I am always fascinated by anything to do with WWII but was not able to finish this book. It’s a good account of Nazi activity in the LA area, but it read more like a history textbook and I couldn’t keep reading it for long periods of time. The information presented here seems very well researched but the execution could have been done a little differently to make it more interesting.

Very dry, all names and dates, no substance. I was very disappointed. Couldn't finish it. Got a quarter of the way done then grew tired of just names.

Hitler in Los Angeles

How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America



by Steven J. Ross

Bloomsbury USA

History , Nonfiction (Adult)

Pub Date 24 Oct 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Hitler in Los Angeles through Bloomsbury USA, and Netgalley:

This book shows us that many American Jews did rise greatly oppose Hitler, but they could not agree on the best path of resistance. Many saw New York as the Jewish capital of America but. Joeseph Goebells though no citywas more dangerous to the twisted views of Nazi Propoganda. Because in his eyes Jews ruled the motion picture industry.

No city was more important to the Nazi’s than Los Angeles, home to Hollywood the greatest propoganda machine in the world. The Nazi’s had plotted to kill the city’s Jews, a plot that was foiled in part by Captain John.H.Schmidt, a fellow German, and a Christian. Leon Lewis had asked Captain John H.Schmidt to help spy on the Nazi’s. The Nazi’s had plans for Hanging twenty prominent figures including Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson and Samuel Goldwyn. They had plans drawn up to drive through Boyle Heights and taking out as many Jews as possible by Machine guns, as well as for seizing munitions and blowing up National Guard Armories across the Pacific Coast.

At the time US law enforcement agencies were not paying close attention, they preferred to monitor Reds rather than Nazi’s. It was only Leon Lewis and his ring of spies that stood in the way of Nazi’s. From 1933 to the end of World War Two Leon Lewis ran a spy operation of military veterans and their wives. This group infiltrated every Nazi and fascist group in Los-Angeles. The spies often moving up to leadership position, uncovering and stopping the Nazi’s from attacking.

In this book we learn of how one man helped to lead a group of spies into stopping the Nazi’s from killing thousands if not millions in Los Angeles.

This book was well written and thoroughly researched.

I give Hitler in Los Angeles five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

This compelling and scary history of spying in pre-World War II America was an eye-opener for me. I had never heard of this chapter in history and, particularly in these days of uncertainty and divisiveness, it is a lesson we should all be taught. Mr. Ross, through his extensive research, presents a frightening view of an unprepared country (U.S. intelligence) and the power of private citizens to change things. There are paragraphs that we would be well-advised to remember if we are to get through these times.

I wanted to like this, I really did. I'm a big history buff, and this particular era of American/world history has always fascinated me. This, however, really sort of let me down. The subject was fascinating, but the execution just didn't really do much for me. It read more like a long, tedious history book a lot of the time and I found myself getting easily distracted by other things. I'm not a quitter, I rarely ever DNF a book, but I came sadly very close with this one. It just dragged, bogged down a lot of jargon and too much to muddle through at times. I found myself sometimes skimming, just wanting to at least make it to the end.

History needs to be made engaging, and I was not engaged at all. It was quite a let down.