Blitzed : Drugs in Nazi Germany

Resumen del libro

'The most brilliant and fascinating book I have read in my entire life' Dan Snow 'A huge contribution...remarkable' Antony Beevor, BBC RADIO 4 'Extremely interesting ...a serious piece of scholarship, very well researched' Ian Kershaw The sensational German bestseller on the overwhelming role of drug-taking in the Third Reich, from Hitler to housewives. The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping bestseller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940. The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants administered by the physician Dr Morell as the war turned against Germany. While drugs cannot on their own explain the events of the Second World War or its outcome, Ohler shows, they change our understanding of it. Blitzed forms a crucial missing piece of the story.

Biografía del autor

Norman Ohler se licenció en periodismo en la Universidad de Hamburgo y cursó estudios en ciencias culturales y filosofía. Ha sido corresponsal en Ramallah, Palestina. Es un galardonado novelista y también ha escrito guiones cinematográficos. Ha recibido numerosos premios y becas. En Crítica hemos publicado El gran delirio. Hitler, drogas y el III Reich (2016), que fue su primera obra de no ficción y se tradujo a más de 25 lenguas, y Los infiltrados. La historia de los amantes que guiaron a la resistencia alemana (2021) con gran éxito de crítica y traducido a varios idiomas.