"We talk a lot about the Weimar Republic, but not so much about the town that gave the Republic its name. Weimar demonstrates through moving, often heart-breaking, personal stories how much the town's experience embodied the turbulence of German history in the era of the world wars, Nazism, and the Holocaust. Katja Hoyer is a humane and compassionate writer, and her gripping book is poignant reading in our present circumstances."--Benjamin Carter Hett, author of The Death of Democracy

"Britain's favourite German historian... Hoyer has been beavering away in the archives to tell the story of the crack-up of democracy in interwar Germany, through a vivid cast of characters."--Sunday Times

"A bright, young historian... Strap in to watch the slow collapse of a society, amid a throng of fascists, socialists, artists and politicians."--Telegraph

"The city of Weimar -- home to many of the giants of European culture -- gave its name to Germany's ill-fated republic; it was also where the Nazis gained an early foothold. Historian Hoyer charts that journey of cultural experimentation and political upheaval through the stories of those who witnessed it and whose choices and fates reveal the human experience of a descent into tyranny."--Financial Times

"A fresh and gripping account of the interwar years seen through the lens of Germany's most legendary town. By skilfully weaving into the political narrative the stories of ordinary people, Katja Hoyer gives readers a vivid sense of what it was like to be alive then and there. Brilliantly researched, this is history at its very best."--Julia Boyd, author of Travelers in the Third Reich

"A sprawling chronicle of interwar Germany."--The Millions

"A fascinating microcosm of Germany's gradual descent into the abyss."--Publishers Weekly

"A charged, eminently accessible history that speaks to a troubled present as well as to the past."--Kirkus

"Its writing is gripping, Hoyer's command of existent histories is clear, and her primary research is thorough and inventive."--History Today

"Lucid, lively. ... Entirely to her credit, Hoyer describes the vices, vanities, fears, cowardice, heroism, naivety, cynicism, opportunism and the very human instinct to protect one's loved ones without indulging in self-righteous moralising."

"Hoyer's book confronts us with troubling ambiguities ... Understanding why ordinary, even likeable, people turned away from democracy is, she argues, essential to safeguarding freedom ... that task could scarcely be more urgent."

"In this eye-opening book, historian Hoyer (Beyond the Wall) vividly depicts everyday life in Weimar Germany from 1919 to 1939 ... For all readers seeking a deeper understanding of how the Nazis came into power in Germany."--Library Journal

"Hoyer's telling of the the story of Weimar, its people, and Germany's impending tragedy is both compelling and readable. Her reliance on primary sources, and her decision to tell the tale through the prism of both the obscure and the infamous serve to render the city of Weimar as a tangible time and place. The story of Weimar, as a warning to the whole world about the potential for authoritarian states to rise out of liberal ones, is well worth reading."

"Weimar is populated not by abstractions but by people. ... Hoyer writes with verve and a keen eye for the telling detail. ... She shows with quiet acuity how ordinary, self-respecting Weimarers succumbed to the siren call of Nazism."--The Times (UK)

"Such an important book."--The Independent, Book of the Month

"Humane history-writing at its best."--Literary Review