{"product_id":"9781250210869","title":"The Death of Democracy : Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Death of Democracy\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Benjamin Carter Hett\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo say that Hitler was elected is too simple. He would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not responded to a spate of populist insurgencies by trying to co-opt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin Carter Hett is a leading scholar of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed \"Book of the Week\" by CNN's \u003ci\u003eFareed Zakaria GPS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"At a time of deep distress over the stability of democracy in America and elsewhere, Benjamin Carter Hett's chronicle of the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler could not be more timely. '\u003ci\u003eThe Death of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e' makes for chilling reading.\" -- \u003cb\u003eRoger Lowenstein, The Washington Post\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[An] extremely fine study of the end of constitutional rule in Germany. . . . With careful prose and fine scholarship, with fine thumbnail sketches of individuals and concise discussions of institutions and economics, . . . [Benjamin Carter Hett] sensitively describes a moral crisis that preceded a moral catastrophe.” \u003cb\u003e-- Timothy Snyder, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003e(Editor's Choice)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"If this is an oft-told and tragic tale, Hett's brisk and lucid study offers compelling new perspectives inspired by current threats to free societies around the world. . . . It is both eerie and enlightening how much of Hett's account rings true in our time.\" -- \u003cb\u003eE. J. Dionne Jr., \u003ci\u003eThe Washington\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003ePost\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Particularly instructive. . . . a penetrating study of how Nazism overtook the Weimar Republic. Hett never mentions Trump; the societal parallels are, of course, far from exact. But his account carries a troubling and clearly intentional resonance.” -- \u003cb\u003eRichard North Patterson, \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Intelligent, well-informed... intriguing. Hett provides a lesson about the fragility of democracy and the danger of that complacent belief that liberal institutions will always protect us.\" -- \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times \u003c\/i\u003e(London)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Fascinating. . . . Readable and well-researched.” -- \u003cb\u003eNicholas Shakespeare, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Intelligently written. . . . a \u003cb\u003efast-paced narrative enlivened by vignette and character sketches\u003c\/b\u003e. . . . Hett reminds us that violence was at [fascism's] core. But he also insists that Hitler did not prevail because Weimar was doing badly. On the contrary, it was doing remarkably well in tough conditions: the end came because conservative elites thought they could use the Nazis for their own purposes and realised their mistake too late.\" -- \u003cb\u003eMark Mazower, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hett also reminds us that Hitler was deliberately enabled by conservative elites, especially business leaders and military commanders, who wanted the electoral votes of the Nazi movement and were willing to overlook its excesses to achieve their goals. . . . Hitler was also enabled by a disaffected public ‘increasingly prone to aggressive myth-making and irrationality.’ . . . At no point does Hett mention any current political figure by name, but \u003cb\u003ehis warning is nonetheless loud, clear, and urgent\u003c\/b\u003e.” -- \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“How did Adolf Hitler, an obvious extremist, con a nation into backing him? This historical essay answers the question, to often unsettling effect. . . . \u003cb\u003eA provocative, urgent history with significant lessons for today\u003c\/b\u003e.” -- \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Persuasively challenges familiar arguments that the rise of Nazi Germany was an inevitable consequence of abstract forces. . . [A] \u003cb\u003epage-turning \u003c\/b\u003eaccount.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cb\u003eA brilliant account of the twentieth century’s great political catastrophe\u003c\/b\u003e: the Nazi capture of power. Full of \u003cb\u003earresting\u003c\/b\u003e images and ideas, this gripping new book charts the rise and fall of the first German republic, and the unlikely victory of Adolf Hitler. A timely reminder of the fragility of democracy and the dangers of extreme nationalism.”--\u003cb\u003eNikolaus Wachsmann\u003c\/b\u003e, author of\u003ci\u003e KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The story of how Germany turned from democracy to dictatorship in the fifteen years following World War I is not a simple one. But the moral lessons are exceptionally clear. Benjamin Carter \u003cb\u003eHett honors that complexity\u003c\/b\u003e in this account while \u003cb\u003enever straying from the path of moral clarity\u003c\/b\u003e. \u003cb\u003eAn outstanding accomplishment.\u003c\/b\u003e”--\u003cb\u003eRick Perlstein\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eNixonland \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Invisible Bridge\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Benjamin Carter Hett is \u003cb\u003eone of the few historians who is able to think out of the box and knows how to tell a story well\u003c\/b\u003e – without simplifying it. His new book tackles one of the most interesting questions in German history: How was it possible that an educated and developed country like Germany could fall for Adolf Hitler?”\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eStefan Aust\u003c\/b\u003e, editor of \u003ci\u003eDie Welt\u003c\/i\u003e, former editor of \u003ci\u003eDer Spiegel\u003c\/i\u003e, and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Baader-Meinhof Complex\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Death of Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e is a \u003cb\u003ethought-provoking new look\u003c\/b\u003e at the collapse of German democracy in 1930-34 with \u003cb\u003ea clear and careful emphasis\u003c\/b\u003e on those individuals who operated behind the scenes to bring Hitler to power. Benjamin Carter Hett also offers insight into the steps Hitler took to consolidate his power.”\u003cbr\u003e--\u003cb\u003eGerhard L. Weinberg\u003c\/b\u003e, professor emeritus of history, University of North Carolina\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Histories of Nazi Germany can be overwhelming. \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Democrac\u003c\/i\u003ey is carefully focused on the conditions and cynical choices that enabled Nazism, in just a few years turning one of the world’s most advanced and liberal societies into a monstrosity. Its author is also \u003cb\u003ethat rarity, a specialist who writes lucidly and engagingly\u003c\/b\u003e. In this post-truth, alternative-facts American moment, \u003ci\u003eThe Death of Democrac\u003c\/i\u003ey is\u003cb\u003e essential reading\u003c\/b\u003e.” --\u003cb\u003eKurt Andersen\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eFantasyland: How America Went Haywire, A 500-Year History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250210869\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"St. Martin's Griffin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40698930823374,"sku":"9781250210869","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_7f1f2796-37a7-4340-b0f4-baab93e06f25.jpg?v=1640496166","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250210869","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}