The Ominous Parallels Reading Group

Learn about the ideas that enabled Hitler’s rise to power—and how to combat them in our world today to prevent such horror from happening again.

What caused Hitler’s rise to power? 

You may have heard the common answers: hyperinflation, reparations, the weakness of the Weimar Republic. But these were merely symptoms of a deeper cause. 

Finding the fundamental cause requires a deep dive into the philosophic ideas that dominated German culture for more than a century before the Nazis came to power. Leonard Peikoff’s The Ominous Parallels provides a meticulously researched exploration of the ideas that set the stage for and supported Hitler’s rise—ideas that are increasingly prevalent in our world today. 

These include collectivism—the idea that the individual is subservient to a group, whether a race, economic class, community, or society—and statism, the idea that the state has a right to force individuals to act against their judgment for the sake of some “greater good.” These ideas have been gaining traction in Western culture for the past several decades. If we want to prevent history from repeating itself, we must understand the ideas that shaped it.

Join host Thomas Walker-Werth and other active-minded participants for a discussion of this profound book and the philosophic and political questions it raises. Whether you’re familiar with history and philosophy or just starting out, and even if you’ve already read The Ominous Parallels, you’ll gain a lot from discussing the book with other inquiring minds.