Benjamin Carter Hett – författare

A riveting account of how the Nazi Party came to power and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen.Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In The Death of Democracy, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time.To say that Hitler was elected is too simple. He would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not responded to a spate of populist insurgencies by trying to co-opt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship.Benjamin Carter Hett is a leading scholar of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.

"[Narrator Steven Crossley''s] British accent gives his narration an academic-sounding quality fitting for the text. He is clear and precise in pronunciation and enunciation and is suitably expressive throughout." — AudioFile MagazineThe Death of Democracy is a riveting audiobook account of how the Nazi Party came to power, and how the failures of the Weimar Republic and the shortsightedness of German politicians allowed it to happen.Why did democracy fall apart so quickly and completely in Germany in the 1930s? How did a democratic government allow Adolf Hitler to seize power? In this dramatic audiobook, Benjamin Carter Hett answers these questions, and the story he tells has disturbing resonances for our own time.To say that Hitler was elected is too simple. From the late 1920s, the Weimar Republic’s very political success sparked insurgencies against it, of which the most dangerous was the populist anti-globalization movement led by Hitler. But as Hett shows, Hitler would never have come to power if Germany’s leading politicians had not tried to coopt him, a strategy that backed them into a corner from which the only way out was to bring the Nazis in. Hett lays bare the misguided confidence of conservative politicians who believed that Hitler and his followers would willingly support them, not recognizing that their efforts to use the Nazis actually played into Hitler’s hands. They had willingly given him the tools to turn Germany into a vicious dictatorship.Benjamin Carter Hett is one of America’s leading scholars of twentieth-century Germany and a gifted storyteller whose portraits of these feckless politicians show how fragile democracy can be when those in power do not respect it. He offers a powerful lesson for today, when democracy once again finds itself embattled and the siren song of strongmen sounds ever louder.

Demokratian luisu diktatuuriksi on hälyttävän helppoa.

Demokratian kuolema on karmivan ajankohtainen kuvaus siitä, miten natsit nousivat valtaan - ja miten sen sallittiin tapahtua.

Adolf Hitlerin puolue kasvoi baijerilaisesta roskajoukosta määrätietoisesti Saksan valtaansa ottaneeksi mahdiksi. Miksi kansallissosialistien nousua ei pysäytetty ajoissa? Benjamin Carter Hett näyttää Demokratian kuolema -kirjassaan, miten natsipuolueen suosio kasvoi, kun globalisaatio näytti kääntöpuolensa kansan arjessa ja poliitikot vaikuttivat kykenemättömiltä ratkaisemaan ongelmia. Mutta ennen kaikkea Hitler ei olisi tullut valituksi valtaan ilman muiden apua. Weimarin tasavallan poliitikot uskoivat käyttävänsä Hitleriä hyväkseen poliittisessa pelissä. Todellisuudessa kävi päinvastoin: poliitikot saivat huomata kantaneensa vallan avaimet Hitlerin eteen tarjottimella ja antaneensa hänen käteen työkalut, joilla muuttaa ällistyttävällä nopeudella demokraattinen valtio kammottavaksi diktatuuriksi. Jos 2000-luvulla ilmaantuisi helppoja ratkaisuja tarjoava ja selkeitä syyllisiä osoittava karismaattinen vallantavoittelija, onnistuisiko hän yhtä hyvin kuin Adolf Hitler aikoinaan?

Benjamin Carter Hett toimii historian professorina New Yorkin Cityn yliopistossa ja on johtavia 1900-luvun Saksan johtavia tutkijoita. Hän on erinomainen kirjoittaja, jonka kuvaukset omaa etuaan tavoittelevista poliitikoista näyttävät, kuinka hauras demokratia voi olla, kun vallanpitäjät eivät muista vaalia sitä.