Responses to Nazism in Britain, 1933-1939 : before war and holocaust / Dan Stone.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stone, Dan, 1971-

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945--Public opinion.

Hitler, Adolf.

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.

Public opinion--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Public opinion.

Jews.

History.

Great Britain.

Jews--Great Britain--History--20th century.

National socialism--Public opinion.

National socialism.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--Germany.

International relations.

Germany.

Great Britain--Politics and government--1910-1936.

Politics and government.

Great Britain--Politics and government--1936-1945.

Germany--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Germany--Foreign public opinion, British.

Great Britain--Relations--Germany.

Relations.

Germany--Relations--Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xi, 269 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Summary:

How was Nazism discussed in the 1930s? Studies of the period have traditionally focused on the politics of appeasement, on British and German foreign policy, or on the British Union of Fascists. Through a study of a large body of neglected literature, Responses to Nazism in Britain, 1933-1939 reveals that a far broader range of responses was made and debated. From remarkably sophisticated philosophical analyses to pro-Nazi apologias, with all shades of opinion in between, the British reading public was presented with a picture of Nazism that was, if anything, more advanced than that put forward by the government and its main supporters in the press. Combining history of ideas and cultural history, the author suggests that, before the war and the Holocaust, not a day went by when the shape and substance of British cultural and political debates were not informed by what was happening in Germany.

Contents:

Introduction: Responding to Nazism, 1933-1939 1

Part I Explanations Pro and Contra

1 The Energy of Nihilism: Understanding the Appeal of Nazism 17

2 Predicting War? The Place of War in Interpretations of Nazism, 1933-1939 45

3 The Quintessence of Nazism? The Third Reich and the Jews, 1933-1939 79

Part II The Cultural Politics of the British Right

4 The Reasons of the Intellectuals 113

5 The British Far Right and the Back-to-the-Land Movement 148

6 The English Array, the BUF and the Dilemmas of British Fascism 166.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-262) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

0333994051

OCLC:

51984876