Insightful biographical essays on Nazis of all ranks provide a detailed picture in Richard J. Evans's Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich, an attempt to answer the question of how members of the Nazi Party were able to take over German institutions.
Whether the leaders of the Nazi movement were deranged individuals or ordinary people is an increasingly relevant question around the world, since, as Evans notes, "Strongmen and would-be dictators are emerging, often with strong popular support, to undermine democracy, muzzle the media, control the judiciary, stifle opposition, and undermine basic human rights." Drawing on new biographies of Nazi leaders and on previously unavailable materials, Evans, former Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge, strikes a reasoned balance between the need to understand societal context and building a convincing case for the importance of individual personalities.
An opening chapter on Adolf Hitler, coming in at almost 100 pages, also provides an overview of the major historical events discussed throughout the book. Although the 22 chapters are self-contained, Evans (The Third Reich Trilogy) arranges them so they flow easily with little repetition; readers who proceed through all the chapters consecutively will not feel bogged down. The book's final section, "The Instruments," focuses on figures further from the center of the party's power. This section is especially intriguing when it examines women who attracted notoriety because of "the perception that by taking part in the crimes of the Third Reich, [they] were violating gender norms and behavioural expectations in the most radical possible way." This is a valuable work for readers interested in history or threats to democracy. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library