The Death of Democracy

My favorite history books foreground institutions and the incentives & constraints they generate. Hett does this with aplomb. Though the title might imply an expansiveness of scope—or, in the worst case, unedifying bloviation that confuses hindsight for insight—the book offers a succinct account of the balance of power dynamics that emerged between the Weimar Republic's political blocs. It situates Hitler's rise in the decisions taken by right-wing politicians and military-industrial elites, who showed no compunction about gutting democracy and bringing the far right into government if it meant sidelining the left entirely. And it offers a case study in the dangerous seductions offered by the politics of xenophobic and revanchist fantasy—a theme that, unfortunately, grows more resonant by the day.