“Makes readers look at this well-trodden period in a new way and does it in a readable, inviting format.” Newsweek
Description
The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs.
On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers. In fact, troops regularly took rations of a form of crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to explain certain German military victories.
Drugs seeped all the way up to the Nazi high command and, especially, to Hitler himself. Over the course of the war, Hitler became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs—including a form of heroin—administered by his personal doctor, Dr. Morell.
While drugs alone cannot explain the Nazis’ toxic racial theories or the events of World War II, Ohler’s investigation makes an overwhelming case that, if drugs are not taken into account, our understanding of the Third Reich is fundamentally incomplete. Carefully researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws surprising light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows.
Praise
“Makes readers look at this well-trodden period in a new way and does it in a readable, inviting format.” Newsweek
“[A] fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich.” Washington Post
“A compelling piece of serious scholarship…that professional historians seem to have missed.” Military.com
“An intense chronicle of ‘systematic drug abuse’ in Nazi Germany…Written with dramatic flair…this book adds significantly to our understanding of the Third Reich.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Despite the Nazis’ all-out war on drug use, virtually everyone, from housewives to the Führer, was drugged up…Ohler’s account is full of rich character studies.” New York Times
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Mar 6, 2017 |
| Release Date | March 7, 2017 |
| Release Date Machine | 1488844800 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | History, Military, Nonfiction - Adult, Nonfiction - All |
Author Bio
Norman Ohler is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Blitzed, as well as the novels Die Quotenmaschine (the world’s first hypertext novel), Mitte, and Stadt des Goldes, translated into English as Ponte City. He was cowriter of the script for Wim Wenders’s film Palermo Shooting.
Narrator Bio
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.
Overview
The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs.
On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers. In fact, troops regularly took rations of a form of crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to explain certain German military victories.
Drugs seeped all the way up to the Nazi high command and, especially, to Hitler himself. Over the course of the war, Hitler became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs—including a form of heroin—administered by his personal doctor, Dr. Morell.
While drugs alone cannot explain the Nazis’ toxic racial theories or the events of World War II, Ohler’s investigation makes an overwhelming case that, if drugs are not taken into account, our understanding of the Third Reich is fundamentally incomplete. Carefully researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws surprising light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows.
Reviews
Write Your Own Review