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St. Martins Press-3PL Three New Deals by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
From a world-renowned cultural historian an original look at the hidden commonalities among Fascism Nazism and the New Deal Today Franklin Delano Roosevelts New Deal is regarded as the democratic ideal the positive American response to an economic crisis that propelled Germany and Italy toward Fascism. Yet in the 1930s shocking as it may seem these regimes were hardly considered antithetical. Now Wolfgang Schivelbusch investigates the shared elements of these three new deals to offer a striking explanation for the popularity of Europes totalitarian systems. Returning to the Depression Schivelbusch traces the emergence of a new type of state: bolstered by mass propaganda led by a charismatic figure and projecting stability and power. He uncovers stunning similarities among the three regimes: the symbolic importance of gigantic public works programs like the TVA dams and the German autobahn which not only put people back to work but embodied the states authority; the seductive persuasiveness of Roosevelts fireside chats and Mussolinis radio talks; the vogue for monumental architecture stamped on Washington as on Berlin; and the omnipresent banners enlisting citizens as loyal followers of the state. Far from equating Roosevelt Hitler and Mussolini or minimizing their acute differences Schivelbusch proposes that the populist and paternalist qualities common to their states hold the key to the puzzling allegiance once granted to Europes most tyrannical regimes.show more