They Thought They Were Free: The Germans by Milton Mayer

The book is an account of interviews with rank-and-file Nazi party members from interviews done by a Jewish journalist (he did not disclose his ethnicity/faith). It’s an interesting ground level view into Germany’s descent into fascist rule and genocide. It contained some surprises for me as someone who’s been brought up with a view of the Nazi Party as pure, unadulterated evil. It was obviously evil in so many ways, but it also helped care for its members in a way that the establishment politicians had failed at. There were a lot of parallels with the present day that I felt were informative.

Edit: The reason why I think it’s important to have a clear view of the Nazi Party (or any political movement) is that when we view movements as only caricatures then we can miss a descent into evil. After all, look at all the good that X group is doing! They make sure everyone is fed and housed. You’re just biased, always complaining about how they keep locking up their critics and oppressing minority groups.