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rskennedy1066's review against another edition
4.0
Solid and interesting, although there were a bunch of inferential leaps.
anja4800's review
3.0
Ich hatte etwas andere Erwartungen angesichts der Buchbeschreibung, vor allem hätte ich mir mehr psychologische Einsichten in die Psyche der Deutschen gewünscht, die solche Heilsversprechungen im Nachkriegsdeutschland zu wahren Massenhysterien hat werden lassen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt in diesem Buch auf dem angeblichen Wunderheiler Bruno Gröning und einigen Personen in seinem näheren und weiteren Umfeld. Die Zusammenhänge sind gut recherchiert, die Einzelheiten werden detailreich dargelegt. Jedoch wird nicht recht deutlich, inwiefern sich dieses Massenphänomen unterscheidet von anderen Wunderheilern und hysterischem Aberglauben. Das Verdrängen der eigenen Schuld, ein Gefühl von Scham und Angst vor einer ungewissen Zukunft werden zwar erwähnt, aber davon hätte ich eine tiefergehende Analyse gewünscht. Alles in allem aber durchaus lesenswert.
kdfugle's review against another edition
3.0
Relatively interesting. Her writing style was not my favorite and I had to reread sentences and paragraphs a few times to make sense of what she was trying to say. Overall fun to delve into a part of history never really talked about.
kleonard's review against another edition
4.0
This excellent study of belief in faith healing and witchcraft in the immediate post-WWII era in Germany is a fascinating read complete with intrigue, denazification, schemers, and thousands of people desperate to believe in anything to get past war injuries, trauma, and guilt. Relying on primary sources and previous scholarship, Black crafts a detailed account of the postwar psyche, seeking to heal from the past even as many used wartime connections and power to create new opportunities for themselves. Written in an accessible manner for general readers, this would be terrific for book club or similar read-and-discuss forum.
erboe501's review against another edition
3.0
What caught my attention about this book was the witches in the subtitle. Witches in the 20th century? Intriguing! But most of this book was dedicated to the case of one wunderdoktor, Bruno Groning. I wasn't familiar with the immediate post-WWII German landscape, so reading about the chaos of reintegration and government formation and social dynamics was interesting. And I find
Black's argument credible that a fixation on mystical healing and nefarious witches festered in that chaos. Germans' general refusal to acknowledge or speak of the atrocities committed during the war was also informative. The "demons" of the title, I guess, are the traumas and evils Nazis committed and the general populations complicity or refusal to reckon with those actions.
Black's argument credible that a fixation on mystical healing and nefarious witches festered in that chaos. Germans' general refusal to acknowledge or speak of the atrocities committed during the war was also informative. The "demons" of the title, I guess, are the traumas and evils Nazis committed and the general populations complicity or refusal to reckon with those actions.
jskipworth's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
totototo's review
5.0
The book was a bit different than expected from the title and summary (the recounting of the wonder doctor Bruno Groning is taking up quite a lot of space), but it is still an absolutely enjoyable read and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
caitcoy's review against another edition
4.0
I've long been interested in 20th century Europe, the multiple world wars and how people of the various countries dealt with that. Somehow though, I hadn't read much on post-war Germany so this was a fascinating dive into the atmosphere in Germany after the defeat of the Nazis and how they dealt with the emotional toll of the Holocaust and what level of responsibility they held for that. Through the life of a wildly popular faith healer and a witch hunter, Black shows how trauma led to an increase in distrust among neighbors, predictions about the end of the world, messiahs and witch accusations in the decade or so after 1945. It's not exactly a quick or a light read but it was fascinating.