Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 (Norton Paperback) [Paperback]

David Schoenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Series: Norton Paperback | Publication Date: March 17, 1997

Beginning with Germany's social situation after World War I, David Schoenbaum shows how Hitler improvised a program that apparently offered something to everyone--above all, the mirage of a classless society.

In fact, the gap between the ideology of the Reich and its actual character was enormous. But under the spell of the mirage, the will to resist was undermined by an accelerating process of social disintegration.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Schoenbaum's thesis--that German society committed suicide by concurrently using the means of industrial society to achieve its goal of destroying industrial society . . . constitutes an interpretation of major historiographical significance. (Choice )

Valuable and impressive. . . . A genuinely new contribution to historical understanding. (Economist )

About the Author

David Schoenbaum is professor of history at the University of Iowa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (March 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393315541
• ISBN-13: 978-0393315547
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #623,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The authoritative text on Nazi social and economic policies, May 25, 2005

By 

D. McClain (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)

This book delves into the effect of the National Socialist movement and Third Reich on German society and economy, thereby shining a light on aspects widely overlooked and reminding us that the Nazis were about much more than "Herrenvolk" and the Holocaust. Schoenbaum's exhaustively documented work (from primary sources) supports the conclusion that the Nazi regime was more socialist in both character and deed than most realize.

Communism nationalized industry; Nazism nationalized the people. The concept of "Volksgemeinschaft" (national community) became the supreme organizing principle of German society and economy, and a mass of controls materialized to ensure that no individual's interest be allowed to interfere with the general welfare of the whole collective (as determined by those in charge). The nationalism espoused by the Nazis was their perceived antidote to the Marxist theory of class struggle, which they sought to transcend by uniting all interests in a fraternal bond embodied within the state. Schoenbaum's incredibly important and unmatched work describes nearly every significant aspect of the move toward social egalitarianism, duty, and endless economic interventions that reduced business owners to mere shop managers as industry under Hitler's regime was forced into a position of prostration "not even demanded of it by a revolutionary SPD."

This book is very accessible but lends itself to serious study, not casual reading. It is quite simply an indispensable component for anyone who wishes to make sense of the less sensational parts of this episode in history and to ascertain just how much of the Nazis' walk in fact matched their talk. I suspect that for many readers, more of their initial assumptions will be challenged than will be confirmed.

5 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Schoenbaum finds the one thing Hitler offered, July 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)

Hitler led the National Socialist German Workers' Party, yet allied himself with the Fascists. How could this be? What could he have offered to all the diverse people he attracted, workers, big business, middle class? Schoenbaum, analyzing carefully, discovers there was one thing Hitler did offer everyone -- blame. Decades later we all laughed at the U.S. television character Archie Bunker saying "The trouble with America is THEM."

4 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Torture to read, February 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)

Schoenbaum's book is extensively researched. Almost every page has a list of social statistics from the Nazi period. But at the end of each chapter, I was so overwhelmed with details that I had no idea what the author had proven. Eventually I just gave up. Readers who are already very knowledgeable about Nazi Germany might gain something from this book, but people looking for introductory works should avoid it.