Daniel Jonah Goldhagen re-visits a question which history has treated as settled, and his research leads him to the inescapble conclusion that none of the answers holds true. That question is: "How could the Holocaust happen?", and his response is an exploration of German society and its ingrained anti-semitism that demands a fundamental revision of our thinking about the years 1933-1945. The author marshals fresh, primary evidence - including extensive testimony from the actual perpetrators - to show that the killers were ordinary Germans who were not compelled to act as they did (they knew they could refuse without retribution) yet they killed willingly and zealously.

60 pages (of 600) in, and I haven't yet found a fault with Goldhagen's theory or thinking.

Posted by Matt at January 25, 2006 07:55 PM