I have not read any other books by Benjamin Carter Hett but after reading this one I will put the rest of his books on my wishlist. The book covers the actions and thought processes of the key individuals as the world moved towards the Second World War. The key people were Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, FDR and Stalin. A major focus of the book is looking at the two factions; the appeasers and the group that was certain that Hitler could not be contained and must be destroyed.
The key for this book is that it reveals the thinking of the main participants involved in the process and the consequences of the decisions and actions by those individuals. This is gleaned from letters, diaries and manuscripts. It is clear to see that a lot of research went in to writing this book. Another book that I would say is a companion book to this one is The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler Came to Power by Peter Ross Range. They are covering the same time frame but not the same material.
I was aware of the big announcement that Chamberlain made stating “Peace in our time”, but I was not aware of Hitler’s thinking and the reasons why he did not want an agreement or how both Churchill and FDR felt about the agreement. It was not long before it became clear to everyone what FDR and Churchill had foreseen. Hitler could not be appeased, he wanted to go to war and nothing was going to stop him.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in World War II or the politics in Britain at the time. It is very informative and very timely.

This reviewer is thankful for receiving a copy of this volume through NetGalley. Known for his earlier work on subjects as the Reichstag Fire and the failure of the Weimar Republic, The Nazi Menace by Benjamin Carter Hett is an overview of the events that led to the outbreak of World War II. It is a story of the crisis Europe faced between the durability of democratic institutions versus the threat of rising totalitarian institutions.. The book’s focus is on the dominant characters of Hitler, Chamberlain, Churchill and Roosevelt. This work justly adds to the collected literature due to its lively style, recent research, and new emphases..
Although not the definitive word on 1930s Europe, readers will find Hett’s volume as rewarding and instructive toward the inherent conflict between political freedom and autocratic regimes.

This book shows the method, madness and disfunction of how the Nazis came to power, the resistance and other powers involved,