The Nazi Mind : Twelve Warnings From History

Author: Rees, Laurence

European history

Published on 29 January 2026 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 448 pages
197 x 129 x 32 | 348g

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'I will recommend it to everyone' Alastair Campbell'World-renowned historian Laurence Rees lays out a past that is also eerily a cautionary tale for our future if we are not careful' Anthony Scaramucci'There are lots of moments when you can’t help but have a shudder through the spine . . . a really novel, interesting book.' Lewis Goodall, The News Agents podcastHow could the Nazis have committed the crimes they did?Why did they willingly – often enthusiastically – oversee mass murder?How did ordinary Germans tolerate the removal of Jewish people?And how do we ensure it never happens again?Bestselling author Laurence Rees combines history and the latest psychological research to help answer the most perplexing questions surrounding the Holocaust and the Nazi state. Through the lens of ‘twelve warnings’ – from talk about ‘them’ and ‘us’ to the escalation of racism – Rees delves into the darkness to explain how and why people were capable of such horrors.

Using previously unpublished testimony from former Nazis and cutting-edge psychological discoveries, THE NAZI MIND is a revelatory new way of understanding the most appalling crimes of the 20th century that highlights the warning signs we need to look out for in leaders today.

'A brilliant piece of work: learned, compelling and frankly terrifying' James Holland, Daily Telegraph'[A] superb, complex study' Christopher Hart, Daily Mail‘Enthralling and chilling . . . compulsive reading' Robert McCrum, Independent