Where ghosts walked

The capital of the Nazi movement was not Berlin but Munich. So said the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, of this handsome Bavarian town on the banks of the Isar River. Munich, the city of baroque buildings, fine art museums, and Oktoberfest, was where Hitler felt most at home. It was the birthplace of Nazism and became the chief cultural shrine of the Third Reich. Why did Nazism flourish in the "Athens of the Isar"? In exploring this question, David Clay Large has written a compelling narrative account of the cultural roots of the Nazi movement. His focus on Munich allows us to see that the conventional…