The Psychology of Dictatorship
A study by G. M. Gilbert, the American psychologist who had close access to the major Nazi defendants at the Nuremberg trials. Published in 1950, it uses his interviews and observations to analyze the personalities of Hermann Goering and other leaders, and to ask how such a regime took hold. It is a companion of sorts to Gilbert's better-known Nuremberg Diary. The tone is clinical and analytical rather than sensational. For a club interested in history or psychology it offers a firsthand attempt to understand the minds behind the Third Reich.