Erica reviewed They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer
He Thought He Was Clever
3 stars
I really loved the first half of the book, where Mayer recounts the events surrounding Krystallnacht in a Peoria-sized town in Germany. He then recounts his conversations over several weeks with folks from that area from a variety of backgrounds. It's an excellent look at each individual's motivations, experiences, and opinions before, during, and after the Nazi era. It's a sober warning that so many thought they were the best years of their lives until the Allied invasion. Most adored Hitler.
In the second half, however, the author starts generalizing about the "German people" and lays out a grand narrative about how they were predisposed to fascism due to geography and social norms. This is despite, however, him earlier in the book continually pointing out that similar prejudices to those against Jews exist in the US towards African Americans. The author is a quaker and I was vibing with his …
I really loved the first half of the book, where Mayer recounts the events surrounding Krystallnacht in a Peoria-sized town in Germany. He then recounts his conversations over several weeks with folks from that area from a variety of backgrounds. It's an excellent look at each individual's motivations, experiences, and opinions before, during, and after the Nazi era. It's a sober warning that so many thought they were the best years of their lives until the Allied invasion. Most adored Hitler.
In the second half, however, the author starts generalizing about the "German people" and lays out a grand narrative about how they were predisposed to fascism due to geography and social norms. This is despite, however, him earlier in the book continually pointing out that similar prejudices to those against Jews exist in the US towards African Americans. The author is a quaker and I was vibing with his comments that strains of fascism existed in the US. But he just totally forgets it in the second half and leaves the reader feeling that Germany really was a unique case and they were destined to repeat history.