The three-book series on the Third Reich by historian Richard Evans[1] (the author of the essay kindly submitted here) was recommended to Hacker News readers in a comment in August 2014. I am glad I saw that recommendation. Three volumes of thoroughly footnoted history covering a lifetime (Bismarck's era to the end of World War II) in a large country was a lot of reading, but I'm glad I plunged in. The Allied war effort against the Nazi regime was a big part of the young experience of several of my uncles, and undoubtedly shaped the childhoods of both of my parents. And of course the result of World War II redrew the map of Europe. I think it's useful to be aware of the facts (and Evans's book series digs deeply into the facts) and not just the legends about the Nazis.

Anyway, the Nazis still have followers today. I have been doing research on a younger generation (that is, people with birth years like my parents, in the 1930s) of neo-Nazis[2] in the postwar era, and there are even people younger than that (birth years in the 1980s and 1990s) who haven't learned enough about Nazi history to know that the Nazis are no example worth following for anyone. We must never forget.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/01...

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Reich-Power-Richard-Evans/dp/014...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-Reich-at-War/dp/0143116711

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Connection-Eugenics-American-Soci...

http://www.amazon.com/Funding-Scientific-Racism-Wickliffe-Pi...

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Racism-Science-Interaction-Societ...

I've curated my list of Facebook friends to be something like that. The list of real-life friends who make up a core part of my list of Facebook friends includes a lot of people from a membership organization gifted children, whose parents then form a mutual support network. This, to be sure, is a hard strategy to replicate exactly, but over time I think that your professional or other affinity groupings will help you find people who like to discuss books you like thoughtfully.

I get good book recommendations here on HN all the time, most recently a set of books about German history,[1] but we hardly ever have extended book discussions here.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/01...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143037900/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-Reich-at-War/dp/0143116711/