Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001 xvii + 359 pp.
Since Germanys reemergence as a complete nation in November of 1989, there has been considerable reflection on Germanys past in the last century. Many questions arise of old Nazi Germany. As it is an extremely interesting subject many scholars, historians, writers and ordinary people have taken the time to look back and ask the questions of Nazi Germany. From any trendy study comes a wave of books and information. Literally there are books on Nazism being published every month. With so many books, and so many new theories it's important to take a critical look on the subject and see how it can really apply. Robert Gellately tackles an interesting question in his recently printed book Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Gellately writes this book in concern of how people could carry out the inhumane orders of there leaders. .
Gellately is known also for his publication The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945, which was released in 1990. In his recent work he provides a somewhat broad study of most fundamental elements of Nazi society. Gellately suggests that in his book that the ordinary Germans were already willing to act against those who they thought were making ill of society. He argues that the Gestapo really had no use for spies, and even calls them "mythical." .
The book's content is organized through ten chapters, each covering a different theme. Information is put together from a large number of sources, including diaries, newspaper accounts, and mood and moral reports for the SD, and firmly based secondary sources. The book tells about the Nazi's use of propaganda, policies, policing and image as a way to influence people and the enemies from within. He speaks heavily of the large public support of Hitler and the persecution of Jews, Gypsies and foreign laborers, as well as the concentration camps.