商品簡介
This translation brings historian and journalist Jochen Thies' book on the goals of Adolph Hitler into English. Though the translation, by Ian Cooke and Mary-Beth Friedrich, is unlikely to be as eloquent as the original German (Thies was a long-time speechwriter for Helmut Schmidt), Thies' meaning is clear throughout. The goal of the book is to prove that Hitler did not merely intend to rule Europe. He was actively planning to conquer the world in a messianic racial program to end history, and his specific goals before 1941 included forcing terms of alliance on Britain and military conquest of the United States. Thies offers evidence from extensively researched primary sources; along the way he gives opinionated and strongly argued analysis of major schools of German thought about Hitler. He wants readers to understand that the Russian defense in 1941 prevented a major catastrophe for the world, and united international military force to crush Hitler at any cost was not only justified but necessary. Thies also argues that understanding Nazi architecture is vital to understanding Hitler's aims. The book shows how isolating the history of art and architecture from general history can distort our understanding; Thies found much of his primary data about Hitler's specific goals in drawings of, and recorded conversations and documents about, planned building projects. Where these projects seem merely grandiose fantasies, Thies reminds us of the equally grandiose fantasies of roads, bridges, stadiums, and extermination camps that Hitler actually produced. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
作者簡介
Jochen Thies, born in 1944 in Rauschen/East Prussia, received his PhD in modern history from Freiburg University in 1975. He was a Fellow of the German Historical Institute in London and worked for more than 30 years as a journalist and speech-writer for Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. He has published numerous books and articles in international foreign policy journals.
