From their death’s-head insignia, snappy SS tank top and sports kilt, to their luxurious Russian Front greatcoats (lined with furs stripped from gassed Jews), it can’t be said the nastiest of the Nazis weren’t well-dressed. This is a detailed history, illustrated with field photos, of the uniforms and insignias of the armed units of Hitler’s Schutzstaffel der NSDAP (SS), originally formed as non-fighting “protection squads” to the Nazi bigwigs. By the time war broke out, Germany had recruited a quarter million of these well-liveried chauffeurs. Then Adolf demanded his special boys have “soldierly character… It will be necessary for our SS and police, in their own closed units, to prove themselves at the front in the same way as the army and to make blood sacrifices to the same degree as any other branch of the armed forces.” So the SS went to war. Chronicles manufacturing history, design changes, evolution of steel helmets and field caps, and shows how to spot fakes and fantasies. GR

Publisher: Hippocrene
Paperback: 160 pages
Illustrated

“This chronicle of the club that met international acclaim in the roaring ‘20s and hard-luck ‘30s includes unromantic details regarding the mobsters who ran it, the African-American talent that made it famous and exciting, and the troubles that brought it to a close. Harlem in its heyday was a mecca for entertainment, for both blacks and whites—the blacks who were to entertain, and the whites who were invited to be entertained. While the attention the Cotton Club brought to Harlem might have been short-lived, the stardom it brought to its talent would last longer than lifetimes.”
Accurate and filled with dozens of photos, The Cotton Club returns us to an era that has too easily been forgotten. Entertainers today lack a nucleus such as the Cotton Club—a focus for overwhelming talent that challenged the racial status quo. We shall never see the likes of such legends again, raw and multidimensional. This book commemorates this bygone era and the greatest talent ever to have lived, created and performed in the U.S. OAA

Publisher: Hippocrene
Paperback: 213 pages
Illustrated