War and Genocide

A Concise History of the Holocaust

Doris L. Bergen

Narrated by Collene Curran

Available from Audible

Book published by Rowman & Littlefield

In examining one of the defining events of the twentieth century, Doris L. Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical, political, social, cultural, and military contexts. Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust, this revised, third edition discusses not only the persecution of the Jews, but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis: Roma, homosexuals, Poles, Soviet POWs, the disabled, and other groups deemed undesirable. In clear and eloquent prose, Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi German program of conquest and genocide—purification of the so-called Aryan race and expansion of its living space—and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II. Including firsthand accounts from perpetrators, victims, and eyewitnesses, her book is immediate, human, and eminently readable.

Doris L. Bergen is Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto.

REVIEWS:

“Doris Bergen's War and Genocide is a jewel of a book that addresses students, specialists, and the general public alike. Her clear analysis of the development of the genocide is combined with an extraordinary and broad view of the actions and experiences of those involved. She not only covers the history of Nazi perpetrators and their policies but also pays careful attention to the experience of Jewish victims as well as the varied social groups targeted for persecution including women, homosexual men, Roma, the disabled and others. In addition, her nuanced attention to visual and cultural sources further models how a critical history of the Holocaust can be written.”

— Paul B. Jaskot, DePaul University

“In eight well-written and concise chapters, the book examines the relationship between anti-Semitic ideology, an ever radicalizing Nazi revolution, Nazi aggression, the Euthanasia Program and the murder of the Jews. Again this is a book that will find its place on the bookshelves of most Holocaust scholars and should be included in any Holocaust library.”

—Jewish Book World

“A book that will likely be required reading in college-level courses for years to come.... A detailed overview of the Holocaust. ”

— History In Review

“Highly recommended.”

—CHOICE

“The revisions undertaken by Doris Bergen for this new edition of War and Genocide make an excellent book even better. Instructors and students will appreciate the expanded coverage of crucial questions such as collaboration, developments in the Soviet Union, the fate of Roma under Nazi rule, and post-1945 ramifications of the Holocaust, all of which have been subjects of much recent research. Up-to-date and comprehensive, War and Genocide remains the ideal introduction to an enormously complex and challenging subject.”

—Alan E. Steinweis, University of Vermont

“War and Genocide provides a concise, careful, and engaging discussion of the Holocaust. Written by a master teacher—a scholar who understands undergraduate readers—it anticipates questions and challenges students to think critically through common misconceptions about the past. War and Genocide is the most valuable resource that I have for conveying the complexity and nuance of the Holocaust. ”

—Tatjana Lichtenstein, The University of Texas at Austin

“Balanced and comprehensive, this third edition of Doris Bergen's masterly book accomplishes several tasks that few other works on the Holocaust can claim to have achieved: it is meticulously researched, entirely up to date, and highly readable. It sets the Holocaust within a wide framework of origins and wartime events without losing sight of its particular horror and distinct features, and it understands the Holocaust as an assault on humanity that encompassed not only Jews but whole other categories of human beings, not least the handicapped, the Roma, and Soviet prisoners of war. War and Genocide is certain to become essential reading for all students of the last century's darkest era.”

—Omer Bartov, Brown University, author of Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine

“A meticulous, sensitive account of the Nazi race wars that combines a powerful narrative and explanatory drive at the same time as it illuminates individual lives and fates with searing precision. While giving full weight to the antisemitic core of Nazi racism, Bergen also shows why it claimed so many other groups of victims and pursues it to its appalling climax in the wars of imperialist conquest and exploitation launched in 1939. This is a distinctive and remarkable achievement, as assured as it is readable. ”

—Jane Caplan, University of Oxford

“This precise textbook accomplishes much: it provides a wide-angle view of what the Holocaust was and is in clear historiographical terms, challenges students to think through facts and interpretations surrounding the historical study of the Holocaust, and complements—and is short enough to allow the inclusion of—primary sources in a course. I will use it as long as I can.”

—Jeanne Grant, Metropolitan State University

“An excellent shorter work on the Third Reich and the Holocaust for general readers. ”

—Allan A. Ryan, Harvard University Summer School

“Doris Bergen's War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust offers a view of the Holocaust that balances academic rigor, recent scholarship, and student accessibility. It provides a superb foundation for students to understand the complexity of the historical record and historiography of the Holocaust.”

— Jeffrey Myers, Avila University

“With exceptional succinctness and clarity, Doris Bergen provides the reader with a wealth of information, a series of illuminating individual experiences, and judicious commentary.”

—Christopher R. Browning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; author of Origins of the Final Solution

“War and Genocide provides a splendid, easy-to-read introduction to a complex, sometimes contentious, and shattering subject. Balanced and fair-minded, this book is highly recommended both for students of the subject and for interested general readers.”

—Michael R. Marrus, University of Toronto