The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership - Softcover

'This book is perhaps the most important recent addition to the literature of the Third Reich.' - Hannah Arendt; 'Fest's descriptions are hypnotically interesting - He has pulled together more details of the lives of his subjects than are included in any other book. The device of focusing on one major figure per chapter enables fest to bring them to life as individuals and in contrast to each other. Each figure is a window that opens onto part of the dreadful landscape.' - Christopher Lehman-Haupt, New York Times; 'Here is the composite face of Hitler's Third Reich made of a kind of rogue's gallery of profiles of the main Nazi leaders - Hitler foremost, but not necessarily the most hideous of the lot. While Fest studies Hitler in frightening detail, he exposes no less the grotesque and inhuman psyches of the Heironymous Bosch-like figures who made the power grab with him... A chilling book, and immensely valuable.' - Publisher's Weekly; 'Fest's system of organization, his biographical framework and his constant probing for insights into the nature of modern totalitarianism give this book a unique and powerful intensity.' - Wall Street Journal; 'A very good book indeed. The author has mastered the literature on the subject, he writes well and with great assurance, and provides a much-needed synthesis on a grand scale.' - Walter Laqueur, New York Times Book Review

Who were the men who helped Hitler establish the Third Reich and then carry out some of the worst atrocities in modern history? In fifteen chilling profiles, Joachim Fest examines the lives of the most infamous Nazi leaders. They include Hermann Goering: the self-styled 'Iron Man', who directly issued orders for the Final Solution; Joseph Goebbels: the mastermind behind Kristallnacht; Heinrich Himmler: Reichsfuhrer of the SS, responsible for the deaths of over six million Jews and the most powerful man in Nazi Germany after Hitler; Martin Bormann: Hitler's private secretary, who wielded power by controlling access to the Fuhrer; Rudolph Hess: Deputy of the Nazi Party who was tried at Nuremberg; Albert Speer: 'the Nazi who said sorry', and of course Hitler himself. In this compelling account, Joachim Fest - one of the greatest authorities on the Third Reich and an icon of post-war Germany - shows how it was these individual personalities and their vicious power struggles that combined to give form to Hitler's terrifying vision.