This book deserves wide spread praise for being both erudite and analytical about the rise of Hitler. Bracher develops his arguments carefully and he helps create a picture of a society losing its grip and inviting Hitler to destroy it.

This book should be in print and should be read by anyone who had even a passing interest in 20th Century History.

The Ciesliks' research is comprehensive and authoritative. This book is an essential resource to anyone serious about German doll collecting.

Some much to see, feel and love in this rare compliation of some of the best art to be created in this century. I'll open it for any kind of creative inspiration i need, and it has never let me down!

This book is an extremely useful research tool book for anyone writing about or looking for more information about German foreign policy between World War I and the Cold War. The book lists all the possible sources (books, articles, dissertations, documents, treaties, memoirs/diaries, etc.) relating to German foreign policy. With this book readers can quickly look up all the materials of a certain aspect of German foreign policy. The book is definitely great for researchers of history, and it's also useful for readers that want to look up works of the same topics.

"German Giants:The Story of the R-Planes, 1914-1919" is a meticulously researched well docummented and copiously illustrated book on this little known subject.

The first person to produce a successful four engined aircraft was Igor Sikorsky of helicopter fame, whose Russian built Ilya Montez broke world records in early 1914 for size & power in heavier than air aircraft.

However it was the Germans who first appreciated the implications and potential advantages of large multi engined aircraft for both military and civil purposes.

This book documents all available information on the German programme to construct and deploy enormous ["riesen" in German, hence the "R-" designation, to distinguish it from the better known "G-" designation for "gross" or 'large']aircraft.

Included in the book are photos, line drawings, detailed descriptions and first hand accounts of flight experiences related to these aircraft.

It is an irony of history that most respected aeronautical history texts and encyclopedias are either entirely silent on the subject of R-Planes or include only very little information.

As far as I am aware this is the only book to deal with the subject in this depth.

Yet the impact of the R-Plane - and of Sikorsky's Ilya Montez - can not be under-estimated, all modern multi engined civil transport aircraft are descended from these aircraft, as are large multi engined military aircraft, both transports and bombers.

Among firsts in aeronautical history which were pioneered by R-Planes are, stressed metal skin, fully enclosed multi-passenger cabins with facilities, long duration flight, in flight mechanical maintenance ability, radio direction finding [RDF].

The plane which most impressed me in its conception and design as well as its performance is a high wing monoplane 20 passenger transport with enclosed cockpit which was completed under British supervision in 1919-1920 after the Armistice, this aircraft apparently had a cruising speed comparable with the fastest fighters of the day ...

In short I thoroughly reccommend this excellent book. It is of equal interest to the amateur and the scholarly researcher.

It would be fascinating to see flying reconstructions of some of these aircraft.

High time this fascinating book is re-printed !

The scope is immense and the subject matter interesting. The concept of nationalism intersects with German history in all kinds of ways. At the end of the 1980's it was concluded that German peoples had less national pride than other Europeans. The book seeks to find out what are the dangers of an excessive focus on economics in national life and the effects on German development of her place in the economic system. As early as 1917 the national obsession with economics was noted. In a sense, perhaps, the Germans were ahead of the other Europeans and the Americans in this respect.

Germany's political influence includes Greece, Russia, France, England, the U.S., Switzerland, Poland, Italy and Austria. Gottfried Herder's "Essay on the Origins of Language," (1772), was an important contribution to German self-consciousness. He held that cultural transmission meant learning from other people. Herder was inspired by ancient folk tales. Goethe wrote a pamphlet on Gothic architecture. Fichte continued the logic of Herder's argument. Through everything he remained obsessed by education. Wilhelm von Humboldt's vision for Prussian educational policy shaped German schools and universities for the rest of the nineteenth century. Classicism in education inspired classicism in architecture. This became known as the Berlin style. German schools were more accessible to a wider social range than other schools in Europe. Education became a vehicle of social mobility. In the 1840's nationalism started. For Fichte and Hegel Germans were a universal people. For Paul Pfizer, CORRESPONDENCE OF TWO GERMANS (1831) the Germans were a "cosmopolitan nation." In 1848 the claim to be nationally superior rested mainly on assertion. The first promoter of German economic nationalism was Friedrich List. The railway was an instrument of national integration. Cologne's railway station was built next to the cathedral. In the mythology of German unification, a tariff union, Zollverein, was a critical factor. Realpolitik caught on as a slogan for midcentury Germany.

