Hitler's empire how the Nazis ruled Europe (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 2008; vuoden 2008 painos)

While there were parts of this book that were quite intriguing, in general, I found the book to be a bit bloated and scatter-shot. The last few chapters, dealing with the post-war era, weren't terribly relevant, and there were chunks of the book that dealt more with how Hungary, France and Italy dealt with Germany, than with the reverse. You can find much of the information in this book elsewhere, with less bloat. Not particularly recommended. ( )

This book aspires to describe in one volume the conduct of government in Europe under the Nazi German hegemon. Thus the author sets himself the task of covering the Final Solution, slave labor, atrocities committed by the contending armies as well as partisans, daily life, the diplomacy behind the innumerable transfers of territory and population between Germany's minor allies, collaborationists, the turf wars in the Nazi hierarchy, war and food production, and economics in general. For extra credit his final two chapters take on the various postwar schemes for regional, continental, and, occasionally, world federation and postwar anticolonial revolts, many of them quite obscure. Obviously it is not possible to do this, at least not well, and write a book of a manageable length; these topics, especially the first three, have already produced entire libraries of books. And indeed, at least on the Final Solution, it's difficult for me to believe that two or three chapters contain much that is new, though admittedly I speak from ignorance, not having read much in the area.

In many ways this is an outstanding book. The author is quick to advance revisionist approaches, and it's refreshing to listen to the shattering of all those Greatest Generation schoolroom bromides crashing to the sidewalk, at least when the author documents his points, as in his overarching thesis that a Nazi occupation was not uniform in every country; Denmark held free elections in 1943 and it was certainly less dangerous to live in occupied France than in Poland. Unfortunately, this trait becomes annoying when Mazower simply waves a hand to dismiss a truism, as when he asserts that the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1941 didn't affect the failure of their invasion of Russia or that the Wehrmacht was no gentler in its handling of civilians than the SS. These are counterintuitive notions in the first place, and thus need supporting evidence more than most. Conventional wisdom attains its lofty status for a reason, and those idols will retain their place in my mind until some support data are presented. With these reservations, along with, of course, the months necessary to read this, it's a memorable book which does a worthy job of telling you things you didn't know and making you think about the big questions. ( )

The book presents what happened in Nazi-ruled Europe. Every chapter is set up about one topic, almost like self-contained essays, so it really doesn't need to be read front to back. This allows for discussion about nearly everything that happened, from food supplies to working conditions, to how to run the economy to governing, and anything else that happened in Europe between 1939 and 1945. However, this does lead to the book not being as good as it could have been. Some of the chapters really drag on, especially if one is not interested in knowing the intimate details of the Greek food supply, as important as it is. Regardless, this covers a subject that is often overlook in conventional books on the Second World War/Nazis. ( )

Although I am not a World War II buff, this long, detailed examination of how the Nazis governed the people they conquered fascinated me. There were some striking parallels to current events, as when Mazower observed that the Germans seemed, after overrunning Poland and the Baltic states, not to have given any thought to what would happen in those lands after the Wehrmacht won the military struggle. ( )

Mr. Mazower makes an excellent case for Nazi lack of clear objective and plan for occupation. He also postulated that the only reason the British and French declared war on Germany is because the Germans intended to enslave members of the white race. Eurpoeans never went to war because someone enslaved a dark race. ( )