Don't you think it becomes a little semantic with the argument against Nazi Germany being totalitarian? Like really, dictatorships don't come much more powerful and all pervasive as Nazi Germany. And "morass" (damn you Geyer!) seems like one hell of an exaguration to me. The origins of the term (totalitarian) and the reasons for it's implementation and usage largely undermine it's merit as a historical descriptor. Sure, to label Nazi Germany as totalitarian is somewhat of a generalization, in so far as it may seem to ignore the so-called "inner workings and structure" of the state, but what historical descriptor doesn't? As E.H. Carr points out, as historians we will always be generalizing- it is in the very nature of language. For example, we call certain events in history "revolutions", despite the very different and unique nature and circumstances of each individual "revolution". Likewise, I think we can label Nazi Germany "totalitarian" (perhaps a less ideologically rooted word would be better) and at the same time, recognize the unique and less totalitarian features of the state. This is afterall what good historians do, make complex generalisations. If we let our useful generalisations, like totalitarian, be undermined by historians desperate to show that Nazi Germany was such a damned phenomenom that cannot be aligned to any other historical event/situation, then things become very boring and fruitless.
As to your previous post, yes I agree. Obviously a balance is necessary and historiography shouldn't gain primacy in the modern history. It also shouldn't be used as an intellectually lazy attempt to evade having a strong, original argument. My post was directed mainly at 'city boy', with the main purpose of proving to him that historiography does have a place in HSC modern history, even if it is (as it should be) secondary to factual information and events from the time period.