Thomas Brodie's engaging and eminently readable study of German Catholicism during the Second World War represents both a tour de force of highly original and meticulous scholarship and an exceptional work of Alltagsgeschichte * Helen Roche, Journal of the Historical Association *
This book is an incredibly useful and necessary guide on the historical relationship between German Catholic life and wartime consciousness. * Jacob Saliba, European History Quarterly *
Thomas Brodie's revised dissertation provides much food for thought. The author has read much of the scholarly literature and the archival sources relevant to his focus. * Martin Menke, H-Net Reviews *
German Catholicism at War, 1939-1945, started its life as a Ph. D. dissertation at Oxford University and, unsurprisingly, it bears all the marks of its birth: a superb grasp of the literature, a very dense narrative [...], the use of a wide range of sources [...], and a well-argued thesis. An informative and valuable contribution to the vast literature on the relationship between Catholicism and National Socialism and on World War II, this study-the work of a quite promising young scholar-will appeal to readers with an interest in the story of Catholicism, the relationship of Church and State, or that of religion and war. * Jean-Guy Lalande, Catholic Historical Review *
superb ... a crucial addition to the vast literature on Christianity during the Third Reich, which has so far neglected the war years ... Brodie has built his arguments on painstaking research in the archives of the dioceses of Aachen, Cologne, and Munster in the Rhenish-Westphalian western part of the Reich. In addition, he makes sophisticated use of diaries and correspondence of ordinary Catholics, both published and archival. * Benjamin Ziemann, American Historical Review *
this is a fine piece of scholarship with a clear intellectual framework and solid archival underpinning. Anyone interested in the history of Catholicism, religion, popular opinion and war will profit from reading it. * Jill Stephenson, English Historical Review *
an exemplary work of social history ... it shows ... the sophistication of a master scholar with decades of experience in the field. * Mark Edward Ruff, Journal of Modern History *
Brodie's careful attention to popular attitudes should also motivate other scholars of religious anthropology to probe more deeply the noninstitutional religious sensibilities of Catholics who rejected the traditional viewpoints of their leaders during the war. In sum, German Catholicism at War represents a necessary and well-researched contribution to scholarship about World War II and should serve as inspiration for future work as well. * Michael E. O'Sullivan, German Studies Review *
Brodie's study provides invaluable insights into Catholic religious beliefs and attitudes, revealing the complexity and diversity of opinions throughout the war years ... an informative and valuable work which helps capture some of the diversity of opinions that were embodied in the Catholic 'milieu' as it struggled to maintain its place within the Volksgemeinschaft. * Beth A. Griech-Polelle, German History *
Brodie's work constitutes a major intervention into the history of twentieth-century German Catholic history, and one that casts new light on the understudied relationship between religion and war. Brodie shows us that religion is not always an antidote to war, or even a refuge from it. It is, instead, made and remade, as a sociological and institutional reality, by the horrors of war - and then again by the horrors of peace. * James Chappel, H-Diplo *
