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Distributed for Reaktion Books

The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It

Examining everything from popular novels to politics, an investigation of persistent fascination with Nazis—and where it might take us.
 
We live in an age where Hitler and the Nazis dominate our cultural imagination, shaping values once defined by religion. Historian Alec Ryrie explores why society remains captivated by this struggle, from history and fiction to modern myths such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. He examines the costs of our Nazi obsession and questions what will come as our anti-Nazi moral consensus frays and both the Left and Right begin to move on. With a fresh take on modern history and pop culture, The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It offers a thought-provoking look at the culture wars and our shifting political crises, challenging assumptions on both sides and asking what a new moral vision might look like.

160 pages | 5.43 x 8.5 | © 2025


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Reviews

“We live amid alarming fractures in the public understanding of our identities, our collective needs, and our perils. Ryrie’s little book of contemporary history manages to be both exhilarating and comforting, based on his rare skill in bringing a historian’s cool gaze on our anxious world to assess its ills, and with due modesty to offer some remedial ways forward.”

Diarmaid MacCulloch, emeritus professor of the history of the church, University of Oxford

Table of Contents

Introduction


Part 1: How We Got Here
1 The Greatest Story Ever Told
2 The Age of Hitler

Part 2: Where We Are Now
3 Villains and Heroes
4 Fighting the Last War

Part 3: Where We Go Next
5 To a Progressive Secularist
6 To a Conservative Traditionalist

Conclusion: How to Win a Culture War
Acknowledgements
Index

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