Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Speer - Hitler's Architect - cover

Speer - Hitler's Architect

Martin Kitchen

Publisher: Yale University Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

“Sets the record straight on Albert Speer’s assertions of ignorance of the Final Solution and claims to being the ‘good Nazi.’”—Kirkus Reviews   In his bestselling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler’s Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer’s lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portraying a far darker figure who was deeply implicated in the appalling crimes committed by the regime he served so well.   Kitchen reconstructs Speer’s life with what we now know, including information from valuable new sources that have come to light only in recent years. The result is the first truly serious accounting of the man, his beliefs, and his actions during one of the darkest epochs in modern history, not only countering Speer’s claims of non-culpability but also disputing the commonly held misconception that it was his unique genius alone that kept the German military armed and fighting long after its defeat was inevitable.   “A devastating portrait of an empty, narcissistic and compulsively ambitious personality.”—The Wall Street Journal   “Kitchen’s exhaustively researched, detailed book nails, one by one, the lies of the man who provided a thick coat of whitewash to millions of old Nazis. Its fascinating account of how the moral degradation of the chaotic Nazi regime corrupted an entire nation is a timely warning for today.”—Daily Mail (“Book of the Month”)   “[An] excellent new biography . . . Kitchen has taken a wrecking ball to Speer’s mendacious and meticulously created self-image. And about time, too.”—History Today
Available since: 10/28/2015.
Print length: 455 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Firstborn - A Reflection on Fatherhood - cover

    The Firstborn - A Reflection on...

    Laurie Lee

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    An intimate and lyrical consideration of what it means to be a fatherThis moment of meeting seemed to be a birth-time for both of us; her first and my second life. Nothing, I knew, would be the same again . . .Full of warmth and candor, this essay composed on the occasion of his daughter’s birth is one of Laurie Lee’s most delightful and inspiring works. From the moment Jessy is born, “purple and dented like a bruised plum,” to the first time his kiss quiets her cries, Lee describes the joys and responsibilities of new fatherhood with a poet’s precision and boundless capacity for wonder.
    Show book
  • Becoming Spectacular - The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African American Rockette - cover

    Becoming Spectacular - The...

    Jennifer Jones

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The first African American Rockette charts her journey to one of the world's most celebrated dance troupes in this gripping memoir that, for the first time, goes behind the velvet curtains at Radio City's legendary holiday show.  
    “Smashing through glass windows and paving the way for others requires a special blend of bravery and perseverance. Being a pioneer involves breaking down stubborn barriers, challenging closed-minded people and navigating through instances of racism and prejudice. This journey often included facing ongoing resistance from individuals who were unwilling to embrace change. It’s believing in your dream—that you can be and do whatever it is that you love.”—Jennifer Jones 
    The Radio City Rockettes are as American as baseball, hot dogs, and the Fourth of July. Their legendary synchronized leg kicks, precise lines, and megawatt smiles have charmed audiences for a century. But there is a hidden side to this illustrious national institution. When the Rockettes began in 1925, Black people were not allowed to dance on stage with white people. However, during the Civil Rights Movement, dance history changed significantly when Black and white dancers were permitted to perform together, marking a moment of progress and inclusivity in the world of dance and entertainment. Even so, as late as the early 1980s, Rockette director Violet Holmes said having “one or two Black girls in the line would definitely distract.” 
    In 1987 the 63-year color barrier at Radio City was finally broken by one brave and tenacious woman. When she arrived, Jennifer Jones was met with pushback—a fierce resistance she details in this intimate and inspiring memoir. After overcoming seemingly impossible odds to join the line of The Rockettes, a PR director summoned the Black dancer to her hotel room and announced, “You’re old news, nobody cares about you, your story or anything about you. You're just lucky to be here.” 
    Those words would haunt this shy, insecure biracial woman, who had always felt like an outsider. 
    Like Gelsey Kirkland’s iconic Dancing on My Grave, Becoming Spectacular allows us to walk in Jones’ tap shoes—beautiful and glittering, yet painful and binding. Bringing into focus the wounded life of a trailblazer, this searing memoir is also a triumphant celebration of a spirit who refused to be counted out.
    Show book
  • The Countryman's Bedside Book - cover

