In The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi–Soviet War in American Popular Culture, Ronald Smelser and Edward J. Davies describe Yerger as a "guru" in the scene of those who romanticize the Waffen-SS. According to them, Yerger's work was closest to that of a historian in his reference book Waffen-SS Commanders. But they consider that his objectivity was compromised by the influence of the veterans who served as his sources, and that he unduly romanticized the supposed bravery and sacrifice of the SS. His detailed biographies, according to Smelser and Davies, are no prosopographies, but iconographies, because he focused primarily on his subjects' military performance and their awards and honors. With publications that contain more photographs than text, and a generally hagiographical treatment of their subjects, they write, Yerger's works do not provide a frame for historical interpretation, but create a romanticized world of their own, characterized by bravery and sacrifice. About the participation of SS personnel in war crimes, Yerger wrote only what could not be avoided, according to Smelser and Davies.
