Did We Really Need The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Explain This One?

Yesterday, with my air conditioner kaput, I sought refuge from the elements in my local public library, like any self-respecting hobo would. To my amazement, the visit was actually quite pleasant. I mean, let’s be honest: Who visits the library nowadays? My reading needs are taken care of by the Internet, and whatever it can’t provide I order via Amazon. But there’s a certain magic in the experience of walking down the rows book shelves flanked by countless Asian kids doing their homework that the Internet fails to duplicate. Plus, you randomly find books like this:

Now, as a history major (ladies, recross your legs), I can attest to the fact that there was a complex, nuanced history to Nazi Germany, one that offers an amazing study in just how quickly a civilized society can come off the tracks, among many other things. Which makes a book titled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Nazi Germany comes off as that much more facile. How does this thing read?


-Chapter 1: We Don’t Like Jews


-Chapter 2: We Have Some Ideas Regarding What We’re Going to Do About That


-Chapter 3: Well, That Didn’t Go As Planned


I’m all for the Complete Idiot’s Guide books (they’re like the Cliff’s Notes to life), but there are certain topics I’d prefer they steer clear of. Would you really want to walk into your cardiologist’s office and catch The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Heart Surgery on his shelf? Something tells me that, as enlightening a read as The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Nazi Germany might be, they’re probably not going to be selling it on the shelves of the Holocaust Museum. Well, maybe they would. If it made them money. (I learned that from Chapter One!)

Tagged as: nazi.