    The Countryman's Bedside Book

    BB

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    This re-issue of BB's classic memoir will be enjoyed by all who appreciate fine country writing, and who believe passionately in the resilience of Mother Nature, despite the follies of mankind.
    Denys Watkins-Pitchford (better known as BB) wrote these wonderful essays on the English countryside in the 1930s - a time of peace and renewal between two world wars. The book was finally published in 1941 when, as BB puts it, England was 'in the darkest hour of our history.'
    BB captures here in words and sensitive wood engravings the wonders of English wildlife and countryside.
    Includes essays on:
    
    - ravens and rookeries
    - the stone curlew
    - the purple emperor butterfly
    - a woodcutter's house
    - an encounter with a wildfowler one frosty dawn
    - a night fishing on the Solway
    - the strange behaviour of song thrushes
    - the rescue of a black labrador
    - a favourite copse
    - the accidental death of a groom
    - village characters
    - hedgerows - and many more topics
    Show book
  • Office Upstairs - A Doctor's Journey - cover

    Office Upstairs - A Doctor's...

    H. Banov MD

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Charles H. Banov, gifted storyteller and physician, shares tales from over fifty years of his love affair with medicine and looks back with honesty and humor at growing up Jewish in the South and opening the first doctor's office in a tiny Texas town. His journey, from anxious medical student to respected physician and president of a major international medical association, is filled with triumphs and setbacks, humor and sadness. They include the challenge of raising a special-needs daughter, the random stroll with a woman who turned out to be Oprah Winfrey and saving lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Banov shares these moments and more in his absorbing, often hilarious and always uplifting memoir. Banov's intimate portraits of the teachers, fellow students and, above all, the patients who framed his career are recounted with warmth and insight, and provide a rare inside view into the making of a doctor. The drama, humor and humanity of Dr. Banov's many years as a practicing physician will enrich and inspire medical students, health care professionals and people everywhere who want to make a difference in their communities.
    Show book
  • Step Out on Nothing - How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges - cover

    Step Out on Nothing - How Faith...

    Byron Pitts

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    It was August 25, 2006, my first on-camera studio open for the CBS News broadcast 60 Minutes. Executive Producer Jeff Fager poked his head in the dressing room." Good luck, Brotha! You've come a long way to get here. You've earned it." …If only he knew. My mind flashed back to elementary school, when a therapist had informed my mother, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Pitts, your son cannot read." In Step Out on Nothing, Byron Pitts chronicles his astonishing story of overcoming a childhood filled with obstacles to achieve enormous success in life. Throughout Byron's difficult youth—his parents separated when he was twelve and his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet—he suffered from a debilitating stutter. But Byron was keeping an even more embarrassing secret: He was also functionally illiterate. For a kid from inner-city Baltimore, it was a recipe for failure.Pitts turned struggle into strength and overcame both of his impediments. Along the way, a few key people "stepped out on nothing" to make a difference for him—from his mother, who worked tirelessly to raise her kids right and delivered ample amounts of tough love, to his college roommate, who helped Byron practice his vocabulary and speech. Pitts even learns from those who didn't believe in him, like the college professor who labeled him a failure and told him to drop out of college. Through it all, he persevered, following his steadfast passion. After fifteen years in local television, he landed a job as a correspondent for CBS News in 1998, and went on to become an Emmy Award–winning journalist and a contributing correspondent for 60 Minutes. Not bad for a kid who couldn't read.From a challenged youth to a reporting career that has covered 9/11 and Iraq, Pitts's triumphant and uplifting story will resonate with anyone who has felt like giving up in the face of seemingly insurmountable hardships.
    Show book
  • Catastrophic Happiness - Finding Joy in Childhood¿s Messy Years - cover

    Catastrophic Happiness - Finding...

    Catherine Newman

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    A comic and heartwarming memoir about childhood's second act from Real Simple journalist Catherine Newman. Much is written about a child's infancy and toddler years, which is good since children will never remember it themselves. It is ages 4-14 that make up the second act, as Catherine Newman puts it in this delightfully candid, outlandishly funny new memoir about the years that "your children will remember as childhood."   Following Newman's son and daughter as they blossom from preschoolers into teenagers, Catastrophic Happiness is about the bittersweet joy of raising children -- and the ever-evolving landscape of issues parents traverse. In a laugh out-loud, heart-wrenching, relatable voice, Newman narrates events as momentous as grief and as quietly moving as the moonlit face of a sleeping child.   From tantrums and friendship to fear and even sex, Newman's fresh take will appeal to any parent riding this same roller coaster of laughter and heartbreak.
    Show book