I recently purchased and have just read The Hitler Youth by Michael Kater and have read the comments on this forum regarding the content and based my purchase on those.
The dust jacket assures the reader that Prof.Kater is is "Distinguished" and who was I to question such credentials?
Having said that, if you wish to get a good general
book on the HJ in my opinion this isn't the one to buy, the best I have read being "The Hitler Youth" by KW Koch.
I hope I am not being harsh, or critical of other reviews of this book on this forum however the book is badly written, is all over the shop in trying to give a concise history of the HJ and poorly addresses aspects of the HJ, or even choosing to overlook aspects of the HJ to ensure a biased coverage of the organisation.
I am particularly disappointed with his conjecture throughout the book, either in reference or inference, that the sole purpose of the HJ was to train youth for war which is patently wrong in reference to the reason for the formation of the HJ.
The authors bias is clearly shown in Ch.4 "Dissidents and Rebels" which is 54 pages, whereas Koch covers the same subject (Chapter X - Dissent) in 22 pages. The reason Kater takes so many pages to be critical is that he brings in aspects of German youth culture during the 3rd Reich totally irrelevant to the HJ, but probably being in common with other western society. In wartime Germany these groups would be activities of treason or petty and major crime rather than resistance to the regime. A criminal who steals or assaults innocent people in wartime (or indeed any time) is an anti-social element of society, whether NS Germany, the USA or England. For example, Kater talks about the Blasen and Eidelweisspiraten, whose description sounded more like juvenile delinquents and a resistance to an ordered society in any society, not necessarily NS Germany.
His description of the HJ at war is also a shotgun approach which shows the author having a poor grasp of WW2 history and methods and equipment rather than highlighting the HJ's role in the war as Koch does so well with many personal experiences, something that Kater is lax in not including.
Since when did the HJ use bazooka's (as Kater states in numerous examples)? I thought they were panzerfausts. Finally there are many grammitical mistakes, which speak poorly of his proof reading the final draft.
Sorry, but my suggestion is save your money and try and get it through a library and but Koch's volume, you'll be better served and it will be money well spent.