Has anyone here read Weimar Germany – Promise and Tragedy by Eric Weitz and is it any good?

Read The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett which I mentioned in last weeks post.

>3.75/5 a good history book but very difficult to recommend.

>Chunky at 650 pages, the first half covers D'Annunzio's life pre-WWI - his works, his financial struggles (the man had a borderline mental problem with how quickly he spent money) , the numerous affairs. The second half covers his experiences in WWI, his capture and rule of Fiume, his life after he was forced out of Fiume, and his relationship with Mussolini (who saw Annuzio as an inspiration but also felt he was a potential threat he had to keep on side). The writing style is great, even the topics I'm not interested in were still entertaining to read. I very rarely skipped over stuff. The book basically covers everything anyone would want to know about Annunzio

>The reason I wouldn't recommend it is mainly due to the length. I went into the book for the political stuff, mainly around Fiume, and it took several hundred pages to get to that. But if you are interested in literary and artistic side of things then you have several hundred political and military pages to read.

Also read Weimar Germany (Short Oxford History of Germany series) edited by Anthony McElligott

>3.25/5 not bad but I wouldn't particularly recommend it.

>Basically a undergrad level textbook with each chapter by a different historian. The writing is very on the academic side and for certain topics (the urban reform and welfare chapters) quite dense. For other chapters despite having niche topics (Bauhaus and new housing, Weimar Jews) they were surprisingly readable and more interesting than I expected. Of the normal topics the politics chapter was good but focused on emergency powers and the shift towards authoritarianism in 1930-32 rather than x happened then Y happened. The foreign policy chapter was good about how the German government tried to undo the Versailles Treaty. The culture chapter was better than I expected and basically argues that the arts (theatre, cinema) of the time were a lot more conservative than the traditional image of Weimar culture suggests. I also liked the chapter on the Reichswehr about the different visions for the future of the German military and the militarisation of society. There is a economics chapter but it was complicated.

>There is a decent further reading list for each chapter but for the more niche topics (urban reform) most of the suggestions are in German.

Now reading 2 books - On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War by Holger Afflerbach and The Chief: Douglas Haig and the British Army by Gary Sheffield (his Forgotten Victory - The First World War Myths and Reality is also very good) and really enjoying both but not that far into them yet