It’s time to have a little change up. So far, I’ve been reviewing some basic concepts that are helpful to be aware of when reading or learning about history. The next topic I wanted to touch on is about thinking critically. Instead of creating a standalone post for this, I’m going to do an introduction here, then hop into a discussion about one of the books I have read, and two that I am reading.
It’s not that critical thinking isn’t important. It’s that it’s going to come up a lot from here on out, and quite frankly, I’m ready to talk history.
Everyone’s a Critic
So, what is critical thinking? What critical thinking is to be done here? The facts are the facts.
Not so fast, high speed. Remember my last post when I mentioned historiography? One aspect of historiography is looking at how we study, and how our interpretation of history has changed over time. For example, when I was a kid, Neanderthals where a dumb ancient relative who died millennia ago. If someone did something brutish or crudely, you might say, “What are you? A Neanderthal?” And you knew it was an insult.
We’ve since learned that Neanderthals made and used tools, made clothing, and buried their dead, sometimes leaving markers on the graves.
Our understanding of Neanderthals changed because the information available to use changed. We found more evidence that allowed us to further develop our understanding of Neanderthals and the lives they lived.
What Does It Mean?
Now, let’s take a minute to pull up a good, old-fashioned definition or two.
First, the big one for this post: what does critical thinking mean?
Merriam-Webster Dictionary seems like a reasonable source. They define critical thinking as “the act or practice of thinking critically (as by applying reason and questioning assumptions) in order to solve problems, evaluate information, discern biases, etc.”. We are also going to take a quick look at the definition of “critically”. After all, using the word in the definition doesn’t really help clarify things, does it?
Using Merriam-Webster again, we can look up critical using the linked definition, and we see that third entry in the first option (1c) makes the most sense in the context of critical thinking: exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation.
We’ll use the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for our next definition too. To me, analysis goes hand in hand with critical thinking. We could go with either analyze or analysis, really. I am going to define analysis.
Analysis has multiple definitions, but I think the first one gets the point across: “a detailed examination of anything complex in order to understand its nature or to determine its essential features: a thorough study”.
Now that we have established definitions for critical thinking and analysis, it’s easy to see the overlap. In one we think carefully about a subject; in the other we examine something closely to better understand it.
Finally Getting to the Point
How does this tie-in to what I am reading?
Also, what am I reading? A few things, actually, but only three are relevant.
A Note
When I created the draft for this post, 7 October 2023 had not yet occurred. The aftermath of that day is going to go on for a very long time. Countless innocent people have suffered, and that suffering will likely last for years, if not decades.
We must always work to prevent anymore of this type of suffering in the future. In order to do that, we need to work to understand what made it possible.
The First Book
One of the big reasons why I wanted to start this blog was so I could discuss what I read in The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans. It is the first in a series of three books (yes, a trilogy). I have owned the book for years, and I found the middle of the pandemic a great time to read it. This book helped me realize that there is a lot I don’t know about the lead up to both World Wars. It is jam packed with information, and can be a bit dense at times. It also made me wish that this information could be presented a little less formally.
This means I intend to discuss the lead up to the Holocaust and World War II at a particularly sensitive time.
A Further Note
There is no excuse for the Nazis or the Holocaust. The Holocaust should not have happened. Killing innocent people because of their religion, ethnicity, nation, creed, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, level of education, or any other reason is never an acceptable course of action. But the Holocaust did happen, and I want to understand more about why. What was the lead up to this terrible event? Why was there so much hate and aggression?
Before anyone starts “just asking questions”, the fact that the Holocaust occurred (and it did occur) does not negate the fact that there have been, and there continue to be, genocides. Discussing the Holocaust does not lessen the importance of any other genocide that has occurred or is occurring. We will not be participating in any whataboutism here.
Back to the First Book
As I noted above, The Coming of the Third Reich covers a variety of topics and provides a more general history of a time period, rather than focusing on a specific person or event. I seem to remember this type of book being called a survey, but I can’t seem to find much to back that up. I think the better and more accurate term is “academic history”.
Umm, isn’t all history academic history? Sort of. (Do you see what I did there?)
An Educational Tangent
Popular history can be considered the less rigid, cool sibling who wants to tell stories about interesting things that happened in the past. Popular history tends to be a little more approachable because it is intended for a wider audience.
Academic history is the responsible older sibling. It tends to be more formal and intended for a smaller audience that frequently already has familiarity with the topic.
I found this blog to provide helpful descriptions of academic and popular history.
These are just very high-level explanations of the difference between popular and academic history. The point is, I am using The Coming of the Third Reich as the foundation of my future posts, and I will be using the other two books to start to narrow down and better understand specific ideas and people who had an influence on the lead up to the second World War.
Just Tell Me What the Other Two Books are Already
You got it.
They are Dragonslayer by Jay Lockenour and A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan.
The Second Book
What exactly do dragons have to do with old Germans? Well, they are part of a useful mythology: Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (Song of the Nibelungs). The author uses this saga to help the modern-day reader better understand the subject of his book, the General Erich Ludendorff. He was a contemporary of, and worked with, Paul von Hindenburg. Both men were generals during The Great War (aka World War I), and Ludendorff would be an influential figure in the lead up to the Third Reich.
Ludendorff would contribute to the idea of the “stab in the back”, and attempt to gain political power by grasping at his previous successes.
My goal with this book is to gain a better understanding of the influence military leadership had after the end of World War I, and what caused them to move in the political direction they chose.
The Third Book
The third book is where I think we can get into looking at some really interesting parallels.
A Fever in the Heartland technically doesn’t have anything to do with Germany. Egan’s book discusses the rise and eventual downfall of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Mid-West America, with a focus on Indiana. Tens of thousands of people joined the KKK in the 1920s, and a surprising number of members lived in Indiana.
So how are the KKK and Nazis linked? Similar messages of hate to be quite frank.
That is an oversimplification, but we see streams of influence running from the United States to Germany via scientific racism and eugenics. We also see ideas regarding immigration and nationalism mirrored between the two countries.
My goal with this book is to help illustrate that the school of thought in Germany was not limited to Europe, and at times it originated in America.
In Conclusion
Over the next few posts, I will be digging into The Coming of the Third Reich, and trying to breakdown some of the information there into more palatable chunks of information. I will also be pulling from Dragonslayer and A Fever in the Heartland at various times to expand some ideas, and provide some context and analysis regarding the overarching events outlined in The Coming of the Third Reich. Hopefully this will help to make the history more approachable.
So, now you know another of the reasons why I wanted to start this blog. Let’s get started on working through these books together.
Maybe we’ll even do some critical thinking and analysis along the way.
Just kidding. That’s definitely happening.
As always, see the Works Cited page for a full list of sources used for this post.
Also, is there a topic about studying history that you would like me to cover? Please let me know in the comments.
A Reminder
A final note: Please remember we are only sort of academic here. I will do my best to present information accurately, but I am not a formally trained historian. I may make mistakes. If I do, constructive criticism is welcome, and I will make updates as needed.
