The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

Description

This chilling, fascinating new book is the first fully to get to grips with how Hitler's Nazi empire really functioned. There was no aspect of Nazi power untouched by economics - it was Hitler's obsession and the reason the Nazis came to power in the first place. The Second World War was fought, in Hitler's view, to create a European Empire strong enough to take on the United States - a last chance for Europe to dig itself in before being swept away by the USA's ever greater power. But, as The Wages of Destruction makes clear, Hitler was never remotely strong enough to beat either Britain or the Soviet Union - and never even had a serious plan as to how he might defeat the USA. It took years of fighting and the deaths of millions of people to destroy the Third Reich, but effectively World War II in Europe was fought in pursuit of a fantasy- the years in which Western Europe could settle the world's fate were, by 1939, long past. This is a major book by a major author and will provoke an enormous amount of controversy and debate.

Adam Tooze is Barton M. Biggs Professor of History and Director of International Security Studies at Yale University. He taught for many years at the University of Cambridge. The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy was universally acclaimed as one of the most important books written on the Third Reich. It was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and won both the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Prize and the Wolfson Prize for History.

"One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force." -Niall Ferguson "Tooze has produced the most striking history of German strategy in the Second World War that we possess. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it places Adam Tooze in a very select company of historians indeed ... Tooze has given us a masterpiece which will be read, and admired; and it will stimulate others for a long time to come." -Nicholas Stargardt, "History Today" "It is among Adam Tooze's many virtues, in ""The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy,"" that he can write about such matters with authority, explaining the technicalities of bombers and battleships. Hovering over his chronicle are two extraordinary questions: how Germany managed to last as long as it did before the collapse of 1945 and why, under Hitler, it thought it could achieve supremacy at all." -Norman Stone, aOne of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force.a aNiall Ferguson "Tooze has produced the most striking history of German strategy in the Second World War that we possess. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it places Adam Tooze in a very select company of historians indeed ... Tooze has given us a masterpiece which will be read, and admired; and it will stimulate others for a long time to come." aNicholas Stargardt, "History Today" aIt is among Adam Tooze's many virtues, in ""The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy,"" that he can write about such matters with authority, explaining the technicalities of bombers and battleships. Hovering over his chronicle are two extraordinary questions: how Germany managed to last as long as it did before the collapse of 1945 and why, under Hitler, it thought it could achieve supremacy at all.a aNorman Stone, "The Wall Street Journal" "Virtually every page of his book contains something new and thought-provoking, making the whole an impressive achievement, in which original research has been combined with critical scrutiny of a vast literature that seems ripe for such a re-examination." aMichael Burleigh, "The Sunday Times (London)" aA magnificent demonstration of the explanatory power of economic history.a a"The Times" (London) aMasterful . . . Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism.a a"Financial Times" One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force. Niall Ferguson "Tooze has produced the most striking history of German strategy in the Second World War that we possess. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it places Adam Tooze in a very select company of historians indeed ... Tooze has given us a masterpiece which will be read, and admired; and it will stimulate others for a long time to come." Nicholas Stargardt, "History Today" It is among Adam Tooze's many virtues, in ""The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy,"" that he can write about such matters with authority, explaining the technicalities of bombers and battleships. Hovering over his chronicle are two extraordinary questions: how Germany managed to last as long as it did before the collapse of 1945 and why, under Hitler, it thought it could achieve supremacy at all. Norman Stone, "The Wall Street Journal" "Virtually every page of his book contains something new and thought-provoking, making the whole an impressive achievement, in which original research has been combined with critical scrutiny of a vast literature that seems ripe for such a re-examination." Michael Burleigh, "The Sunday Times (London)" A magnificent demonstration of the explanatory power of economic history. "The Times" (London) Masterful . . . Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism. "Financial Times"