I know it’s a dumb thing to say, but it’s crazy to realise that the people in Nazi Germany didn’t, like, know that they were in Nazi Germany. Boyd acknowledges early on - through the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, no less - that getting a complete understanding of an entire country is basically impossible. Still, she definitely has a solid go at it, drawing on accounts from aristocrats, intellectuals, athletes, and ordinary tourists, among others. I do wonder if Travellers might be a better book if Boyd had gone deep instead of wide - certain people’s “arcs” (for lack of a better word) got lost in the mix - but it’s still an absolutely fascinating glimpse at a very different and bizarre world.