Christian Adam examines how books came into being under the Nazis, how they became bestsellers—sometimes against the will of the rulers—and which books were actually read. He writes the history of the bestsellers in the darkest epoch of the German past, thus opening a new perspective on the mentality of the Germans between 1933 and 1945.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: ‘Please, God, Keep Me from Writing a Book about Books!’ Part I Chapter 1. Sifting, Destroying, Controlling and Promoting: The Politics of Literature under the Swastika Chapter 2. Bestsellers in a Dark Time: Their History and Readers Chapter 3. Hitler’s and Goebbels’ Bedtime Reading: What Prominent Nazis Liked to Read Part II: The Ten Most Successful Book Types in the Third Reich Chapter 4. On the Foundation of Facts: Popular Non-Fiction Works Chapter 5. The Colour of Money: NS Propaganda Texts Chapter 6. Not So Quiet on the Western Front: The Boom of War Books Chapter 7. Laughing through Life, Jolly Volk: Humour and Comedy Chapter 8. From Medical Romance Novels to Science Fiction: The Themes and Authors of Modern Light Literature Chapter 9. Commodifying Authentic People’s Literature: Karl May, Courths ­Mahler and the Heroes of Pulp Fiction Chapter 10. Foreign Narrative Art: Bestsellers from Abroad Chapter 11. In the Shadow of the Classics: Highbrow Literature Chapter 12. Blood without Soil: The Successes of National (Social)ist Authors Chapter 13. Field Grey Pays Dividends: Reading Fodder for Wartime Conclusion: On the Trail of Bestsellers Appendix: Selected Bestsellers and their Sales Figures Bibliography Index