This book investigates the structural evolution and politicization of the German civil service during the transition from the Weimar Republic to the National Socialist regime. Jane Caplan, a scholar of modern German history, utilizes archival research and administrative records to challenge the notion that Nazi bureaucracy was a monolithic entity. She argues that the collapse of the civil service's traditional status as an apolitical institution began well before 1933, rooted in the systemic crises and policy failures of the Weimar era.

Historians and political scientists frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the internal mechanics of the German state during the early twentieth century. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of bureaucratic development rather than a general narrative history.