WINNER OF THE 2016 PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE
The Second World War was a German war like no other.
A
terrific book. Nicholas Stargardt brilliantly explores diaries, letters and other previously untapped sources to provide
more vivid and nuanced insight than ever before achieved into the motivation of ordinary Germans fighting the most horrific war of all time
A
gripping new book…To write like this requires a rare sensitivity and psychological sophistication coupled with a degree of fearlessness…Stargardt impresses not only as a cultural historian. He also has an impressively strong grasp on the military narrative of the war. And this is
indispensable…
Stargardt has given us a truly profound piece of historyBeautifully written and convincingly argued,
this book is a mustA considerable success
Sympathetic and nuanced portraits of German men and women… Intimate account of individual Germans’ experiences of war, Stargardt explores private emotions…
Beautifully written… He writes with the correct tone and sensitivity.
Superbly researched and clearly written,
The German War is an important and significant book
For the first time, the wartime chronology of German sentiment, of popular hopes and fears, realism and fantasy, becomes truly visible. A
powerful and
compelling account
Insightful, illuminating, complex, and convincing... Seven decades and a mountain of monographs later, I wouldn’t have thought there’d be much more to say about WWII. Stargardt has proven me wrong
The German War is
an outstanding book by a master historian...
a masterpiece of historical writing, blending seamlessly a ‘bird’s eye’ view with intimate micro-history of this calamitous period in twentieth century Europe
Stargardt negotiates the considerable risks of writing from inside German experiences of this brutally destructive war with subtlety, humanity, and wisdom. This is
a rich and deeply impressive lessonProfessor Nicholas Stargardt is one of Britain's foremost scholars of Nazi Germany. He teaches Modern European History at Magdalen College, Oxford, and is the author of
Witnesses of War: Children's Lives under the Nazis (Jonathan Cape, 2005).