Doctor Goebbels: His Life and Death

by Roger Manvell, Heinrich Fraenkel

Quite possibly the most dangerous and intelligent member of the Nazi hierarchy, Joseph Goebbels' flair for propaganda and spectacular organization ensured the führer’s rise to power. As founder of the Reich Chamber of Culture, gauleiter of Berlin, and architect of complex machinery of modern totalitarian propaganda, Goebbels is considered one of the most evil figures of the twentieth century. It was through his understanding of the instruments of “public enlightenment” that the dictatorship was built and maintained. Through interviews with his friends and family and with information from his own unpublished diary, a remarkable picture of Goebbels emerges.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Holocaust, Germany

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although early (1960), this is the best biography of Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels I've read so far. Its reading might be well supplemented by a reading of the edition of his journals edited by Trevor-Roper.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no shortage of evil characters from the Third Reich, but in my opinion Dr. Joseph Goebbels may be the worst of all. Without Goebbels' efforts at supercharging the Big Lie of National Socialism I doubt that Hitler and the rest of the Nazi Party would have achieved the death and destruction that they did.

This biography of Goebbels was written by Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel and was published in 1960. The authors managed to interview many people who knew Goebbels, and that fact makes it easily the best book ever written on the Reich Minister of Propaganda.

[David Szatkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably put this on my queue when I was on a WW2 kick. Goebbels, while I knew who he was, was someone I knew almost nothing about. This book, written not to long after WW2, gives some insight into who Goebbels was, his role in Nazi Germany, and his personality generally.

[Chris Steeden · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read. By the end I still did not think I truly knew Goebbels' full life and personality but as a glimpse at specific parts, especially his mid-1920s diary entries you do get some sense of his being. What seemed to be missing was how he rose to the very very top but if you are looking for a book which does provide some insight then this is certainly good for that as a starter.

[Carlos Santiago · Rating 4 out of 5]

La mejor biografía que existe de Goebbels, fantástico trabajo de Roger Manvell el cual a través de entrevistas y el diario que dejó escrito joseph Goebbels, nos enseña al jerarca Nazi más intelectual y fanatatico lunático que existió.

[Kevin Camp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1960, this book is the most authoritative biography of Dr. Goebbels written yet. Speaking from the perspective of a historian, a new perspective of this profoundly evil man's life needs a fresh retelling. Surely there are many other details worth sharing.

The author is British, which one can easily observe by his use of UK turns of phrases and idioms. An American audience may be tripped up a little, but only a handful of these terms will confuse the reader. Otherwise, there's much here to praise. Most of the narrative has not dated with the passage of time and that's a rare thing to say for a book that, as of 2022, is over six decades old. And in addition, this work doesn't fall into the same trap that many academic books do. It is informative, but not overtly dense. It reveals its source material through footnotes, but these do not distract from the narrative.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goebbels the monster

Goebbels is a good subject to write a biography of because he was a committed diarist and left his thoughts on paper for large parts of his life. He seemed to despise everyone except Hitler who he worshipped, but he was largely outside of Hitler's inner circle during ww2 until the final days when he chose to kill himself and his family rather than escape.

It didn't feel like a biography of one of the main players of WW2 and it felt more like Goebbels's "greatest" achievement was to bring Hitler to power, and he increasingly resented being left out of the decision-making.

It's unimaginable that he and his wife decided to kill all their children. Ironically the rest of his family survived as could he too - had he chosen to. This is a good book and the author has little time for his subject, who he writes of with derision. He certainly made some poor choices and was wrong in almost everything he believed.

[Diogo Jesus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good biography of the Propaganda Mastermind behind one of the worse totalitarian regimes the world has yet seen. Based on his diaries and published works, taken with a lot of care, coordinated by his personal life and different accounts from people who knew Goebbels.
Very interesting to have such an up and close view of: the emotions, resents and motivations of the main characters of this chapter of History; the dissent among the national-socialists; the lack of active interest of Hitler as Chancellor delegating on his lackeys the administrative work; or the initial piousness of a catholic Goebbels (who nevertheless arranged a scheme not to pay back the grant given by the very same Church).

[jbargalloc · Rating 5 out of 5]

El libro es una biografía del doctor Goebbels basada en los restos de sus diarios personales y en entrevistas a personas que eran cercanas a él.
Bueno, es un buen libro. Se lee bien y es interesante para conocer como fue la Alemania Nazi y entender un poco como era la personalidad de Goebbels.
Me ha costado pero ha sido una buena experiencia.

[Werewolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flames of Deceit

Interesting that this man appears to be “mentally” married to the Fuhrer. His life work simply went up in flames. Clever and deceiving, a hint of humanity seemed to exists within.

[Maryann Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting

I've been reading the biographies of the Nazi elite for a couple of years after I read "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." I found this book on Goebbels to be in depth and understandable.

[Rauros Ammonoidea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but short-sighted. Any excerpt from his diaries —often revealing a contradictory and somewhat spiritual chap— are far more telling than this dry and biased depiction of a numb monster —with little to no inkling of his psychology.
Hardly a biography.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the references to the full Germany. How the Nazi Party had to fight to get & keep power. I think the book is at least 90% subjective. The long paragraphs made the reading difficult and I often was not sure if It the author or part of the narrative speaking.

[Klaus Schindler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating biographical read of the propaganda minister and his influence on Hitler and Germany. Really appreciated all of the primary materials the author incorporated as well as the innumerable personal discussions he had with many of the people who knew Dr. Goebbels well.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Charles Giguère · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short Goebbels biography, its ealry years are in chronilogical order, the raise to power and the beginning of the war is presented mostly in a topical arrangement, and the authors return back to a chronological order for the description of the end of the war. The beginning and the end of Gobbels life are more detailed than the years the Nazi raised to power to the first years of the war, which are briefly described. Not a page turner this book is in fact interesting to read and the WWII passionate will certainly find some unknown facts.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goebbels isn't a particularly interesting character, and the history of the Third Reich has been thoroughly documented in many formats so the writer has an uphill struggle to keep the interest of the reader. However, the portions of the book about the Nazi rise to political power contained some interesting perspectives as did his views on other leading Nazis and perspective as the war turned against Germany.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

OCR with no edits?

I found this book disjointed and hard to follow. Events were relayed in random order and sometimes without dates to give context. It was poorly edited and gave me the impression that this ebook was created by doing an OCR of the print copy with no human editing. I am certain that you can find a better source if you are interested in this subject. Perhaps the actual book, rather than the ebook.

[James Sesnak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Joseph Goebbels but in a very dry, clinical sense. The authors relied on personal diaries in addition to first hand accounts to describe his life and those around him. It reads more like a factual dissertation for a PhD. The author leaves no doubt as to the authenticity of its contents but if the reader was looking for a colorful biography of a diabolical character wrapped in a novel of emotional ups and downs, this book is not for you.

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read up to 1933. Goebbels is a character in my novel-in-progress, reaching out to bring Berthold Becker, my main German fictional character, into the Nazi orbit. This book includes many useful glimpses of Goebbels' thinking. LEW ... http://lewweinsteinauthorblog.com/

I will read more later, as my writing progresses.

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look inside the sorry history of the Third Reich, with many quotes from the diaries and letters of Jospeh Goebbels. The edition I read used the same font for the quotations and the author's text, making it sometimes difficult to remember who was speaking. (Like trying to follow a long verbal exchange between two characters in a novel.)

[Amy Murphy-DeMeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book

This book is an excellent biography of Joseph Goebbels. It is so well written, so well documented with personal accounts of Goebbel associates from different aspects and times of his life. A fascinating analysis and study of Hitler's genius and obsessed Propaganda Minister. I highly recommend this book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very intersting, albeit superficial review of Goebbles life. The authors rely heavily on his diaries and letters in their writing. It does not, by any mean, go into excessive detail, so if you're looking for minutiae of the Nazi Regime, look elsewhere. But for an interesting read about this one participant, this is a good place to turn.

[Jeff Wombold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a great deal about Dr Goebbels and his personal and professional life. I also learned just what a monster that he and the entire Nazi regime was. I can't help but wonder if both he and Hitler had ended up with their life desires, Joseph as a writer and Adolf as an artist if the chain of event would have been different.

[Cameron Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very academic but fascinating. Not a lot of good biographies about Goebbels available and this one fills that void.

[Duane Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and very informative book about one of the most despicable members of Hitler's inner circle !

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fascinating to read Goebbels words and to gain insight into the mind of this interesting historical figure. Overall a good read.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched. Translation is poor in places. I wanted some insight into this person and the book delivered it.

[Martha Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life if Joseph Goebbels and how he became the chief of the propaganda machine of Nazi Germany. Also includes the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense. Textbook-like. Interesting..