In 1939, Hitler mobilized Germany for a war using all means available. Weaving a broad narrative of military operations with personal testimonies from all kinds of people – from generals to ordinary soldiers on the front lines, and from activists of the Hitler Youth to middle-class housewives – the book reveals the dynamics of a society immersed in war at every level.

The major conflicts and turning points of the confrontation come to life before our eyes, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad, and from the conspiratorial attempt of July 20, 1944, against Hitler to his suicide in the bunker. Equally vivid is the everyday experience of ordinary Germans under the mass bombing of German cities.

At the center lies the extermination of the Jews, as well as other minorities in Europe, by the Nazis as part of Hitler's plans for the racial reconstruction of the continent. By documenting the rise and fall of the German war machine and the mobilization of an entire "ethno-national community" at the altar of military conquest, racial segregation, and genocide, Richard Evans depicts a society heading towards self-destruction, taking a large part of Europe with it.

And thus he completes the masterful yet grim account of one of the greatest tragedies in human history.