I'm currently making my way through The Third Reich Trilogy as an audiobook and it is hands down the best researched, most in-depth piece of history I've ever read / listened to.

Evans must have spent half his life in primary sources and uses that research to great effect. The book includes many diary and newspaper extracts from the time for example (including liberal use of Goebbels diary) and goes into detail in all sorts of areas that paint a very clear picture of everyday life in Germany at the time.

It's long (around 90 hours audio or over 2000 pages) but I have learned so much from it.

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[–] AnalogJack@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning is quite good. It explores Reserve Police Battalion 101, composed of “ordinary men” who become ruthless killers conducting the early stages of the holocaust. It’s a heavy subject so I’d advise you ensure you’re in a good headspace before reading. But the lessons it teaches in how a regime radicalizes its citizens to commit heinous crimes against innocent people are, unfortunately, quite relevant today.