Childers, Thomas

"In The Third Reich, Thomas Childers shows how the young Hitler became passionately political and anti-Semitic as he lived on the margins of society. Fueled by outrage at the punitive terms of the Versailles Treaty that ended the Great War, he found his voice and drew a following. As his views developed, Hitler attracted like-minded colleagues who formed the nucleus of the nascent Nazi party"--Provided by publisher.

Relates, through diaries and letters, the story of the crew of the Black Cat, the last bomber shot down over Germany.

Presents eleven essays on aspects of the Third Reich--including its economic and industrial policies, its enforcement of racial policy, the positions of Adolf Hitler and Hermann G?ring, and other topics--and the ways the Reich is analyzed and described by historians.

One of our great national myths surrounds the men and women who fought in World War II. The Greatest Generation, we're told, fought heroically, then returned to America happy, healthy and well-adjusted. They quickly and cheerfully went on with rebuilding their lives. Here, historian Thomas Childers shatters that myth. He interweaves the intimate story of three families--including his own--with a decade's worth of research to paint an entirely new picture of the war's aftermath. Drawing on government documents, interviews, oral histories and diaries, he reveals that 10,000 veterans a month were being diagnosed with psycho-neurotic disorder (now known as PTSD). Alcoholism, homelessness, and unemployment were rampant, leading to a skyrocketing divorce rate. Many veterans bounced back, but their struggle has been lost in a wave of nostalgia that threatens to undermine a new generation of returning soldiers. This book is a stark reminder that the price of war is unimaginably high.--From publisher description.