Description
Book SynopsisAlbert Speer remains the most mysterious character of the leadership of the Nazi regime. He was the chief architect of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler's confidant. Speer built the "Reichskanzlei" (official offices), discovered the "Lightdome" and was finally, in 1942, named as the minister for arms.
Trade Review"Of all the biographers and writers on the Third Reich, Joachim Fest was not only good at his craft, but also had the good fortune to be invited to act, as her describes it, as 'interrogating editor' for the best selling autobiography of Albert Speer. What he has done is to create the literary equivalent of a fly-on-the-wall documentary."
The Spokesman "These conversations will be indispensable for specialists in the history of the Third Reich and fascism."
Political Studies Review
"In its poignancy, this book gives remarkable insights into three men: Hitler, as a consummate manipulator of people; Speer, as not particularly bright but vainglorious, weak, unremarkable and very lonely; and, not least, Fest himself, who proves tenacious and resourceful. He has convinced me with a work of brilliant analysis: the best study of Speer I know."
Michael H. Kater, York University, Toronto
"These diary-type notes by Joachim Fest, bestselling historian of the Third Reich, of his extensive conversations with Albert Speer make truly absorbing reading."
V.R. Berghahn, Columbia University
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Drawing Closer
2. The Innermost Circle
3. Highs and Lows
4. The Minister: Flying Starts and Stumbling Blocks
5. Breaking with Hitler
6. Completion of the ‘Memoirs’
7. The End and the Farewell to Hitler
8. Trial, Prison Years, Release
9. Expert in Escapes
10. The Unanswered Questions
Chronology
Sources of Illustrations
