John,
"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" is a definitive history of the Nazi
regime by an American journalist who saw a good deal of it. It's well in
excess of 1000 pages, so a summary is not possible. However, there was an
excellent TV documentary based on the book in the early 60s that just might
be at your local full service video store. If you want to understand what
happened in Germany in the 20s-40s, you should read this book as well as
the various 'diaries' of William Shirer.
Regards, Dave