Finished 2 books. Reviews copied and pasted from Goodreads -

When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Hyper-inflation by Adam Fergusson

>3.5/5 being harsh rounding down for Goodreads.

>Good at describing the causes and societal impact of hyperinflation during early 20s Germany. Not too heavy on the economic terminology and doesn't overload you with numbers. But the writing is a bit dry and I was sort of disappointed in that regard. Could've had more focus on the impact on normal people. Also has some stuff on Austria and Hungary. The main argument is that inflation on such a large scale damages the morals and structure of a society, leading to distrust between different groups. a loss of faith in democracy, aids extremists on the left and right, etc and basically traumatises a society. It also argues that the German hyper-inflation wasn't done deliberately to avoid paying the Versailles reparations but instead was done by a mix of incompetence and attempting to avoid unemployment (edit - plus to support the resistance to French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923). The book came out in 1975 and I haven't read that much on Weimar Germany yet so I don't know if the way it is presented here still holds up well academically.

Just finished Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy by Eric D. Weitz

>4/5 I feel like I got a lot out of it.

>Not much to say about it. Solid overview of the Weimar Republic. Mix of political, economics and cultural chapters. Well written and enjoyable to read. Personally I preferred the political chapters more, especially on the political right and the 'enemies of the republic'. The economics chapter was also good as it focused more on what the economic conditions meant for normal people instead of just a load of numbers about industrial production. The book is very good at giving a feeling of what the time period was like. My main criticism is that I found it to be a bit heavy on the architecture and the intellectuals at times, but that is more my personal taste than an objective negative. Overall a good introduction to Weimar Republic era Germany and despite it not being the cheapest book (at least on UK Amazon) I would recommend it for anyone interested in the topic, whether you've read other books on it or not.