Peter Reichel is a professor at the Political Science Institute, in Hamburg.

Peter Reichel reveals here the great skill with which the Nazis succeeded in creating a world of illusions that enabled them to lead the Germans to disaster. He analyses Nazi aesthetics, its cultural roots, and the decorum and mythology on which Nazi power was built, and how it manipulated radio, cinema and leisure to seduce and assemble the German nation behind its banner.
All authoritarian regimes seek to subdue and use art, culture and the media. They all aim to construct a mythology. But none of them has gone as far as the Nazis — doubtless, argues the author, because they were the first to understand the role of mass culture in the 20th century.

• This book is based on numerous period documents, many of which are reproduced here: posters, extracts from radio broadcasts, etc.
• Numerous issues are raised here from a sociological angle concerning the use of mass culture today.
• An indispensable historical reference work which had been out of print in French since 2005.