The Nazi Seizure of Power
The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945, Revised Edition

UPDATE 3/13/14 ... Northeim was a small town (10,000 pop.) in the north of Germany. Allen's description of the Nazi's 1933 program of Gleichschaltung (coordination), by which they meant the transformation of every government and social organization into Nazi control, is breathtaking. They were metho......more

For those who have read the panoramic accounts of how the Third Reich came about yet remain non-plussed as to how the mechanics of tyranny actually operate, William Sheridan Allen forensically deconstructs the day-by-day quasi-legal and carefully orchestrated encroachment on every aspect of society......more

1. In attesa di parlare di “M”il figlio del secolo La prefazione a “Come si diventa nazisti” del sociologo Gallino nell'edizione del '94 mi pare appropriata al momento che stiamo vivendo. Già venticinque anni fa, infatti, la distanza dagli avvenimenti descritti dal libro (1930-35) gli aveva permesso......more

Today, Northeim is a railroad town of some 29,000 people in northern Germany. But only about 10,000 called it home in 1930, when the Nazi Party began its explosive rise to dominance throughout the country. Historian William Sheridan Allen chose the town for his study at the local level of how Hitler......more

William Sheridan Allen provides a tautly written political analysis of Northeim, Germany in the years of the ascension of the NSDAP. Allen’s intimate portrait of the town goes a long way towards explaining how the Nazis succeeded in consolidating their power at the local level. He concludes that Nor......more