The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany: A Social History, 1890-1930

This book is an important contribution to a yet too obscure topic about Nazism. Hitler and most of his top cronies were artists, and it is incredible just how much aesthetic purity drove their ideology. Nazism was certainly in many ways a health and purity movement, with eugenics so tightly interwoven that "health and beauty" were indistinguishable dogmatic points to "racial purity".I write about this in my first book, "From a 'Race of Masters' to a 'Master Race': 1948 to 1848". The alternative lifestyle and back-to-nature movement also weighed heavily in the creation of eugenics and totalitarian thought. Arguably, they do so to this day.I would also suggest that anyone interested in this subject look for Robert Proctor's "Nazi War on Cancer".

The book was a bit weird, but I had to get it for a class. We spent only one week with it, so it is what it is, but I loved the class in general, so it was something worth while.