The Nazi Mind

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A WATERSTONES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2026 'I will recommend it to everyone' Alastair Campbell 'World-renowned historian Laurence Rees lays out a past that is also eerily a cautionary tale for our future if we are not careful' Anthony Scaramucci 'There are lots of moments when you can't help but have a shudder through the spine . . . a really novel, interesting book.' Lewis Goodall, The News Agents podcast
___________________________________ How could the Nazis have committed the crimes they did?
Why did they willingly - often enthusiastically - oversee mass murder?
How did ordinary Germans tolerate the removal of Jewish people? And how do we ensure it never happens again? Bestselling author Laurence Rees combines history and the latest psychological research to help answer the most perplexing questions surrounding the Holocaust and the Nazi state. Through the lens of 'twelve warnings' - from talk about 'them' and 'us' to the escalation of racism - Rees delves into the darkness to explain how and why people were capable of such horrors. Using previously unpublished testimony from former Nazis and cutting-edge psychological discoveries, THE NAZI MIND is a revelatory new way of understanding the most appalling crimes of the 20th century that highlights the warning signs we need to look out for in leaders today.
___________________________________ 'A brilliant piece of work: learned, compelling and frankly terrifying' James Holland, Daily Telegraph '[A] superb, complex study' Christopher Hart, Daily Mail 'Enthralling and chilling . . . compulsive reading' Robert McCrum, Independent

Laurence Rees is the author of The Holocaust: A New History, a Sunday Times bestseller that was described by the Daily Telegraph as 'the finest single volume on the Holocaust ever written', by the Times as an 'exemplary account of how the greatest crime in modern history came about' and by the Mail on Sunday as 'groundbreaking.' A former Head of BBC TV History programmes, he has written nine books focusing on the Nazis and the Second World War. Many of them, including The Nazis: A Warning from History, Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution', World War II: Behind Closed Doors and The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler, were also documentary TV series, which he wrote and produced. Educated at Oxford University, for several years he was a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Sheffield and the Open University. His many awards include a British Book award, a BAFTA, a George Foster Peabody award, a Broadcasting Press Guild award, a Grierson award, a Broadcast award, two International Documentary awards and two Emmys.