What books would complement or improve my understanding of Nazi Germany?

by lcnielsen

I have mostly read Kershaw and Browning. I'm not as interested in strict military history, more the civil society and politics behind.

Here is, I think, a complete list of the books I've read:

By Kershaw:

"The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation, 4th ed."

"The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich"

"Hitler: 1989 - 1936 'Hubris' "

"Hitler: 1937 - 1945 'Nemesis' "

"Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution"

By Browning:

"Ordinary Men: Police Batallion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland"

"The Origins of the Final Solution"

Other:

"Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe (By Robert Gellately)"

I feel like, for example, the economics of the 3rd reich is one area where my understanding is poor. Maybe an indepth look at the politics of the Weimar Republic in the 20's, too. Obviously, any suggestions of differing takes on covered areas are welcome too.

Thanks!

kieslowskifan

This is a good preliminary list. I would also suggest the works of Michael Wildt, especially An Uncompromising Generation and Hitler's Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion: Violence against Jews in Provincial Germany, 1919-1939. Wildt is a fantastic scholar on this subject of Nazi society. The escalating violence in Weimar is covered in Pamela Swett's Neighbors and Enemies while the two better surveys of Weimar are Detlev Peukert's The Weimar Republic and Eric Weitz's Weimar: Promise and Tragedy. For the Nazi economy, it is useful to read Gotz Aly's Hitler's Beneficiaries in addition to Tooze's Wages of Destruction. Even though the two men are quite bitter scholarly rivals, the two books do complement each other rather well. Jonathan Wiesen's Creating the Nazi Marketplace: Commerce and Consumption in the Third Reich is an interesting look at the contradictions of Nazi consumption. Wiesen is also a contributor to the anthology Pleasure and Power in Nazi Germany which focuses upon how Germans enjoyed themselves in the Third Reich. Mark Mazower's Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe is one of the better surveys of Nazi empire-building and their counterproductive approach to empire. Nikolaus Wachsman's KL is another fine history of the growth of the concentration camp system. Nicholas Stargardt's The German War examines the home front and its vagaries.

Slithtoves

Richard J Evans has a great 3 part series on the rise and fall of the Third Reich.

The Coming of the Third Reich

The Third Reich in Power

The Third Reich at War