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The end : the defiance and destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945 / Ian Kershaw.

by Kershaw, Ian.

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New York : Penguin Press, 2011.

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945 -- Military leadership.

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945 -- Public opinion.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Germany.

Sociology, Military -- Germany -- History -- 20th century.

9781594203145 (hardback) :

1594203148 (hardback)

xxvi, 564 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.

Going down in flames -- Shock to the system -- Collapse in the West -- Foretaste of horror -- Hopes raised-- and dashed -- Calamity in the East -- Terror comes home -- Crumbling foundations -- Implosion -- Liquidation -- Anatomy of self-destruction.

Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did. Even in the near-apocalyptic final months, when the war was plainly lost, the Nazis refused to sue for peace. Historically, this is extremely rare. Drawing on original testimony from ordinary Germans and arch-Nazis alike, historian Ian Kershaw explores this question in a focused narrative that begins with the failed bomb plot in July 1944 and ends with the German capitulation in May 1945. As Kershaw shows, the structure of Hitler's "charismatic rule" created a powerful negative bond between him and the Nazi leadership--they had no future without him, and so their fates were inextricably tied; meanwhile, popular support for the regime remained linked to a patriotic support of Germany and a terrible fear of the enemy closing in.--From publisher description.

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