This collection of essays, four of which are published in English for the first time, represents the life's work of the historian Tim Mason, one of the most original and perceptive scholars of National Socialism, who pioneered its social and labour history. His provocative articles and essays, written between 1964 and 1990, exhibit a combination of empirical rigour and theoretical astuteness which made them landmarks in the definition and elaboration of major debates in the historiography of National Socialism. These ten essays collect together Mason's most significant writings, including discussions of the domestic origins of the Second World War, the role of Hitler, and the character of working-class resistance, as well as his pathbreaking study of women under National Socialism, and examples of comparative work on fascism and Nazism. A complete bibliography of his publications is also appended.
Introduction Jane Caplan; 1. Some origins of the Second World War; 2. The primacy of politics: politics and economics in National Socialist Germany; 3. The origins of the law on the organization of National Labour of 20 January 1934: an investigation of the relationship between 'archaic' and 'modern' elements in recent German history; 4. Internal crisis and war of aggression, 1938-9; 5. Women in Nazi Germany 1925-40: family, welfare and work; 6. Intention and explanation: a current controversy about the explanation of National Socialism; 7. The containment of the working class in Nazi Germany; 8. The Turin strikes of March 1943; 9. The domestic dynamics of Nazi conquests: a response to critics; 10. Whatever happened to 'fascism'?; Bibliography of publications Tim Mason; Bibliography of works cited; Index.
