Michael Burleigh

A Major Study of One of the Twentieth Century's Darkest Periods Until now there has been no up-to-date, one-volume, international history of Nazi Germany, despite its being among the most studied phenomena of our time. The Third Reich restores a broad perspective and intellectual unity to issues that have become academic subspecialties and offers a brilliant new interpretation of Hitler's evil rule. Filled with human and moral considerations that are missing from theoretical accounts, Michael Burleigh's book gives full weight to the experience of ordinary people who were swept up in, or repelled by, Hitler's movement and emphasizes international themes-for Nazi Germany appealed to many European nations, and its wartime conduct included efforts to dominate the Continental economy and involved gigantic population transfers and exterminations, recruitment of foreign labor, and multinational armies.

A New History

The Third Reich

Beginning with the chaotic post–World War I landscape in which religious belief was one way of reordering a world knocked off its axis, Sacred Causes is a penetrating critique of how religion has often been camouflaged by politics. All the bloody regimes and movements of the 20th century are masterfully captured here, from Stalin's Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Franco's Spain to the war on terror. With style and sophistication, Michael Burleigh shows how the churches, in their various guises, have been swayed by–and contributed to–conflicting secular currents. Sacred Causes brilliantly exposes the way in which fears of socialist movements tempered the churches' response to the threat of totalitarian regimes. Burleigh combines an authoritative survey of history with a timely reminder of the dangers of radical secularism. He asks why no one foresaw the religious implications of massive Third World immigration. And he deftly investigates what is now driving calls for a civic religion to counter the terrorist threats that have so shocked the West.

The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror

Sacred Causes

A History of Now

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Asterisk* (Amsterdam)

Roland Fagel

een culturele geschiedenis van het terrorisme

Bloed en woede

British historian Burleigh (Blood Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism) delivers a long, riveting account of the awful atrocities of WWII and the perverted reasoning behind them. Burleigh explains that Communist, Nazi, Fascist, and Japanese systems claimed to be regimes of public virtue carrying out inexorable historical processes. Proclaiming that the only evil was obstructing this march to utopia, they discarded the rule of law and alternative moral authority (religion, ethics).

good and evil in World War II

Moral combat

Auke van den Berg

Cultureel-religieuze en politieke geschiedenis van (vooral) West-Europa vanaf het begin van de twintigste eeuw tot heden.

religie en politiek van de Europese dictators tot Al Qaida

Heilige doelen

religie en politiek in Europa van de Franse Revolutie tot de Eerste Wereldoorlog

Aardse machten

The winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2001, this is a brilliant and indispensable one-volume history of the Third Reich from a leading historian.

In this masterful, stylish, and authoritative book, Michael Burleigh gives us an epic history of the battles over religion in modern Europe, examining the complex and often lethal ways in which politics and religion have interacted and influenced each other over the last two centuries. From the French Revolution to the totalitarian movements of the twentieth century, Earthly Powers is a uniquely powerful portrait of one of the great tensions of modern history—one that continues to be played out on the world stage today.

The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe, from the French Revolution to the Great War

Earthly Powers

Wolfgang Wippermann

This book deals with the ideas and institutions which underpinned the Nazi regime's attempt to restructure a 'class' society along racial lines.

Germany 1933-1945

The Racial State

A far-reaching history of terrorism across the world from its beginnings to the modern-day, from the highly acclaimed author of 'Sacred Causes' and 'Earthly Powers'.

A Cultural History of Terrorism

Blood and Rage

Michael Burleigh nos ofrece una visión radicalmente nueva del Tercer Reich desde su gestación hasta su destrucción final. Antes de la aparición de esta obra, ganadora del prestigioso Premio de Ensayo Samuel Johnson 2001, no existía una historia completa sobre la Alemania nazi, a pesar de que ha sido uno de los fenómenos más estudiados del siglo XX. Este libro demuestra que el abandono de la democracia y la tolerancia que protagonizó el Tercer Reich estaba extendido por la Europa de la época. Narra cómo un movimiento pseudorreligioso, imbuido de un sentimentalismo demagógico, parecía ofrecer la salvación a una Alemania exhausta por la guerra y la creciente inflación. Muestra las consecuencias de la desaparición del gobierno de la ley en favor del terror. Pero, a diferencia de otros recientes estudios de este periodo, no condena a toda la nación alemana. Explica la compleja moralidad utilizada para «legitimar» el Holocausto porparte de quienes lo llevaron a cabo y recrea con brillantez las complejidades de la vida bajo un régimen totalitario, que gobernó casi toda Europa durante cuatro años. Reseñas: «Estas pasmosa investigación le dejará sin aliento. Más profunda que cualquier otra, es el producto de un verdadero genio.» The Sunday Times «Esta brillante visión de una gran tiranía es una importantísima contribución para entender el siglo XX.» Booklist

Una nueva historia

El Tercer Reich

A study of how relations between the Nazi regime & contemporary scholarly experts on eastern Europe eventually set an entire academic discipline on a path to biological racism through Nazi manipulation.

A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich

Germany Turns Eastwards

"Magnificent. . . . Seldom has a study of the past combined such erudition with such exuberance." —The Guardian "No-one with an interest in the Second World War should be without this book; and indeed nor should anyone who cares about how our world has come about." —The Daily Telegraph Pre-eminent WWII historian Michael Burleigh delivers a brilliant new examination of the day-to-day moral crises underpinning the momentous conflicts of the Second World War. A magisterial counterpart to his award-winning and internationally bestselling The Third Reich, winner of the Samuel Johnson prize, Moral Combat offers a unique and riveting look at, in the words of The Times (London), "not just the war planners faced with the prospect of bombing Dresden or the atrocities of the Holocaust, but also the individuals working at the coalface of war, killing or murdering, resisting or collaborating."

