The Twisted Dream (The Third Reich)

"The Twisted Dream" is a volume in the Time-Life Third Reich series. The origins of Nazi ideology are revealed in great detail here, as well as the humble and dreary existence of Adolf Hitler until his unheard of rise to power. This series makes it easier to comprehend how the German people could be so desperate and vulnerable as to listen to such a messianic radical for salvation after the crushing defeat and depression following World War I. Of course, he wasn't honest about his true long term goals or how he intended to make them reality --- it is a chilling reminder of what can happen when a government has unlimited power and eliminates the rights of its citizens.