Weimar Germany: The Death of a Democracy

By Victor Sebestyen     

“Excellent. . . . This book is more than a narrative of Germany’s descent to Hitler. It is as much social history as political . . . with portraits of its rich, frenetic cultural life. . . . Reading Sebestyen’s gripping book, we encounter on page after page demagogues who employ phrases that might have come out of today’s White House.”—Max Hastings, The Times    

“A fast-paced and dramatic account of this tumultuous decade that could not be more timely. Sebestyen has brought a vast cast of characters to life and in doing so reminds us of the fragilities of civil society and democracy.”—Tim Bouverie, prize-winning author of Allies at War and Appeasement

“Brilliant and important, dark and fascinating. . . . A study of how a society that destroys truth destroys itself. A book for our times.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World

From a master historian and the critically acclaimed author of Lenin, comes a dramatic and gripping account of the political and cultural upheavals that lead to the death of democracy in Weimar era Germany—a story ripped out of today’s headlines.

In this masterful work of history, Victor Sebestyen chronicles the rise of the first German Republic from the ashes of the First World War. He captures the momentous fall of the Kaiser and the rise of a democracy that took its place in 1918. But at the very outset, a fatal deal was struck that let Hindenburg and the army off the hook for the economic fallout of the war and allowed the German people to embrace the myth that Germany had not lost.

At the same time, Weimar was a breathless period of cultural innovation in music, science, painting, literature, film, and architecture. It was the era of Bauhaus, Dada, and a remarkable openness in queer life and political thought.

But dark clouds were looming. The Weimar Republic was marked by a struggling economy, continuous political upheaval, extremism on both ends of the political spectrum, and public assassinations. Warring factions of left and right fought for control of the streets, and democracy was caught in the middle and eventually crushed.

A lucid and compelling portrait of a country slowly descending into tyranny, Weimar Germany is a magnificent, timely history of a frighteningly relevant period in the history of democracy.

Hardcover
480 Pages
Pantheon, 2026
6.36 x 1.25 x 9.55 Inches
ISBN 9780593701287
History