Review
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“A compelling historical narrative … both flatters and challenges our hind. [Boyd] lets her voices, skilfully
orchestrated, speak for themselves, which they do with great eloquence” – The Daily Telegraph
“Fascinating … surreal scenes pepper Boyd’s deep trawl of travellers’ tales from the scores of visitors who were drawn
to the ‘new Germany’ in the 1930s” – The Spectator
“Contains many amazing anecdotes … It warns us that we, with our all-seeing hind, might ourselves have been fooled
or beguiled or inclined to make excuses, had we been there at the time. I can thoroughly recommend it as a contribution
to knowledge and an absorbing and stimulating book in itself” – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
“'Meticulously researched … Julia Boyd's research has been exhaustive. She has visited archives all over the world and
assembled a vast and entertaining cast of travellers … makes for thought-provoking reading” – Caroline Moorehead,
Literary Review
“A fascinating book” -- Robert Elms, BBC Radio London
"To a younger generation it seems incomprehensible that after the tragic Great War people and political leaders allowed
themselves to march into the abyss again. Julia Boyd’s book, drawing on wide experience and forensic research, seeks to
answer some of these questions." -- Randolph Churchill
“With an almost novelistic touch, [Boyd] presents a range of stories of human interest … The uncomfortable moral of
Travellers in the Third Reich is that people see and hear only what they already want to see and hear” -- David
Pryce-Jones, Standpoint
“Fascinating … This absorbing and beautifully organised book is full of small encounters that jolt the reader into a
historical past that seems still very near” – Lucy Lethbridge, The
“In the 1930s the most cultured and technologically advanced country in Europe tumbled into the abyss. In this deeply
researched book Julia Boyd lets us view Germany's astonishing fall through foreign eyes. Her vivid tapestry of human
stories is a delightful, often moving read. It also offers sobering lessons for our own day when strong leaders are
again all the rage” -- Professor David Reynolds, author of The Long Shadow: The Great War and the 20th Century
"Drawing on the unpublished experiences of outsiders inside the Third Reich, Julia Boyd provides dazzling new
perspectives on the Germany that Hitler built. Her book is a tour de force of historical research” – Dr Piers Brendon,
author of The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s
“What was Nazi Germany really like in the run up to the Second World War? Julia Boyd’s painstakingly researched and
deeply nuanced book shows how this troubled country appeared to travellers of the 1930s who did not have the benefit of
hind. A truly fascinating read” -- Keith Lowe, Sunday Times bestselling author of Savage Continent and Inferno
"Engrossing … skilfully woven together to create a three-dimensional picture of Germany under Hitler that has many
resonances for today" -- Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller
“A revealing and original account. Some of Adolf Hitler's fellow travellers, lulled by self-deception, gulled by
propaganda, deluded themselves about Nazi Germany as they deceived others” – Sir John Tusa
“Julia Boyd has conducted a vast range and volume of research. The numerous witnesses of Germany under Hitler whom she
quotes have different ages, nationalities, backgrounds and opinions. Out of the multitude of first-hand accounts she
spins a tapestry which is full of vivid detail and gradually creates a coherent whole. The horrors of the Hitler regime
and how it came to power, and the suffering of ordinary people, are brought to life. The book is comprehensive,
informative and full of life. I wish I could have read it before I first worked in post-war Germany. I would have
understood better the Germans whom I knew and admired even more what West Germans achieved after 1945. A glorious read
for anyone with an interest in the history of the twentieth century” – Sir Christopher Mallaby, former ambassador to
Germany and France
“Unique, original and engagingly written. This account of visitors and tourists to Germany brings to life these
difficult decades in a most refreshing way [and] should attract a wide circle of readers” – Dr Zare Steiner, author of
The Lights that Failed: European International History 1919-1933 and Triumph of the Dark: 1933-1939
“An entertaining popular history … a fascinating book. Boyd lets the voices from the past speak to us … opinions that
are sometimes shocking and often thought provoking. Traveller attitudes give an in into the feelings before the
war, often at odds with or in more depth than many standard histories … very readable” – Paul Burke, nudge-book.com
About the Author
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Julia Boyd is the author of A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony, The
Excellent Doctor Blackwell: The Life of the First Woman Physician and Hannah Riddell: An Englishwoman in Japan. An
experienced researcher, she has scoured archives all over the world to find original material for her books. As the wife
of a former diplomat, she lived in Germany from 1977 to 1981. A former trustee of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust,
she now lives in London.