The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism [Hardcover]

Jay Y. Gonen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

“No amount of patient scholarly probing of Hitlerism can render this grim piece of political pathology intelligible without empathic insight into the deeper workings of mass psychology. Gonen brings just such insight to this task and will leave reader after reader with the sense of a mystery solved.”—Rudoph Binion, author of Hitler among the Germans

“By combining scholarly excellence with a reading style that makes it accessible to the lay public, Gonen has written what could become a bestseller.”—Lloyd deMause

In a provocative work, Jay Gonen argues that Adolf Hitler reflected the psyche of many Germans of his time. He describes Hitler as similar to any charismatic leader, an expert scanner of the Zeitgeist who had an uncanny ability to read the masses correctly and guide them with “new” ideas that were in truth borrowed from the masses themselves.

By focusing on the role of ideologies in group psychology, Gonen illustrates the ways in which Hitler’s notions were interwoven with the general fabric of German culture in the years following World War I. He sheds light on the underlying dynamics of the German response to the humiliation and defeat of World War I in order to tease out the psychological underpinnings of Nazi Germany’s desire to expand its living space and exterminate Jews.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adolf Hitler has always been and will continue to be a tempting subject for psychological analysis--even if, despite Peter Gay's classic Freud for Historians, psychohistory and psychobiography are still considered the black sheep of historical biography. Gonen (a retired professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati and author of A Psychohistory of Zionism) offers a brief study and analysis of what he claims is a "Nazi psychology." Drawing from an extensive and rigorous reading of Hitler's speeches and published writings (especially Mein Kampf), Freudian theories and social, economic and cultural history, Gonen ponders whether Hitler was an aberration in German society or a "man of the people." (The German masses, he concludes, shared in Hitler's paranoia and delusions.) Chapters cover the role of ideology in shaping mass thinking, as well as anti-Semitism, lebensraum and the idea of the Volkish state--and contain fascinating passages on the image of the Jew, the role of women and the interrelatedness of kitsch and death in the Nazi mentality. Although Gonen doesn't really say anything new ("Hitler," he tells us, for example, "was a messianic paranoid"), what he offers is compellingly written and blessedly free of social science jargon. What is troubling, however, is that Gonen fails to explore concepts central to his inquiry, such as "utopia" and "barbarism," and that he contends that Nazism had its own "internal [or] inherent logic." Slightly flawed, this is still a good introduction to a difficult subject. (Apr..-- inherent logic." Slightly flawed, this is still a good introduction to a difficult subject. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Argues that German myth and history fostered ‘shared group fantasies’ of Jewish treachery." -- Newsweek

"Compellingly written and blessedly free of social science jargon." -- Publishers Weekly

"Presents an interesting and insightful case that makes the popular support for Hitler and the National Socialists more intelligible." -- The Historian

“A well-written, even brilliant psychohistorical analysis that will prompt a great deal of discussion.” -- Saul Friedman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky; First edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081312154X
• ISBN-13: 978-0813121543
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,645,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another great contribution in the fight against Nazism, October 4, 2006

By 

Stefan Isaksson "www.stefanisaksson.se" (Malmoe, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism (Paperback)

Jay Y. Gonen, retired professor of psychology, has written the book The Roots of Nazi Psychology in order to try to answer the question whether or not Adolf Hitler, the personification of 20th century evil, was mentally ill or simply a man of the people. The answer, which emerges after a little more than 200 pages of heavy academic psycho-analysis, is long and complex and not that easy to interpret.

It's a fascinating book, even though it at times feels almost too heavy, with its super academic formulations and complicated use of the English language. Gonen shows how Hitler was a master of manipulations and interpreter of the desires of the people, skills that enable him to provide "new" ideas that were in actuality reflections of the great majority already believed in. The treaty in Versailles after World War I and the harsh conditions therein (combined with the fact that German politicians to the bitter end had continued lying to the people assuring them that victory was at hand), created a perfect breeding ground for Hitler and followers. Thus it's not entirely incorrect claiming that the "second" Thirty Years' War started when World War I started, not ending until the end of World War II.

One always causes controversy when saying that "sure, I admire Hitler", even though that has nothing to do with believing Nazi ideology to be a good and correct thing. In other words, of course it's possible to admire Hitler and his accomplishments while at the same time rejecting everything that the Nazis stand for. Because we can all agree upon the fact that he did something that few politicians are capable of; in no time at all turning a country in ruins into a superpower with millions and millions of fanatical inhabitants. His explanations as to why the Jews were the root of all evil made sense from the point of view that the people indeed believed him, and the multitude of ways the Nazi ideology permeated every aspect of German society is as fascinating as it is frightening.

If you want to learn more about how the Nazi era came into existence and how it became so large and influential, then Gonen's book is great tool. The war in itself isn't discussed very much, and he doesn't really bother discussing what's right and wrong, even though it's obvious that he's not a Nazi in any way. It's the ideology that's in focus here, along with how Hitler managed to create all those unlikely things that he nonetheless succeeded in. But it's also a useful book regarding the psychology of the majority of the people and large groups of people - how easy it is for a charismatic personality to persuade an unbelievably large number of people, despite the fact that for an outsider the whole thing remains utterly incomprehensible.

Rarely has the power of a strong leader (Hitler), combined with the power of the masses (the German Volk), had such devastating impact on the world. And with the continuous production of books such as The Roots of Nazi Psychology will mankind be armed with a very effective to for preventing something similar from ever happening again.