The New Order

This volume of the set dealt with the internal social programs of the Third Reich. Propaganda, The Hitler Youth, labor and party organization, and other internal groups and people. As with all of these volumes there is a stunning amount of quality photo-journalism. Explanations of the various programs are accompanied by images and documantation of emblems, badges, knives, posters, flags and other accessories used by the Nazi's to surround the German people with a new culture and secure their loyalty by the preceptions they maintained and dogma they preached. It also shows that these groups and the power structure of the Third Reich were very innefficient and had to rely on coercion and deciet to maintain their strength. A few things of interest: The initial design and production of Volkswagons was prompted by a Nazi program that allowed workers to make payments out of each check to add to a stamp book towards getting a car. Combined with the construction of the Autobahn and other freeways, it was supposed to give the German people the highest numbers of cars per capita, and make them "free" to go anywhere. Instead, the cars were diverted to military use as staff cars when the war began. The change in the educational standards under the Third Reich emphasized physical achievment over traditional study, and was so damaging to the learning of students that most entering colledge were not qualified and were placed in remidial courses for up to two years. If old admissions standards had been maintained the colledge enrollment would have been barely half their capacity. Hitler, as a way of balancing the power of those below him, would create multiple organizations that did almost the same thing. Anytime he felt someone was gaining greater influence, he would simply create a new group or organization and promote someone to head that would be able to draw away some of the power and authority. Even Goebells was restrained in this way, as other groups shared censorship and propaganda duties that partially mirrored his own. The Good: Almost everything. Covers a lot of topics not often talked about. Barely even mentions the military directly. The Bad:Some editing and arrangement issues. Photo essays will begin in the middle of chapters interrupting them for 4 or 5 pages. You find yourself going back and forth a little bit to read around them. This seems to be common to the series. The Ugly: Goebbels. Short, of small stature, with a deformed leg, he certainly was not an example of Hitler's ideal german.

I am a big fan of anything Time Life puts out on World War 2. I found this whole series of books very interesting for the amount of detail, the layout and the overall look of the books. This is the best place to start if you want to learn about World War 2. They are very easy to read with a great deal of corresponding diagrams, maps and photos and really bring the words alive. I think if you are a real die hard World War 2 buff you need to get a copy of these books.