The best books for understanding Nazi Germany

Why am I passionate about this?

Unlike most children of immigrants who were told nothing about the past, I grew up surrounded by family history—my grandfather’s village in Russia, my father’s memories of 1930s Europe, and my mother’s childhood on a migrant worker farm during the Great Depression. I realized that history isn’t just names and dates but a unique opportunity to study human behavior. I wrote Hammer of the Gods about the Thule Society because Thule was often mentioned in passing by historians of Nazi Germany, as if they were uncomfortable delving into an occult group recognized as influential on the Nazis. I decided I wanted to learn who they were and what they wanted.


I wrote...

Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism

By David Luhrssen,

Book cover of Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism

What is my book about?

Hammer of the Gods examines a network of secretive occult societies whose Munich branch, the Thule Society, founded the Nazi Party at the end of World War I as a front group for reaching the working class with some of their ideas. The Thule Society was anti-Semitic, invoked ancient Nordic gods, and was involved in paramilitary operations against leftist forces.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of 1889-1936 Hubris

David Luhrssen Why did I love this book?

I enjoy good writing most of all, and if the writing is non-fiction, it’s important to me that the scholarship is sound. Although he never set out to be a biographer, British historian Ian Kershaw found the subject of Adolf Hitler so important—and so large a topic—that he needed two volumes. Hubris and Nemesis achieve a good balance in understanding Hitler’s life, the society that shaped him, and the society that embraced him.

By Ian Kershaw,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked 1889-1936 Hubris as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in this century. Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his thirty-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried…


Book cover of The Face of the Third Reich

David Luhrssen Why did I love this book?

I found this book by the German scholar Joachim Fest many years ago at a flea market. Fest’s portrait of Hitler and a dozen high-ranking officials of the Third Reich became models for my own writing. Fest maps out the range of personalities—their cruelty, greed, and misplaced ideals—and the way in which Hitler encouraged rivalry among them to preserve absolute power for himself.

By Joachim C. Fest,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Face of the Third Reich as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Face of the Third Reich


Book cover of Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich

David Luhrssen Why did I love this book?

George Mosse was a refugee from Nazi Germany who enjoyed a long career in my home state, teaching at the University of Wisconsin. With Nazi Culture, he collects essays, proclamations, journalism, and fiction by Nazi authors during the Third Reich. His editorial comments put the ideas of Nazism in context—and remind us that Hitler found an audience well prepared for his message.

By George L. Mosse,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nazi Culture as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

George L. Mosse's extensive analysis of Nazi culture - ground-breaking upon its original publication in 1966 - is now offered to readers of a new generation. Selections from newspapers, novellas, plays, and diaries as well as the public pronouncements of Nazi leaders, churchmen, and professors describe National Socialism in practice and explore what it meant for the average German.


Book cover of The Last Days of Hitler

David Luhrssen Why did I love this book?

There have been more recent accounts of Hitler’s retreat to the bunker in the last weeks of his life. But even if some new information has surfaced since Britain’s H.R. Trevor-Roper wrote his report, the vividness is hard to match. Trever-Roper recorded his thoughts on Hitler’s end before the rubble of war had been cleared away. It was almost on-the-scene reporting.

By Hugh Trevor-Roper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Last Days of Hitler as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Late in 1945, Hugh Trevor-Roper was appointed by the British Intelligence to investigate the conflicting evidence surrounding Hitler's final days. The author, who had access to American counterintelligence files and to German prisoners, focuses on the last ten days of Hitler's life, April 20-29, 1945, in the underground bunker in Berlin.


Book cover of Inside the Third Reich

David Luhrssen Why did I love this book?

Albert Speer was the German leader who appeared sorry for what he did at the Nuremburg war crimes trial. I was a teenager when I came across the book at a public library and rediscovered it a few years ago in a used bookstore. Yes, Speer was determined to show himself in the best possible light and minimize his crimes. However, Inside the Third Reich remains one of the most clear portraits of Hitler and his circle in their everyday life.

By Albert Speer,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Inside the Third Reich as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Synopsis coming soon.......


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Returning to Eden

By Rebecca Hartt,

Book cover of Returning to Eden

Rebecca Hartt Author Of Rising From Ashes

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Idealistic Storyteller Teacher Mother Seeker

Rebecca's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Looking for clean romantic suspense with spiritual undertones?

Look no further than the Acts of Valor series by Rebecca Hartt. With thousands of reviews and 4.7-5.0 stars per book, this 6-book series is a must-read for readers searching for memorable, well-told stories by an award-winning author.

A dead man stands on her doorstep.

When the Navy wrote off her MIA husband as dead, Eden came to terms with being a widow. But now, her Navy SEAL husband is staring her in the face. Eden knows she should be over-the-moon, but she isn’t.

Diagnosed with PTSD and amnesia, Navy SEAL Jonah Mills has no recollection of their fractured marriage, no memory of Eden nor her fourteen-year-old daughter. Still, he feels a connection to both.

Unfit for active duty and assigned to therapy, Jonah knows he has work to do and relies on God, who sustained him during captivity, to heal his mind, body, and hopefully his family.

But as the memories lurking in his wife's haunted eyes and behind his daughter's uncertain smile begin to return to him, Jonah makes another discovery. There is treachery in the highest ranks of his Team, treachery that not only threatens him but places his new-found family in its crosshairs.

Returning to Eden

By Rebecca Hartt,

What is this book about?

Presumed Dead, Navy SEAL Returns Without Memory of His Ordeal in the Christian Romantic Suspense, Returning to Eden, by Rebecca Hartt

-- Present Day, Virginia Beach, Virginia --

A dead man stands at Eden Mills' door.

Declared MIA a year prior, the Navy wrote him off as dead. Now, Eden's husband, Navy SEAL Jonah Mills has returned after three years to disrupt her tranquility. Diagnosed with PTSD and amnesia, he has no recollection of their marriage or their fourteen-year-old step-daughter. Still, Eden accepts her obligation to nurse Jonah back to health while secretly longing to regain her freedom, despite the…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Germany, Nazi Germany, and Adolf Hitler?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about Germany, Nazi Germany, and Adolf Hitler.

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