Understanding Nazi ideology: The Genesis and Impact of a Political Faith

"A unique account of Nazism from the perspective of the Nazis themselves―a monstrous project through the monster's eyes" - Croatian Literary Translators' Association

"Highly readable, important, and timely" - The European Legacy

"A masterpiece" - Dag Einar Thorsen, Associate Professor of Political Science

"Completely innovative" - Tvrtko Jakovina, Professor of History

"Brilliant" - Novi list

"Excellent" - Get History

"Novel ... fascinating" - Reading Religion

An objective approach to an ideology shrouded in taboo - and a dramatic journey through grand visions, fanatical passion and transgressive violence.

Nazism was deeply rooted in German culture. From the fertile soil of German Romanticism sprang ideas of great significance for the genesis of the Third Reich ideology--notions of the individual as a mere part of the national collective, and of life as a ceaseless struggle between opposing forces. This book traces the origins of the "political religion" of Nazism. Ultranationalism and totalitarianism, racial theory and antisemitism, nature mysticism and occultism, eugenics and social Darwinism, adoration of the Fuhrer and glorification of violence--all are explored. The book also depicts the dramatic development of the Nazi movement--and the explosive impact of its political faith, racing from its bloody birth in the trenches of World War I to its cataclysmic climax in the Holocaust and World War II.