Goering: The Iron Man

Second Edition.

Energetic, callous, ruthless and greedily ambitious, Hermann Goering, Hitler's loyal supporter, was not the corrupt and indolent buccaneer of legend, but played a central and serious political role in the Third Reich.

In this controversial biography, first published in 1984, Richard Overy argues that Germany did not prepare for Blitzkrieg in 1939, but for full scale war by the mid-1940s, when Germany would have become a military and economic superpower.

Best remembered as head of the Luftwaffe, Goering also created and ran a vast industrial empire that became the powerhouse of Germany's massive rearmament. It was in this role of economic dictator that Goering was tested and failed. Under the stress of war his incompetence was finally exposed and he lost power to his rivals.

This remarkable book shows all the facets of Goering's complex personality from his hey-day as Hitler's deputy through to his trial at Nuremberg and his suicide the night before his execution. It adds a rich dimension to our understanding of fascism.