Goering: The 'Iron Man'

by Richard Overy

A biographical study of Hermann Goering and the central and serious political role that he played in the Third Reich.

Genres: History, World War II, European History, Nonfiction, 20th Century, Politics, Biography

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1984

About the author

Richard James Overy is a British historian who has published extensively on the history of World War II and the Third Reich.

Educated at Caius College, Cambridge and awarded a research fellowship at Churchill College, Professor Overy taught history at Cambridge from 1972 to 1979, as a fellow of Queens' College and from 1976 as a university assistant lecturer. In 1980 he moved to King's College London, where he became professor of modern history in 1994. He was appointed to a professorship at the University of Exeter in 2004.

His work on World War II 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.)[

Reviews

[Jerry Mrizek · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's really scary about this book is that after reading it you can't forget the atrocities that he was party to but at the same time you can't shake the feeling that he'd be a fun guy to hang out with. It's a strange dichotomy. I've read biographies of Himmler and Bormann (sp?) and they completely come across as, for lack of a better word, jerks but Goering is a reminder to us all about how easy it is for seemingly normal people to act monstrously.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it has some flaws (the broad sweep of some of the author's proclamations go far beyond Goering and his impact within Nazi Germany, as well as some minor typos), this book is a very insightful look into the machinations of the Nazi war machine, especially the heavy industries that made up Goering's commercial empire (the Reichswerke AG and the armaments and aircraft manufacturing sections of the German and occupied countries' economies). The book is fact-based and unsentimental about its topic, and though some sections on production figures and organizational hierarchies are a bit dry, the author speeds through these at a pace that makes them eminently palatable to lay people.

My major criticism is that there isn't as much about Hermann Goering the man as there is about 'Reichswerke Hermann Goering A.G.,' which is a bit disappointing and not entirely in keeping with the back-cover blurb. I don't think his opera-going is even mentioned in the text, and it would have added to the work to have some additional perspectives, especially on the public's and the upper-class's/elites view of him during the Nazi regime. We get scant details about this, but loads of economic and production figures pertaining to his areas of responsibility. There isn't much about his "sensational" Nuremberg trial, and most of the times that other Nazis are quoted referencing him, it is limited to a single sentence. These aspects of the tome could have been expanded to make it more of a true biography rather than a "History of the Reichswerke Hermann Goering."

In fact, Goering's responsibilities in that economic realm often overshadow the responsibilities for which he is most infamous, that of the Luftwaffe and its collapse during the war. While I do think that a lot of ink has been spilled on that subject in particular, and that the author does the historical public record a service by expanding on the economic underpinnings of that collapse (especially with respect to Milch's efforts to salvage aircraft and armaments production), I think there could have been stronger textual ties between the two areas. Instead, it feels as if the book were jumping between these two focal points rather than truly giving an integrated assessment of their relationship, which would have been more welcome and, possibly, given more time to delve into the 'Iron Knight's' private persona.

There is also quite a bit of repetition and wordiness that could have been edited out, especially around Goering's administrative incompetence, which was reiterated ad naseum. Once the point was established, quite early on, it didn't need to be repeated as frequently as the author/editors chose to.

Aside from that, it is a compelling read for anyone interested in a deeper dive into WWII, and it is especially harrowing to consider how differently the war may have turned out had the Nazis (and Hitler specifically) delayed in invading Poland and allowed Germany's entire economy to ramp up to war footing. Certainly in such a scenario it would have taken the Allies a lot longer to defeat Germany, if those machinations remained largely undiscovered, and it's interesting to note that the leaders of Nazi Germany had not actually planned to start a war until the mid-1940's (!).

[Derek Osbourne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to be fair to Richard Overy. This is far more an academic book than an interested read.

There is an assumption that you know a lot about the period and that names and events are familiar to you. That is not a problem for me as I have become very familiar in my reading over the last fifty odd years although it would be a problemfor many who casually pick this book up.

It is not a biography as such - which is also not a problem.

But it is a concentration on the German economy as Goering shaped it to the needs of Nazi ideology and Hitler's intent to go to war. In tersting, maybe, but dry.

With all respect to the good academis I hope his lectures are more entertaining than the book.

I had to abandon it.