[2] The book consequently reflects his personal experiences of life in Berlin during the early stages of the war through anecdotes, press cutting, rumours and jokes rather than covering the political and diplomatic aspects of his job in any great detail: The bilingual Russell socialized extensively with random Germans in pubs and nightclubs, on trains while conducting business, in rural villages as well as in the capital.

The central argument which Russell attempts to communicate in his work is that, contrary to opinion in America and elsewhere, the majority of Germans were politically apathetic or even anti-Nazi, with only a small minority actually being overtly in favour of the status quo: There are, perhaps, 2 million members of the Nazi party.

[4] However, he also argues that a large number of Germans (regardless of their political views) chose to side with the Nazis temporarily for the duration of the war: For what exists in Germany today, I have ... a simple illustration:

In particular, he focuses on the popular views of key Nazi figures - including Hermann Göring ("When Goering appears on the movie screen...Berlin audiences usually snigger.

Several factors of the everyday life of Germans during the period which Russell writes about extensively were shortages of food and clothing owing to rationing (even though the war had just begun), the shortage of home heating fuel, breakdowns and freezing conditions in train service, and the lack of proper information on current affairs, owing to censorship and propaganda in the German media.