Hitler As Philosophe

Birken challenges the conventional wisdom that Hitlerism was a revolt against Western values. Utilizing Adolph Hitler's major writings, speeches, and recorded conversations, this path-breaking study in intellectual history delineates the relationship of Nazism to other European ideologies, both past and present. National Socialism, Birken maintains, was nothing less than an attempt to create a metaphysical foundation for the German nation-state after both the Frankfurt Assembly and the Bismarckian pseudo-Reich had failed to do so. In this context, Hitler can be seen as the last great exponent of the Enlightenment tradition that glorified fraternity. However, by grounding German nationalism in race, Hitler sent his country on a path toward destruction in the Second World War. Birken closes with the warning that our current failure to provide a post-modern substitute for nationalism invites the reassertion of the Enlightenment obsessions of nation and race. Speculative and far-reaching, this book will stimulate the current debate over nationalism and will be of interest to students of politics and the social sciences as well as German history buffs.

This book situates Hitler in the context of European Intellectual history.

Booknews

After an intellectual turnabout since the 1988 publication of his Consuming Desire, Birken (history, Ball State U.) now emphasizes the continuing importance and danger of nationalist ideologies and seeks to exorcise the heritage of Hitlerism by examining it in detail. He places it in the tripartite model of his earlier work, adding fraternity to the liberty and equality discussed there, and describing Hitlerism as an integral part of western thought rather than an isolated and inexplicable phenomenon. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

LAWRENCE BIRKEN is Assistant Professor of History at Ball State University.