Hitlerland

As the title suggests, this is a compendium of American visitors’ impressions of Nazism in the 1930s. Their reactions varied from confusion to rage to applause, but Nagorski notes that, sooner or later, most came to the realization that Germany was “a society undergoing a horrific transformation in the name of a demented ideology,” and feared the implications for humanity. Another useful reminder of the essential role of solid, independent journalism, and of the methods by which seemingly decent people and entire societies can be devoured by hatred and tribalism. It seems, sadly, that we need a lot of reminding… show more.

The 1930s were the golden age of newspaper reporting. Reporters were celebrities, and most American households subscribed to at least one of more than 2,000 daily newspapers. And the reporters covering Germany were the best of the best, from Edgar Ansel Mowrer, HV Kaltenborn, and William Shirer, to Dorothy Thompson and Sigrid Schultz. Nagorski, a former foreign correspondent himself, brings that expertise to this book, looking at what Germany was like in the 1930s and how American reporters tried to convey the chaos to the public at home. You will want to shout at the reporters—don’t they know what is… show more.