The Nazi Menace: Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War

The march to the second World War had been gaining momentum as the 1930s began. The rise of totalitarian regimes in Italy, Japan, and Italy caused unease worldwide. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. He wastes little time in unveiling his plans for Germany, including the expansion of living space for Germans(Lebensraum) to combat their economic woes. By 1937, Hitler had ruthlessly consolidated his power. The embarrassment of losses suffered during World War I needed to be avenged. In Great Britain, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sees careful diplomacy as a bastion against further calamity. Winston Churchill views the German aggression as alarming and needs to be stopped yet he has been marginalized. In the United States, President Franklin Roosevelt is serving his 2nd term, humbled by a relapse of economic problems. He is hampered in getting too involved in the building conflict as Isolationism is strong in America post World War I. A course has been set for which there is no turning back, the dogs of war are reaching their howling point.

The Nazi Menace approaches the inevitable war with a simmering intensity. The outcome is long known, but the circumstances leading up to it are nonetheless hypnotic. Author Benjamin Carter Hett re-energizes long-gone figures and the action reads akin to a modern drama, fascinating on countless levels. A luminescent read.