Goering: Hitler'S Iron Knight

Description: Hermann Goering was Hitler's most loyal supporter, his designated successor and the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. One of the main architects of the Nazi regime, he was also instrumental in the creation of the Gestapo and directly ordered the Final Solution. But who was the man behind the carefully-constructed mask? Self-indulgent and ruthless, sybaritic and brutal, egotistical yet capable of self-effacement, weak-willed yet fiercely calculating, Goering was a contradictory, complex and often bufoonish character. He styled himself as the 'Iron Man' but was known to wear togas, fur coats and faux-medieval hunting outfits. A brilliant World War I fighter pilot, military leader and mercurial Luftwaffe commander, he also loved the opera and took a perverse pride in his ill-gotten, infamous art collection. In this classic biography, Richard Overy takes the reader on a chilling journey into the heart of Hitler's inner circle. He illuminates the many facets of Goering's personality and charts his story from his golden days as Hitler's most trusted commander to his failures and loss of power after the Battle of Britain, his sensational trial at Nuremberg and his ignominious death by suicide on the eve of his execution.

Review: "'The richest book on the whole subject that I have read for a long time' (Norman Stone in the Sunday Times) 'a closely argued and detailed analysis providing a new and proper insight into an evil and inefficient war machine' (The Economist)"

Author Biography: Richard Overy's award-winning writing on the history of World War II and the Third Reich has been praised as, "highly effective in the ruthless dispelling of myths" (A. J. P. Taylor), "original and important" (New York Review of Books) and "at the cutting edge" (Times Literary Supplement). Professor of Modern History for ten years at Kings College, London, Overy is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Fellow of the British Academy and Fellow of King's College. In 2001 he was awarded the Samuel Elliot Morrison Prize of the Society for Military History for his contribution to the history of warfare and in 2004 The Wolfson History Prize for his book 'The Dictators'.