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The 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin marked a high point in the reign of the Nazis. The world’s best athletes congregated to showcase their talents against the elite German athletes. The early positive results had Hitler further convinced of Aryan supremacy. The idea of expanding the Third Reich into other areas of Europe began to take shape in his mind. By 1938, Hitler had seized Austria and annexed the Sudetenland in the name of gaining living space (lebensraum) for the German people. Hitler forged an alliance with the Soviet Union and then set his sights on capturing Poland in September 1939. The rest of Europe mobilized for another war as Great Britain and France were the primary opponents of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The possibility of stopping Hitler’s war machine seemed nearly impossible.
A series of news articles from around the world chart the path of the Nazis’ march to near global hegemony in this gripping alternative history novella. A world on the brink of another destructive war is seen with each bold headline and illustration. The author does a noteworthy job of weaving the factual with the fictional in generating a dystopian world. While Hitler is the main character in his quest for dominance in Europe, the subjects of war and diplomacy are nearly constant in their presence. The impact of the plot lies in its ability to illustrate how war can quickly ramp up and gain momentum for one side and when diplomacy may be the only way to stave off catastrophe. This is a riveting book about a nightmarish scenario that could have been real.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review