The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
by
Robert K. Wittman &
David Kinney
Harper Books
Hardcover
From the
publisher's website:
An influential figure in Adolf Hitler’s early inner circle from the
start, Alfred Rosenberg made his name spreading toxic ideas about the
Jews throughout Germany. By the dawn of the Third Reich, he had
published a bestselling masterwork that was a touchstone of Nazi
thinking.
His diary was discovered hidden in a Bavarian castle at
war’s end—five hundred pages providing a harrowing glimpse into the mind
of a man whose ideas set the stage for the Holocaust. Prosecutors
examined it during the Nuremberg war crimes trial, but after Rosenberg
was convicted, sentenced, and executed, it mysteriously vanished.
New York Times
bestselling author Robert K. Wittman, who as an FBI agent and then a
private consultant specialized in recovering artifacts of historic
significance, first learned of the diary in 2001, when the chief
archivist for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum contacted him to say
that someone was trying to sell it for upwards of a million dollars. The
phone call sparked a decade-long hunt that took them on a twisting path
involving a pair of octogenarian secretaries, an eccentric professor,
and an opportunistic trash-picker. From the crusading Nuremberg
prosecutor who smuggled the diary out of Germany to the man who finally
turned it over, everyone had reasons for hiding the truth.
Drawing
on Rosenberg’s entries about his role in the seizure of priceless
artwork and the brutal occupation of the Soviet Union, his conversations
with Hitler and his endless rivalries with Göring, Goebbels, and
Himmler, The Devil’s Diary offers vital historical insight of
unprecedented scope and intimacy into the innermost workings of the Nazi
regime—and into the psyche of the man whose radical vision mutated into
the Final Solution.
The Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob
David Kinney
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover
Simon & Schuster has graciously provided several copies of THE DYLANOLOGISTS for giveaway on BookSpin. To enter to win, tweet your favorite Bob Dylan song to me. My twitter name is @Book_Dude. U.S. entries only, please.
From the
publisher's website:
Bob Dylan is the most influential songwriter of our time and, after a half century, he remains a cultural touchstone, an enigma, and the subject of endless fascination. From the moment he arrived on the music scene, he attracted an intensely fanatical cult following, and in the Dylanologists, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist David Kinney ventures deep into this eccentric subculture to answer a question: What can Dylan's grip on his most enthusiastic listeners tell us about his towering place in American culture?
Kinney introduces us to a vibrant underground: diggers searching for unheard tapes and lost manuscripts, researchers obsessing over the facts of Dylan's life and career, writers working to decode unyieldingly mysterious songs, road warriors who meticulously record and dissect every concert. It's an affectionate mania, but as far as Dylan is concerned, a mania nonetheless. Over the years, the intensely private and fiercely combative musician has been frightened, annoyed, and perplexed by fans to try to peel back his layers. He has made at least one thing crystal clear: He does not wish to be known.
The story of Dylan's followers is also a revealing portrait of the artist himself. Here, reflected in the fans he inspired and the cultural movements he helped create, is every twist and turn in a career that has swerved from lefty activist to ultra-hip spokesman for a generation to woodsy recluse, from secular storyteller to fire-breathing Christian evangelist, from punch line to elder statesman. Dylan may refuse to explain himself to his followers, but their lives have become mirrors of his so profoundly are their stories intertwined.
Told with tremendous insight, intelligence, and warmth, by turns funny and affecting. The Dylanologists is ultimately a book about our universal quest for meaning. It is populated by characters both legendary and obscure, from aging hippies to idealistic twenty somethings and everyone in between - a young woman who, stirred by Dylan, attends law school and becomes a public defender; a man who crams his New York City apartment with memorabilia, transforming it into a pilgrimage spot for Dylan fanatics; a woman inspired by her hero's redemptive music to go clean after years of drug use. Here is a joyous, soulful, and poignant exploration of the origins and meaning of fandom, the healing power of art, and the importance of embracing what moves you, whatever that may be.
