"Sets the record straight on Albert Speer's assertions of ignorance of the Final Solution and claims to being the 'good Nazi.'"— Kirkus ReviewsIn his bestselling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler's Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer's lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portr...

Featuring revised and extended coverage, the second edition of A History of Modern Germany offers an accessible and engagingly written account of German history from 1800 to the present.Provides readers with a long view of modern German history, revealing its continuities and changesFeatures updated and extended coverage of German social change and modernization, class, religion, and genderIncludes more in depth coverage of the Ge...

A HISTORY OF MODERN GERMANYA History of Modern Germany provides a comprehensive account of the social, political, and economic history of Germany from 1800 to the present. Written in an engaging and accessible narrative style, this popular textbook offers an expansive view of the nation’s complex and fragmented past, tracing the development of the German national consciousness through Napoleonic rule, the unification of Germany, the German Empire, the Weim...

This study approaches the Epistle to the Ephesians in a radically different way from traditional commentaries. Rather than analysing each individual verse, Martin Kitchen examines the complete text within the framework of contemporary biblical criticism. He acknowledges the debt which biblical studies owes to historical method, while at the same time recognizing the need to view the Epistle against the background of recent literary approaches to New Testament texts. Ephesians also...

The twelve years of the Third Reich casts a dark shadow over history. Fierce debates still rage over many of the hows, whys and wherefores of this perplexing period.Leading expert on German history, Martin Kitchen, provides a concise, accessible and provocative account of Nazi Germany. It takes into account the political, social, economic and cultural ramifications, and sets it within the context of the times, while pointing out those areas that still defy our understanding.

In February 1934 fighting broke out in Linz between government forces and the Social Democratic Party. Within hours Vienna was up in arms and the fighting soon spread to other parts of Austria. A few days later the party was destroyed and Austria seemed to many observers to have joined the ranks of fascist states. The violence of the fighting, particularly the shelling of the vast workers’ housing complex, the Karl-Marx-Hof, and the summary execution of a number of leading figures in the f...

A concise account of the war - including the war in Asia and the Pacific as well as the European arena. Covers the formation of the victorious Grand Alliance and to the problems that beset it, and to Nazi Germany's relations with its allies.

The spectacular murders of a distinguished British scientist, his wife, and their young daughter in the depths of rural France in 1952 prompted one of the most notorious criminal investigations in postwar Europe. It is still a matter of passionate debate in France.Sir Jack Drummond, with his wife, Lady Anne, and their ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were on holiday on the French Riviera when they stopped to make camp just off the road near a farm called La Grand’ Terre in Provenc...

Martin Kitchen’s compelling account of Europe between the wars sets the twenty-year crisis within the context of the profound sense of cultural malaise shared by many philosophers and artists, the economic crises that plagued a Europe ruined by war and the social upheavals caused by widespread unemployment and grinding poverty amid a noticeable improvement of living standards.This thoroughly revised edition, with completely new sections on intellectual, cultural and social history ...

A powerful and absorbing study of the German home front from the outbreak of hostilities to the collapse of the Third Reich. It explores the impact of Nazi domestic policies on the German people, and the effects of the extreme radicalization of the regime under the pressures of total war. It examines the economy, social policy, and the realities of daily life; the part played by the law and the Churches; the changing role of women; the fate of foreign workers, prisoners of war and the Jews...

Originally published in 1981 and now re-issued with a new Preface, this book contains contributions on key issues such as the origins of the First World War, the psychological impact of that war on the Germans, the enigmatic personality of Walter Rathenau, anti-semitism and paramilitarism, as well as German Ostpolitik during the Weimar period. The collapse of the Weimar Republic is re-examined and this is followed by an analysis of the social basis of the SS leadership corps, Germ...

Originally published in 1978, this book goes beyond conventional studies of economic history to discuss wider political and social questions pertinent to the development of the German political economy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The interaction between economic development and social structure played a unique and extremely important role in the development of 19th century Germany and accounts for the distinct manner in which German society developed during this period. This...