While this book dragged in a few places and was made overly confusing by the author's decision to tell the story thematically instead of chronologically, the information provided was thorough and terrifying. As book two of a three book series, it focuses on the years between the Nazi party's rise to power and the beginning of European war. It demonstrates, with minute detail, how the Nazi party infiltrated and controlled every aspect of German life, from politics to jobs to vacations to the family car to religion and contraception, as well as how it stifled resistance with propaganda and violence, playing off existing prejudices and fears while playing to nationalistic fervor. It's a thorough examination of totalitarian rule, and it should serve as a constant reminder to everyone of how quickly freedom (and the existence of rational, reasoned debate) can be lost. A detailed, eye-opening book that covers an astonishing and horrible period of recent history.