Behemoth : the structure and practice of national socialism, 1933-1944 : [the classic analysis of the Nazi state

Franz Neumann's classic account of the governmental workings of Nazi Germany, first published in 1942, is reprinted in a new paperback edition with an introduction by the distinguished historian Peter Hayes. Neumann was one of the only early Frankfurt School thinkers to examine seriously the problem of political institutions. After the rise of the Nazis to power, his emphasis shifted to an analysis of economic power, and then after the war to political psychology. But his contributions in Behemoth were groundbreaking: that the Nazi organization of society involved the collapse of traditional ideas of the state, of ideology, of law, and even of any underlying rationality. The book must be studied, not simply read, Raul Hilberg wrote. The most experienced researchers will tell us that the scarcest commodity in academic life is an original idea. If someone has two or three, he is rich. Franz Neumann was a rich man. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Neumann was one of the only early Frankfurt School thinkers to examine seriously the problem of political institutions. After the rise of the Nazis to power, his emphasis shifted to an analysis of economic power, and then after the war to political psychology. His insights into the structure of the Nazi state have to some extent been eclipsed by their own success: subsequent research on the Nazi period has tended to absorb the lessons of Neumann's study while often losing sight of their subtlety and originality. He suggested that the Nazi organization of society involved the collapse of traditional ideas of the state, of ideology, of law, and even of any underlying nationality. Behemoth is so important that it must be "studied, not simply read," Raul Hilbert wrote." "Peter Hayes's Introduction offers biographical background on Neumann and sets his book in the context of studies of Nazism, pointing out its shortcomings as well as its accomplishments." --Book Jacket