{"title":"Alexandra Birch","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlexandra Birch offers a compelling perspective on pivotal moments in history, with a strong focus on military events and their wider implications. Her works delve into complex narratives, examining leadership, strategy, and the human dimensions of warfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect meticulously researched accounts that challenge conventional viewpoints and shed light on lesser-known facets of history. Birch's writing combines rigorous scholarship with engaging storytelling, appealing to those fascinated by the interplay of power and conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hitlers-twilight-of-the-gods-by-alexandra-birch-9781487549206","title":"Hitler's Twilight of the Gods","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusic was an integral part of statecraft and identity formation in the Third Reich. Structured thematically and semiotically around the Wagnerian tetralogy of the Ring cycle, \u003cem\u003eHitler’s Twilight of the Gods\u003c\/em\u003e provides a sonic read of the Second World War and the Holocaust.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlexandra Birch sheds light on the specific type of music promoted under Nazism, linked to larger Teutonic mythologies and histories espoused in rhetoric and personal styling. The book explores the musical fixation of the command as it was extended to the ordinary troops of the Wehrmacht and SS in instances of musical sadism and destruction during the Holocaust. It reveals how, in constructing what was 'German', this process also intentionally fashioned a subaltern other with an assigned set of music and aesthetics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book draws on analysis of testimony and perpetrator documents to reveal the execution of this binary identity and the inclusion of music even in extreme genocidal conditions. From drinking games in the interwar period, to musical sadism in the Holocaust, to the final delusions of the command in collapse, \u003cem\u003eHitler’s Twilight of the Gods\u003c\/em\u003e illuminates how music was a component of camaraderie, identity, masculinity, and warfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47486114431212,"sku":"9781487549206","price":74.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/65c311108546141027a3329b4bad4a35.jpg?v=1775781101"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/alexandra-birch.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}