Product Description

Albert Speer was Hitler's architect before the Second World War. Through Hitler's great trust in him and Speer's own genius for organisation he became, effectively from 1942 overlord of the entire war economy, making him the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. Sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Spandau Prison at the Nuremberg Trails, Speer attempted to progress from moral extinction to moral self-education. How he came to terms with his own acts and failures to act and his real culpability in Nazi war crimes are the questions at the centre of this book. The author had access to Speer, his family and friends and his private papers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27683 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 784 pages

Customer Reviews

A study in deception
This book is superbly researched and thorough. It is also tremendously exciting and sustains a level of analysis which brings not only Speer but the whole of that period into sharp focus. With the new A2 History exams involving synoptic papers which have as their starting the analysis of documentary evidence this book is an absolute must for the able student. Quite apart from Speer's equivocations about the fate of the Jews and his knowledge of such matters, the study offers views on the other key figures in the story and their roles. The debate about Hitler and his dealings with his henchmen is superbly illustrated. Gita Seregny leaves no doubt about the centrality of Hitler, but opens up very interesting reflections on the rest, especially Himmler and Bormann. The vicious infighting after 1943 is described with great detail and irony.The book pauses from time to time with reflections that cover a whole gamut of other issues.... which themselves are sufficiently penetrating to invite further study. A true piece of academic research and a tremendous read in the process.

An attempt to understand the myth and reality of Speer
Albert Speer was undoubtedly an enigma and Gitta Sereny tries her hardest to unravel his mysteries. Speer seemed a mass of contradictions, and I finished this book still undecided as to his character. I felt the book presents him as an actor who seldom showed his true face. Compelling. You find yourself willing Sereny to condemn him, but she treats her subject with fairness and respect - whether he deserved it or not. What more could you ask of a biographer?

Perceptive, challenging and beautifully written.
This is more than jut a book, it is an experience. Never have I been so eager to get to the next page, and at the same time absorb all the information on the page I was currently reading. This story of the man, Speer, was all the more convincing as it looked past his apologies to the victims of the Third Reich, and tried to find out what made him follow Hitler so zealously. At the same time it gives one a valuable insight into Hitler's court, Himmler, Goebbels etc., and their interactions, ambitions and personalities. This is a fantastic book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.