A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Pick
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Daily Telegraph and The Times
"[An] extremely fine study . . . with careful prose and fine scholarship."
—Timothy Snyder, The New York Times Book Review
"A lesson about the fragility of democracy and the danger of that complacent belief that liberal institutions will always protect us."
—The Times
“A fast-paced narrative enlivened by vignette and character sketches. . . . Hett reminds us that violence was at [the Nazi’s] core.”
—PoliticsOfHope.com
“Hett’s tale does not so much change our view of demagogues as it highlights the crucial role of those who would halt their progress. Faced with jingoist politicians who resort to poisonous lies, his book fairly proclaims, the forces of democracy can prevail only if they muster courage, resolve and cooperative spirit.”
—The Washington Post
“Hett's brisk and lucid study offers compelling new perspectives inspired by current threats to free societies around the world…It is both eerie and enlightening how much of Hett's account rings true in our time.”
—E.J. Dionne
“Careful prose and fine scholarship…fine thumbnail sketches of individuals and concise discussions of institutions and economics.”
—Democratic Underground
“With a wealth of telling detail, a keen eye for human character, and a talent for gripping narrative, Benjamin Hett analyses the end of the Weimar Republic and the inauguration of the Nazi regime. It is a chilling and warning tale, for he shows that Hitler’s victory was by no means inevitable. Rather, it was the result of human folly, greed, selfishness and, on the part of those who invited him, an unwillingness to confront the true meaning of Nazism and a willful insistence that they could use Hitler.”
—Margaret MacMillan, author of The War That Ended Peace: The Road To 1914
"Fascinating. . . . Readable and well-researched."
—Nicholas Shakespeare, The Daily Telegraph
"Persuasively challenges familiar arguments that the rise of Nazi Germany was an inevitable consequence of abstract forces. . . . [A] page-turning account."
—Publishers Weekly
"How did Adolf Hitler, an obvious extremist, con a nation into backing him? This historical essay answers the question, to often unsettling effect. . . . A provocative, urgent history with significant lessons for today."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Intelligently written . . . a fast-paced narrative enlivened by vignette and character sketches."
—Financial Times
"A brilliant account. . . . Full of arresting images and ideas, this gripping new book charts the rise and fall of the first German republic, and the unlikely victory of Adolf Hitler. A timely reminder of the fragility of democracy and the dangers of extreme nationalism."
—Nikolaus Wachsmann, author of KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
"At a time of deep distress over the stability of democracy in America and elsewhere, Benjamin Carter Hett's chronicle of the collapse of the Weimer Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler could not be more timely. The Death of Democracy makes for chilling reading."
—Roger Lowenstein, The Washington Post
"A thought-provoking new look at the collapse of German democracy in 1930–34 with a clear and careful emphasis on those individuals who operated behind the scenes to bring Hitler to power."
—Gerhard L. Weinberg, professor emeritus of history, University of North Carolina
"[Hett is] that rarity, a specialist who writes lucidly and engagingly. In this post-truth, alternative-facts American moment, The Death of Democracy is essential reading."
—Kurt Andersen, author of Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, A 500-Year History
"Hett is one of the few historians who is able to think out of the box and knows how to tell a story well—without simplifying it. His new book tackles one of the most interesting questions in German history: How was it possible that an educated and developed country like Germany could fall for Adolf Hitler?"
—Stefan Aust, editor of Die Welt, former editor of Der Spiegel, and author of The Baader-Meinhof Complex