Good and Evil in World War II

Moral Combat

A gripping tour d'horizon of the state of the world as it is in 2017 from an acclaimed historian.In the decades since the end of World War II, it has been widely assumed that the western model of liberal democracy and free trade is the way the world should be governed. However, events in the early years of the 21st century--first, the 2003 war with Iraq and its chaotic aftermath and, second, the financial crash of 2008--have threatened the general acceptance that continued progress under the benign (or sometimes not-so-benign) gaze of the western powers is the only way forwards. And as America turns inwards and Europe is beset by austerity politics and populist nationalism, the post-war consensus looks less and less secure. But is this really the worst of times? In a forensic examination of the world we now live in, acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh sets out to answer that question. Who could have imagined that China would champion globalization and lead the battle on climate change? Or that post-Soviet Russia might present a greater threat to the world's stability than ISIS? And while we may be on the cusp of still more dramatic change, perhaps the risks will--in time--bring not only change but a wholly positive transformation. Incisive, robust, and always insightful, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times is both a dazzling tour d'horizon of the world as it is today and a surprisingly optimistic vision of the world as it might become.

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

The first full-scale study in English of the Nazis' so-called 'euthanasia' programme in which over 200,000 people perished.

'Euthanasia' in Germany, C.1900 to 1945

Death and Deliverance

Drawing on his Engelsberg Lectures, Michael Burleigh explores the new global era of national populism. He first probes the nature of mass anger in the West: how might popular discontent be artificially incited and sustained by elite figures claiming to speak for the common people? He then compares empire’s difficult aftermaths in Britain and Russia: how does History foster a sense of exceptionality, and how is it exploited by populists, as we’ve seen again with 2020’s ‘statue wars’? And finally, he turns to China, where the ruling Communist Party depends on a nationalised version of History for popular support. Covid-19 has created problems for several populist leaders, whose image has suffered amidst the public’s new-found respect for expertise and disappointment over their shouty handling of the pandemic. Yet despite Donald Trump’s defeat, with extended economic depression looming, Burleigh fears that new post-populists may yet arise.

Before and After the Pandemic

Populism

The collapse of Western colonial empires after the Second World War led to any number of vicious struggles for power whose bloody consequences haunt us still. Acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh's brilliant analytic skills and clear eye for common themes underpins this powerful account of those struggles. He takes us on a historical journey from Palestine to Pakistan, from Cuba to Indo-China and reframes mid-20th century history by forcing us to look away from the Cold War to the hot wars that continue to afflict us. The result is a dazzling work of history, which examines the death of colonialism with passion, insight and genuine understanding of what it feels like to be caught in the middle of realpolitik.

The Genesis of the Modern World, 1945-65

Small Wars, Far Away Places

The collapse of Western colonial empires in the twenty years after the Second World War led to a series of vicious struggles for power - in Africa, Asia and the Middle East - whose bloody consequences haunt us still. Acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh's brilliant analytic skills and clear eye for common themes underpins this powerful account of those conflicts. He takes us on a historical journey from Algeria to Cuba, from Malaysia to Palestine, and from Kenya to Vietnam and, in so doing, he reframes mid-twentieth-century history by forcing us to look away from the Cold War to the hot wars that continue to afflict us. The result is a dazzling work of history, which examines the death of colonialism with passion, insight and genuine understanding of what it feels like to be caught in the middle of realpolitik.

The Genesis of the Modern World 1945-65

'Written with Burleigh’s characteristic brio, with pithy summaries of historical moments (he is brilliant on the Americans in Vietnam, for example) and full of surprising vignettes' - The Times 'Book of the Week' 'Brilliant and timely . . . Our world today is as dangerous and mixed-up as it has ever been. Luckily we have Michael Burleigh to help us make sense of it.' - Mail on Sunday The traditional image of a political assassin is a lone wolf with a rifle, aimed squarely at the head of those they wish to kill. But while there has been enormous speculation on what lay behind notorious individual political assassinations – from Julius Caesar to John F. Kennedy – the phenomenon itself has scarcely been examined as a special category of political violence, one not motivated by personal gain or vengeance. Now, in Day of the Assassins, acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh explores the many facets of political assassination, explaining why it is more frequent in certain types of society than others and asking if assassination can either bring about change or prevent it, and whether, like a contagious disease, political murder can be catching. Focusing chiefly on the last century and a half, Burleigh takes readers around the world, from Europe, Russia, Israel and the United States to the Congo, India, Iran, Laos, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam. And, as we travel, we revisit notable assassinations, among them Leon Trotsky, Hendrik Verwoerd, Juvénal Habyarimana, Indira Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin and Jamal Khashoggi. Throughout, the assassins themselves are at the centre of the narrative, whether they were cool, well-trained professional killers, like the agents of the NKVD or the KGB – or, indeed, the CIA – or men motivated by the politicization of their private miseries, like Gavrilo Princip or Lee Harvey Oswald. Even some of those who were demonstrably mad had method in their madness and acted for comprehensible political motives. Combining human drama, questions of political morality and the sheer randomness of events, Day of the Assassins is a riveting insight into the politics of violence.

Michael Burleigh

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