Reddit mentions of The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (Volume 3)

This book is a really helpful primer on the Weimar Republic, the collapse of modern democracy in an industrialized, western nation and the rise of fascist regimes based on racial hegemony.

Its a collection of primary source material, so its not for people looking for a narrative about the Weimar Republic. Instead, you'll find excerpts and full articles about proto-fascist movements, near Communist revolts, the formation of the Republic- as well as tons of non-political articles about modern technology, 'Americanization,' fashion, assassinations, art, economics, and more, all from the time period itself.

Anyone who reads it might find a lot of similarities to our current political rhetoric, but I think readers will mostly find that there are way more fundamental differences.

The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. If you're hardcore.

I'd be very wary of only mentioning the simultaneous rise of Communism and Nazism though. That is in essence Ernst Nolte's thesis ("The European Civil War: 1917-1945", sorry, I don't know what the book's English or German title is), and it's an apologetic and conversative interpretation, as Habermas claims. Just as relevant, if not more so, is the Great Depression which significantly bolstered the ranks of both sides. In fact, as Siegfried Kracauer explains in Murder Trials and Society (1931) (included in The Weimar Republic Sourcebook), it wasn't only political violence that increased, but violence and crime in general. "Life has recently become cheap", he says. In this sense, the need for stability is just as important a factor (Erich Fromm's thesis in Escape from Freedom).

This comment is in no way intended to undermine your excellent political summary, it's just meant to add another layer so as to avoid the Communism/Fascism European civil war argument.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0520067754

Was a book my college professor used for a class on the republic.