Considering the number of reference books that have already been devoted to the Third Reich, librarians might wonder why another should be needed. The author suggests a persuasive answer: “Nazi Germany and particularly the Holocaust … present perhaps the greatest challenge to the explanatory powers of historians”, and: “interpretations of its cause and meaning, like interpretations of Nazism itself, are inevitably morally and politically charged”, so that in consequence there are remarkably many interpretations of the known facts, and it is this stress on historiography which distinguishes this book from some of its competitors. It has been organized in several discrete sections. The first provides a general overview, arranged roughly in chronological order, of the historiography of the subject (including specific bibliographical references). The second provides individual articles on the views of 75 prominent historians of various nationalities and periods. These two sections demonstrate many of the controversies which have preoccupied commentators and historians over the past 70 years: Was there anything peculiarly German about Nazism? Was its rise accidental or inevitable? Was it a modernising or reactionary movement? Should it be compared with communism or contrasted with it? Was Hitler an ideologist or an opportunist? Could the Holocaust be considered a unique disaster? How did ordinary Germans willingly collaborate with it?
Several further sections then discuss the major topics in the history of Nazi Germany, for example, the long and continuing dispute over whether the Holocaust had been Hitler's goal all along, or whether it was a product of the particular circumstances of the Second World War. These sections, taken together, could be read as a narrative of the whole period. They are followed by 150 biographical articles on prominent personalities of the regime and its most significant opponents (although those who went into exile – foreign or internal – receive little notice). The provision of information on the post‐war careers of those who survived is an unusual feature, justified by the author's intention to consider the legacy of Nazism down to the present day. Following is a collection of about 400 shorter articles on technical terms, concepts, acronyms, places, and organizations important to the period. All these appear accurate and thorough, apart from one or two uncharacteristic lapses such as the confusion of Speilberg's film Schindler's List with the unrelated television series Holocaust.
The supplementary material comprises a chronology, concentrating on the period 1918‐45 but extending beyond it where necessary; a bibliography of about 500 books in English up to 2006 (the omissions of articles is unexplained); a few relevant maps and tables; and an extensive index which, like so many nowadays, is rendered less useful than it might be by a profusion of undifferentiated headings. This well‐informed and moderately priced work succeeds in its object of explaining the many controversies arising from historical interpretation of a catastrophic period of European history, while leaving its readers to make up their own minds which view is most convincing to them.
