Germany, World War II 

This is the real story of Albert Speer, manipulator of history and architect of his own legend. On the stand at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, Albert Speer was alone among the accused in showing anything like remorse: he denied any direct knowledge of Hitler's Final Solution yet accepted his share of the guilt as an unwitting collaborator. But was he really what he claimed to be? In this hard-hitting biography, Dan van der Vat reveals Speer as a sham and an opportunist, a "good Nazi" of another sort: a dedicated party servant who, promoted from his role as Hitler's architect to minister of wartime production, also became the Nazis' principal exploiter of forced labor. The first biography to be written free of Speer's personal influence, this is the fullest, most incriminating portrait yet of a ruthless, masterly actor who deceived the world in the role of a lifetime. A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year! - from Amzon