most recent approaches, summarising the more familiar positions of ‘intentionalists’ and ‘structuralists’, before examining in more detail the newer trends in historiography...This is an ambitious book, which combines summaries of the older historiographical debates with a perceptive and critical account of more recent developments." - Tim Kirk, Oxford University Press Journals Newcastle University, UK