Opis: The Gestapo - Frank McDonough

Frank McDonough's work has been described as, 'modern history writing at its very best...Ground-breaking, fascinating, occasionally deeply revisionist' by renowned historian Andrew Roberts. Drawing on a detailed examination of previously unpublished Gestapo case files this book relates the fascinating, vivid and disturbing accounts of a cross-section of ordinary and extraordinary people who opposed the Nazi regime. It also tells the equally disturbing stories of their friends, neighbours, colleagues and even relatives who were often drawn into the Gestapo's web of intrigue. The book reveals, too, the cold-blooded and efficient methods of the Gestapo officers. This book will also show that the Gestapo lacked the manpower and resources to spy on everyone as it was reliant on tip offs from the general public. Yet this did not mean the Gestapo was a weak or inefficient instrument of Nazi terror. On the contrary, it ruthlessly and efficiently targeted its officers against clearly defined political and racial 'enemies of the people'. The Gestapo will provide a chilling new doorway into the everyday life of the Third Reich and give powerful testimony from the victims of Nazi terror and poignant life stories of those who opposed Hitler's regime while challenging popular myths about the Gestapo. This fascinating and absorbing new book, drawing on original Gestapo files, provides a wide range of vivid and fascinating stories that explore the tragic human plight of victims of Nazi terror, and the motives of the German citizens who denounced them. By examining in depth how the Gestapo dealt with Jews, Communists, religious dissidents and those on the margins of society, McDonough has produced a brilliant, readable and deeply significant examination of Hitler's notorious secret police. Andrew Roberts A compelling and crisply written new history of the Third Reich's central instrument on domestic terror between 1933 and 1945. McDonough moves beyond the administrative history of the Gestapo to examine the key target groups not just political and religious opponents, but social outsiders and Jews He provides a nuanced account via Gestapo files and courtroom testimony. In setting a range of victims' life stories revealed in these neglected Gestapo case files against long standing historical views of either an all pervasive surveillance or total reliance on public denunciations, The Gestapo provides an original and welcome perspective on this often misunderstood symbol of Nazi repression and enforced conformity. Impressive, illuminated by real victim stories, this book is strongly recommended. -- Matthew Feldman, Professor in Contemporary History at Teesside University and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bergen, Norway In this thoroughly researched and elegantly written book, Frank McDonough confronts decades of myth-making to uncover the complex realities of Hitler's notorious secret police. The Gestapo is as surprising as it is illuminating, and it sets a new standard for this vitally important subject. -- Roger Moorhouse, leading Third Reich historian and best-selling author Superbly scholarly and just as readable. A chilling, meticulous record of state brutality that is more compelling than any novel. -- Dan Snow, Award-winning TV historian and best-selling author Professor Frank McDonough has unearthed much, drawn from recent research and his own work in the Gestapo's surviving archives and has blended it in this lucid, authoratative study of the institution and its servants. As for those servants' villiany, he lets them and their victims speak for themselves: this is a chilling as well as a compelling read...In telling the story of the how the Gestapo worked, McDonough has provided fascinating insights into the experiences of Germans in a fickle and frightening world. -- Lawrence James The Times It seems incredible that humane qualities could be exhumed from such evil, but that is one achievement of Frank McDonough's nuanced study...The contribution of McDonough's illuminating account - based on the 73,000 files at Dusseldorf, the largest surviving collection of Gestapo records - is to reveal that the organisation was neither faceless nor monolithic...Too often historians present material of this vile kind in emotive prose, forcing the reader into uneasy agreement with whatever argument they are presenting. Here, by combining a calm tone with a lucid, factual approach, McDonough has convincingly portrayed a system that was highly efficient and profoundly pernicious, but not unequivocally wicked. -- Miranda Seymour The Sunday Telegraph Praise for The Origins of the Second World War: Here is modern history writing at its very best. Frank McDonough has brought together no fewer than 30 other leading scholars to examine that most vital of historical moments - the outbreak of the Second World War - from every conceivable international aspect. Ground-breaking, fascinating, occasionally deeply revisionist and always highly readable; this sets the mark for all collaborative history from now on. -- Andrew Roberts Praise for Sophie Scholl: McDonough has managed to unearth some significant new material by assiduously trawling German archives, discovering diaries and letters, Gestapo interrogation files and trial documents. -- Sir Richard J.Evans Times Higher Educational Supplement

Szczegóły: The Gestapo - Frank McDonough

Tytuł: The Gestapo
Autor: Frank McDonough
Producent: Coronet Books
ISBN: 9781444778052
Rok produkcji: 2015
Ilość stron: 320
Oprawa: Miękka
Waga: 0.57 kg

Recenzje: The Gestapo - Frank McDonough