A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed by the Rise of Fascism

Today's nonfiction post is on A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed by the Rise of Fascism by Julia Boyd and Angelika Patel. It is 480 pages long and is published by Pegasus Books. The cover is a painting of a beautiful village with mountains in the background. The intended reader is someone who is interested in World War II history. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Hidden deep in the Bavarian mountains lies the picturesque village of Oberstdorf—a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere. Yet even this remote idyll could not escape the brutal iron grip of the Nazi regime.
From the author of the international bestseller Travelers in the Third Reich comes A Village in the Third Reich, shining a light on the lives of ordinary people. Drawing on personal archives, letters, interviews and memoirs, it lays bare their brutality and love; courage and weakness; action, apathy and grief; hope, pain, joy, and despair.
Within its pages we encounter people from all walks of life – foresters, priests, farmers and nuns; innkeepers, Nazi officials, veterans and party members; village councillors, mountaineers, socialists, slave labourers, schoolchildren, tourists and aristocrats. We meet the Jews who survived – and those who didn’t; the Nazi mayor who tried to shield those persecuted by the regime; and a blind boy whose life was judged "not worth living."
This is a tale of conflicting loyalties and desires, of shattered dreams—but one in which, ultimately, human resilience triumphs. These are the stories of ordinary lives at the crossroads of history.

Review- A interesting account from a small village in Bavaria starting just after the end of World War I to the after the end of World War II. Boyd gets access to village records, personal letters and journals of the villagers during this time. She gives an intimate examination of a singular village during a particular time and political atmosphere. Boyd does a good job with the material, not justifying anyone's behavior. The writing is good, handling all the characters and places with skill and help the reader remember who is who and where they are. A different look at the war and the people who lived through it. I would recommend this book. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.