Book
Goebbels : a biography
Edition
First edition.
Publication Information
New York : Random House, [2015]
Physical Description
xix, 964 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Uniform Title
Summary
"As a young man, Joseph Goebbels was a budding narcissist with constant need of approval. Through political involvement, he found personal affirmation within the German National Socialist Party. In this comprehensive volume, Peter Longerich documents Goebbels' descent into antisemitism and ideology and ascent through the ranks of the Nazi party, where he became an integral member of Hitler's inner circle and where he shaped a brutal campaign of Nazi propaganda. In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal accolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers first-hand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the holocaust for years to come"--
Notes
"Originally published in Germany by Siedler Verlag in 2010"--Title page verso.
Contents
- Prologue
- 1897-1933 : to advance at any price. "Ring a a song eternally from youth's happy hours" : Joseph Goebbels on his childhood and youth ; "Spare the rod and spoil the child" : Goebbels's path to National Socialism ; "Working with the mind is the greatest sacrifice" : positioning himself in the early NSDAP ; "Faith moves mountains" : political beginnings in Berlin ; "Struggle is the father of all things" : the Gauleiter and the capital of the Reich ; "A life full of work and struggle" : politics between Berlin and Munich ; "Dare to live dangerously!" : Goebbels's radicalism and Hitler's policy of "legality" ; "Now we must gain power... one way or another!" : a share of government? ; "I have a blind faith in victory" : on the way to power
- 1933-1939 : controlling the public sphere under dictatorship. "We're here to stay!" : taking power ; "Only those who deserve victory will keep it!" : consolidating the regime ; "Whatever the Führer does, he does completely" : the establishment of the Führer State ; "Taking firm control of the inner discipline of a people" : propaganda and manipulation of the public sphere ; "Never tire!" : foreign policy successes and anti-Jewish policies ; "The tougher the better!" : the Olympic year, 1936 ; "The most important factors in our modern cultural life" : consolidating Nazi cultural policies ; "Don't look around, keep marching on!" : the firebrand as peace-maker ; "Maturity is only achieved through suffering!" : preparations for war--from the Munich Agreement to the attack on Poland
- 1939-1945 : war--total war--total defeat. "War is the father of all things" : the first months of the war ; "There is only one sin : cowardice!" : the expansion of the war ; "Our banners lead us on to victory!" : between the War in the West and the War in the East ; "A great, a wonderful time, in which a new Reich will be born" : the attack on the Soviet Union ; "Getting the nation to accept tough policies" : the Winter Crisis of 1941-42 ; "We can see in our mind's eye a happy people" : offensives and setbacks ; "Do you want total war?" : the Second Winter Crisis ; "The masses have become somewhat skeptical or ... one could even say are in the grip of a permanent state of hopelessness" : crisis as a permanent state ; "I have no idea what the Führer's going to do in the end" : the search for a way out ; "Virtually a wartime dictatorship on the home front" : between an apocalyptic mood and total war ; But when will there be some action?" : downfall.