Goebbels: A Biography

Goebbels: A Biography

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE TELEGRAPH â€¢Â From renowned German Holocaust historian Peter Longerich comes the definitive one-volume biography of Adolf Hitlerâ€™s malevolent minister of propaganda.

In life, and in the grisly manner of his death, Joseph Goebbels was one of Adolf Hitlerâ€™s most loyal acolytes. By the end, no one in the Berlin bunker was closer to the FÃ¼hrer than his devoted Reich minister for public enlightenment and propaganda. But how did this clubfooted son of a factory worker rise from obscurity to become Hitlerâ€™s most trusted lieutenant and personally anointed successor?

In this ground-breaking biography, Peter Longerich sifts through the historical recordâ€”and thirty thousand pages of Goebbelsâ€™s own diary entriesâ€”to provide the answer to that question. Longerich, the first historian to make use of the Goebbels diaries in a biographical work, engages and challenges the self-serving portrait the propaganda chief left behind. Spanning thirty years, the diaries paint a chilling picture of a man driven by a narcissistic desire for recognition who found the personal affirmation he craved within the virulently racist National Socialist movement. Delving into the mind of his subject, Longerich reveals how Goebbelsâ€™s lifelong search for a charismatic father figure inexorably led him to Hitler, to whom he ascribed almost godlike powers.

This comprehensive biography documents Goebbelsâ€™s ascent through the ranks of the Nazi Party, where he became a member of the FÃ¼hrerâ€™s inner circle and launched a brutal campaign of anti-Semitic propaganda. Though endowed with near-dictatorial control of the mediaâ€”film, radio, press, and the fine artsâ€”Longerichâ€™s Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and beset by bureaucratic infighting. He feuds with his bitter rivals Hermann GÃ¶ring and Alfred Rosenberg, unsuccessfully advocates for a more radical line of â€œtotal war,â€ and is thwarted in his attempt to pursue a separate peace with the Allies during the waning days of World War II. This book also reveals, as never before, Goebbelsâ€™s twisted personal lifeâ€”his mawkish sentimentality, manipulative nature, and voracious sexual appetite.

A harrowing look at the life of one of historyâ€™s greatest monsters, Goebbels delivers fresh insight into how the Nazi message of hate was conceived, nurtured, and disseminated. This complete portrait of the man behind that message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for decades to come.

Praise for Goebbels

â€œPeter Longerich . . . has delved into rarely accessed material from his subjectâ€™s diaries, which span thirty years, to paint a remarkable portrait of the man who became one of Hitlerâ€™s most trusted lieutenants.â€â€”The Daily Telegraph

Praise for Heinrich Himmler

â€œThere have been several studies of this enigmatic man, but Peter Longerichâ€™s massive biography, grounded in exhaustive study of the primary sources, is now the standard work and must stand alongside Ian Kershawâ€™s Hitler, Ulrich Herbertâ€™s Best and Robert Gerwarthâ€™s Hitlerâ€™s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich as one of the landmark Nazi biographies. As the author of a celebrated study of the Holocaust, Longerich is better able than his predecessors to situate Himmler within the vast machinery of genocide. And he brings to his task a gift for capturing those mannerisms that are the intimate markers of personality.â€â€”London Review of Books

â€œ[An] excellent and comprehensive biography.â€â€”The New York Review of Books
Country USA
Brand Random House Books for Young Readers
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9781400067510
ReleaseDate 2015-05-05
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781400067510

Country	USA
Brand	Random House Books for Young Readers
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9781400067510
ReleaseDate	2015-05-05
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781400067510

Goebbels: A Biography

You might also like...