Good versus Evil
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It has been awhile since anyone has written a review for this book so while I guess I am not adding anything new it's worth reminding people that this is an amazing book one that makes you realise how we can all be led into carrying out evil deeds and not even realise it. This is a vital study of the ideology behind Germany in World War 2 but also and more importantly this is a study into the human condition. It makes us realise how easy it is to follow the herd mentality and how easy it is to turn a blind eye. Powerful and vital this is one of the most important books ever written.
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A must-read.
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Gitta Sereny is an amazingly talented writer who in her book on Speer and her meetings/interviews with Speer himself, tries to unravel the enigma that was Speer. The dance of truth that Sereny & Speer have together is often frustrating and Sereny doesn't hide this from us, but she doggedly carries on in search of the 'real' Albert Speer and by the book's end leaves us to decide for ourselves who this man was, what he really did as Hitler's most trusted friend and confidante, and how culpable he really was for much of the Nazi's inhumane treatment and murder of millions and millions of innocent Jews. An astonishing book.
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A study in deception
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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.
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As good a glance into the person of Speer as it gets.
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Gitta Sereny handles her subject as professionally and thoroughly as she had in her interviews with Treblinka's last commandant, F. Stangl (serving a life sentence) in Into That Darkness. Her study of Speer, while exploring essentially the same questions, carries with it more dimension because Speer's life and personality had certain further dimension to them than had Stangl's. Whether covering aspects of his relationship with Hitler and toward his own power-jostling peers in the highest echelons of Nazi hierarchy, or Sereny's encounter with the now grown children of those latter and how she finds them coming to terms with their parents' world, the world of their own childhoods, this book provides certain relevant and valuable insights and surprises which should impress the reader. There is no personal fascination paid to Speer, and this thanks to the masterful balance of Sereny's style in getting to know not only her subject well but his immediate family, for perspective in reaching the answers to those questions which so drive the study of Holocaust and all forms of Nazi abuse of power.
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An attempt to understand the myth and reality of Speer
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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?
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