Preconditions - anti-Semitism, racism and common prejudices in early 20th-century Europe; leadership and will - Adolph Hitler, the national socialist German workers' party and Nazi ideology; from revolution to routine - Nazi Germany, 1933-1938; open aggression - in search of war, 1938-1939; experiments in brutality, 1939-1940 - war against Poland and the so-called euthanasia program; expansion and systematization - exporting war and terror, 1940-1941; the peak years of killing -1942 and 1943; death throes - killing frenzies, 1944-1945.
Doris L. Bergen is Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto.
Doris Bergen encapsulates this complex history with intelligence
and insight. She has written a sure and fluid introduction to the
Holocaust.--Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing
Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust
One of the most accomplished teachers of the Holocaust has written
a brilliant incentive for anyone considering the daunting task of
launching or improving a college course on the subject. With expert
conciseness, Bergen presents a thoughtful overview of the issues
and their place in recent literature. She gives us a judicious
analysis rich with compassionate narratives of human experience, at
once a tough account of this unique past and a meditation on its
contemporary relevance. This is a courageous effort to remember and
to face the consequences. Bergen s book is a corrective to many
existing accounts, confronting the reader not just with the
sickening or sensationalized history, but with the question of why
Hitler was such a big hit in Germany as well as in the popular
media all around us today.--Nathan Stoltzfus, author of Resistance
of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi
Germany
War and Genocide may be a concise history of the Holocaust, but it
covers a lot of contextual ground and in a clear, insightful,
sensitive, and compelling manner. Doris Bergen writes about the
genocide of the Jews, without neglecting the persecution,
enslavement, and murder of millions of other victims of the Nazis
in Europe during World War II and the Holocaust. She has done
educators, students, and scholars a great service.--Carol Rittner,
R.S.M., The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
An excellent shorter work on the Third Reich and the Holocaust for
general readers.--Allan A. Ryan, Harvard University Summer
School
Balances necessary content with analysis. Bergen clearly argues the
intimate connections between war and genocide in a way that's
accessible to undergraduates.--Robinson Yost, Kirkwood Community
College
Does the Holocaust's immensity mean that a concise history of that
event is impossible? Doris Bergen, a meticulous scholar who writes
with unusual clarity and precision, admirably shows that the answer
is no. Wisely situating the Holocaust in the context of World War
II, insightfully organizing her account around Nazi Germany's
lethal quest for racial purity and territorial conquest, her War
and Genocide provides an overview as brilliant and reliable as it
is compact. Anyone who struggles to fathom the Holocaust's deep
darkness will benefit from reading this well-crafted and
much-needed book.--John K. Roth, author of Holocaust Politics
Doris Bergen's study is the best concise treatment of the Holocaust
to date. Her book is approachable for both beginning students
learning about the genocide, and for advanced students who are
looking for a high quality synthesis. Bergen tells the story in a
compelling way that weaves the latest research into a fascinating
narrative that makes the Holocaust more understandable for all
readers. Her inquiry views the Holocaust from many different
perspectives and will add to anyone's knowledge of the Shoah.
Bergen has a wonderful knack for including poignant testimony with
relevant analysis to make this horrifying experience more
comprehensible. This book will certainly become the standard text
for Holocaust courses.--Glenn Sharfman, Hiram College
Doris Bergen's War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust
offers a view of the Holocaust that balances academic rigor, recent
scholarship, and student accessibility. It provides a superb
foundation for students to understand the complexity of the
historical record and historiography of the Holocaust.--Jeffrey
Myers, Avila University
Easily the best concise history of the Holocaust available; an
ideal introduction to an enormously complex and challenging
subject. Doris Bergen integrates the latest findings of Holocaust
scholarship into an exceptionally well-written analysis of the key
events and issues. No other Holocaust survey so effectively
examines the persecution and murder of the Jews within the broader
contexts of World War Two, Nazi territorial expansionism in Eastern
Europe, and Nazi measures targeted at homosexuals, the disabled,
Sinti/Roma, Slavs, and other groups.--Alan E. Steinweis, University
of Vermont
Excellent, concise, searching a fine text for introducing students
to the history of and moral questions surrounding the Holocaust. Of
particular value are the suggestions for further reading and
reflection.--Stuart Liebman, Queens College, CUNY
War and Genocide provides a splendid, easy-to-read introduction to
a complex, sometimes contentious, and shattering subject. Balanced
and fair-minded, this book is highly recommended both for students
of the subject and for interested general readers.--Michael Marrus,
University of Toronto
With exceptional succinctness and clarity, Doris Bergen provides
the reader with a wealth of information, a series of illuminating
individual experiences, and judicious commentary.--Christopher
Browning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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