The Roots of Nazi Psychology: Hitler's Utopian Barbarism
"Basing his work in the role of ideologies in group psychology, Gonen exposes the psychological underpinnings of Nazi Germany's desire to expand its living space and exterminate Jews." -- Bulletin of the Arnold and Leona Institute of Holocaust Research"In the search to understand the genocidal mind, Gonen's book is a major step." -- Clio's Psyche"His may be in perfect case study for those in Washington and London convinced that they are all that stands between the frail blossom of civilization and the icy breath of barbarism." -- H-Net Reviews"Gonen makes a major contribution to understanding the destructive power of messianism, utopianism, apocalyptic ideology, and barbarism -- phenomena that, in addition to scapgoating, the civilizing process must master if there are to be no more holocausts." -- Journal of Psychohistory"Traces the psychological currents flowing through the national character that allowed Hitler to promise German dominance and rebirth -- the public fantasy of renewing the Holy Roman Empire." -- McCormick (SC) Messenger"Argues that German myth and history fostered 'shared group fantasies' of Jewish treachery." -- Newsweek"A very serious inquiry into the many ideas -- some rational and intelligible, others illogical and crackpot -- that helped shape Hitler's weird ideology." -- NYMAS Newsletter"Compellingly written and blessedly free of social science jargon." -- Publishers Weekly"No amount of patient scholarly probing of Hitlerism can render this grim piece of political pathology intelligible without empathic insight into the deeper workings of mass psychology and the quasi magical force of Hitler's message of national danger, deliverance and death. Gonen brings just such insight to this task in The Roots of Nazi Psychology, which for all his modest disclaimers, will leave reader after reader with the sense of a mystery solved." -- Rudolph Binion"A well-written, even brilliant psychohistorical analysis that will prompt a great deal of discussion." -- Saul Friedman"Presents an interesting and insightful case that makes the popular support for Hitler and the National Socialists more intelligible.... This book deserves a broad audience." -- The Historian"Nobody has succeeded as well as Gonen in proving by ideological analysis as well as by psychological and historical arguments that the logic of Hitler's world view would necessarily culminate in the Holocaust with all of its terrible consequences." -- Utopian Studies