Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic (Rhetoric & Public Affairs)

Bytwerk has written a very accessible book about the use of propaganda by the two twentieth century dictatorships in Germany - the nazis and the communists. It's well-organized with excellent endnotes and a lengthy bibliography. While I think the subject deserves two in-depth booklength studies on each individual era instead of this comparative approach, "Bending Spines" is a good introduction. At times however, the comparative structure simply breaks down, for example in the chapter comparing the role of satire journals under Hitler and in the GDR. Bytwerk's hunt for anti-semitic "humor" in East German sources to compare to the Nazi's overwhelming hatred made me cringe. Bytwerk provides a wonderful website as a supplement to this book. It is an archive of translations of both Nazi and communist propaganda and is superb.

Fascinating book written by someone who is unaware of the anti-Semetic base line of German propaganda. Well documented but with this major flaw. Also ignores the Invasion of Poland while emphasizing the misinformation policy of the reporting of th war

Extremely Insightful book on the German regime and their propaganda techniques. This subject has been of immense interest to me for a few years now. Recommended

Research paper background.