The Origins of Nazi Violence

Recommended by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, and 1 others. See all reviews

Ranked #86 in Fascism

In the half-century since the appearance of Hannah Arendt’s seminal work The Origins of Totalitarianism, innumerable historians have detailed the history of the Nazi years. Now, in a brilliant synthesis of this work, Enzo Traverso situates the extermination camps as the final, terrible moment in European modernity’s industrialization of killing and dehumanization of death. Traverso upends the conventional presentation of the Holocaust as an inexplicable anomaly, navigating an excess of antecedents both technical and cultural. Deftly tracing a complex lineage—the guillotine and machine... more

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Origins of Nazi Violence from the world's leading experts.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat All of Traverso’s work is fabulous, but given how concerned we should be now about how authoritarian movements come to power, this is an invaluable introduction. It’s the right book for right now. (Source)


Similar Books

If you like The Origins of Nazi Violence, check out these similar top-rated books:


Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?