Economics had become a central part of the vision of political liberalism. Economics could be used to stabilize a politically volatile state. Relative freedom and independence in academic activity produced German scientific supremacy long before it had supremacy in economics. The German Empire began in 1871 at Versailles. Constitutionally it was a federation. The permanence of Prussian dominance was guaranteed. The Germanness of schools, citizenship, and nationality was highly aggressive. Until the 1920's Wagner's circle had little political impact. According to Nietzsche the modern German bourgeoisie had no capacity for an independent culture. Nietzsche felt that the Germans should be less self-conscious and look back to the Greeks. Nietzsche received little attention during his mentally-active lifetime. Walter Rathenau contended that German materialism was exemplified by the beer hall and the garden gnome.

Unfortunately the illusions and hopes of 1914 shaped German history after 1918. Nationalists and supporters of the Republic clashed. The military defeat came suddenly and it was necessary to become democratic quickly to sue for peace. The stab in the back theory was developed to explain Germany's failures. The economic realities of the postwar years frustrated optimistic aspirations. Weimar rejected the old, but found it difficult to create a new political style. By the time of economic collapse the government could not rule through parliament but had to use special decrees. Reparations ended in July 1932 and Weimar ceased six months later. There was a shifting character to Nazi support based on Hitler's chameleon strategy. Nazi nationalism had a manipulative function. Hitler's foreign policy rested on pre-war theories of Mitteleuropa. The Nazi view of culture contained traditional elements. Nazism offered a concrete realization of dreams. The killing actions did not form part of a publicly proclaimed doctrine of nationality. The leadership shrouded the holocaust in circumlocution. The identification of conspiracy and crime with the nation produced a legacy that has outlasted 1945. After May 1945 Germany no longer existed as a political entity. After 1949 two states called themselves Germany and the Cold War was played out there. In the early fifties in the Federal Republic there were economic and foreign policy successes. Poltical stability was achieved by, among other things, having virtually a two-party system. The re-union of Germany in 1989 and 1990 took place in several stages and constitutes an achievement of some magnitude. Economics continues to dominate the political scene. Germany's federal tradition is venerable and antique.

Gordon Williamson is one of the world's leading amateur historians of the German military during the Third Reich.
These cuff bands as articles of uniform, as well as "medals" are highly collectable today. Rarer cuff bands are sold for up to $3,000 apiece.
The German armed forces in the past used and still use, uniform cuff bands to denote not only unit formations but also campaign awards. This book traces the use of the cuff band by the German military starting in the 18th century and right on up to the present day. Topics include the famous "Gibralter" band, actually a British battle honor awarded to Hanovarian troops (Hanover being at the time part of the British Empire), Luftwaffe cuff bands denoting squadrens named for famous World War One Aces (Richtofen, Boelke etc.), SS Division bands ("Viking", "Das Reich"), campaign awards ("Afrika" for Rommels' Africa Corps) and the present use by the Bundeswehr and up until 1990, the NVA.
He has written the best book on this subject.
Lavishly illustrated with both black and white and colour photographs, this book helps one not only understand what the ribbon looked like, but also how it was constructed.
There is even a helpful section on spotting fakes (many produced in the U.K. and Pakistan), which are plentiful today in the collecting world.
This book is well written, well organized and contains hundreds of detailed pictures of actual items as well as historical photos. Pieces used are all original and one can rely upon the veracity of this book. The research that went into this book was worthy of a Doctoral thesis at the average university. The bibliography is breath-taking.
It seems Williamson once again left no stone unturned in his very,very detailed treatment of this subject.
If you are interested in German military history and uniforms, this is the book to buy.

If you want to know what type of motorcycles the German military used and what the motorcycles and riders looked like, this is the book for you. Almost all the photos include a rider, many of which are action shots. The book also includes pictures of requisitioned machines, captured motorcycles, and some Allied motorcycles. Hinrichsen also discusses the overcoats made for the rider and passenger and the heating systems on the BMWs and Zündapps. I really enjoyed this book and the pictures are great. But if you are looking for technical detail, this is not the book, as it's mostly pictures and captions.

A informative and fascinating piece of work about an elite unit of the German Military. Very informative and highly recommended. A book that you will have a hard time putting down.