How American race law provided a blueprint for Nazi GermanyNazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. In Hitler's American Model; James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws; the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime. Contrary to those who have insisted that there was no meaningful connection between American and German racial repression; Whitman demonstrates that the Nazis took a real; sustained; significant; and revealing interest in American race policies.As Whitman shows; the Nuremberg Laws were crafted in an atmosphere of considerable attention to the precedents American race laws had to offer. German praise for American practices; already found in Hitler's Mein Kampf; was continuous throughout the early 1930s; and the most radical Nazi lawyers were eager advocates of the use of American models. But while Jim Crow segregation was one aspect of American law that appealed to Nazi radicals; it was not the most consequential one. Rather; both American citizenship and antimiscegenation laws proved directly relevant to the two principal Nuremberg Laws―the Citizenship Law and the Blood Law. Whitman looks at the ultimate; ugly irony that when Nazis rejected American practices; it was sometimes not because they found them too enlightened; but too harsh.Indelibly linking American race laws to the shaping of Nazi policies in Germany; Hitler's American Model upends understandings of America's influence on racist practices in the wider world.
#133017 in Books Princeton University Press 2015-06-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.10 x 1.60 x 6.10l; .0 #File Name: 0691165858680 pagesPrinceton University Press
Review
49 of 49 people found the following review helpful. NOT A BOOK TO BUY ON KINDLEBy Alistair BluntThis is a very interesting book; but not one to buy on Kindle. The Kindle copy is of very poor quality compared to a hard copy; for the book contains many illustrations and some maps; but in the Kindle copy many of the illustrations are black and it says 'To view this see the hard copy' which sounds like a rip off; and something that is somewhat dishonest. How can one see the hard copy unless you buy or borrow a copy? What is the point of buying a book where parts are missing? Furthermore; the book refers to plate so and so; but how do you find the platefrom the text; and going to the menu and trying to find the location of the plates; there is nothing. So while I would recommend this book as an excellent overview with some detail of the caldron of Central Asia at the time when the Buddhists; Zoroastrians; Christians; Jews and Muslims met; and where the age of Enlightenment preceeded the european equivalent by a thousand years; the is NOT A BOOK TO BUY ON KINDLE.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful introduction to a lost eraBy readerWonderful introduction to a lost era. Helpful illustrations. Clear writing and format. Helps one fit the area and era into more familiar contexts.Could use more maps.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Three StarsBy Clarence DarrowSlow to develop and could be far more dynamic in presentation; but still informative.
