Until now there has been no up-to-date, one-volume, international history of Nazi Germany, despite its being among the most studied phenomena of our time. The Third Reich restores a broad perspective and intellectual unity to issues that have become academic subspecialties and offers a brilliant new interpretation of Hitler's evil rule.

Filled with human and moral considerations that are missing from theoretical accounts, Michael Burleigh's book gives full weight to the experience of ordinary people who were swept up in, or repelled by, Hitler's movement and emphasizes how international themes for Nazi Germany appealed to many European nations. It also focuses on the Nazi's wartime conduct to dominate the Continental economy and involve gigantic population transfers and exterminations, recruitment of foreign labor, and multinational armies.