In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann Goring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot water bottle, and the equivalent of $1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining Goring in the detention ...
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In 1945, after his capture at the end of the Second World War, Hermann Goring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg, accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, two cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot water bottle, and the equivalent of $1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can, a set of brass vials housed glass capsules containing a clear liquid and a white precipitate: potassium cyanide. Joining Goring in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime--Grand Admiral Donitz; armed forces commander Wilhelm Keitel and his deputy Alfred Jodl; the mentally unstable Robert Ley; the suicidal Hans Frank; the pornographic propagandist Julius Streicher--fifty-two senior Nazis in all, of whom the dominant figure was Goring. To ensure that the villainous captives were fit for trial at Nuremberg, the US army sent an ambitious army psychiatrist, Captain Douglas M. Kelley, to supervise their mental well-being during their detention. Kelley realized he was being offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to discover a distinguishing trait among these arch-criminals that would mark them as psychologically different from the rest of humanity. So began a remarkable relationship between Kelley and his captors, told here for the first time with unique access to Kelley's long-hidden papers and medical records. Kelley's was a hazardous quest, dangerous because against all his expectations he began to appreciate and understand some of the Nazi captives, none more so than the former Reichsmarshall, Hermann Goring. Evil had its charms.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. Size: 6x1x9; SIGNED BY AUTHOR. Also, has gift inscription. Clean, solid hardcover copy with unmarked text. Jacket has mild surface, edge and corner wear. Bump at bottom spine end but binding is tight and square. Books, box sets, and items other than standard jewel case CDs and DVDs that sell for $9 or more ship in a box; under $9 in a bubble mailer. Expedited and international orders may ship in a flat rate envelope rather than a box due to cost constraints. All US-addressed items ship with complimentary delivery confirmation.
Edition:
First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]
Publisher:
PublicAffairs,U.S.
Published:
2013
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
14809117274
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Seller's Description:
Very good in Very good jacket. x, 281, [3] pages. Principal Characters. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Signed by the author on the title page. Jack El-Hai is an American journalist and author who focuses most of his work on the history of medicine, the history of science, and other historical topics. He is the author of a biography of Dr. Walter Freeman, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, and Turbulent Air: A History of Northwest Airlines. Lt. Colonel Douglas McGlashan Kelley (11 August 1912-January 1, 1958) was a United States Army Military Intelligence Corps officer who served as chief psychiatrist at Nuremberg Prison during the Nuremberg War Trials. He worked to ascertain defendants' competency evaluations before standing trial. Along with psychologist Gustave Gilbert he administered the Rorschach inkblot test to the 22 defendants in the Nazi leadership group prior to the first Nuremberg trials. Kelley authored two books on the subject: Twenty-two Cells in Nuremberg and The Case of Rudolph Hess. Derived from a Kirkus review: Ace reportage on the relationship between a prison physician and one of the Third Reich's highest ranking officials. El-Hai's exploration begins at the end: with the suicide of Douglas Kelley. The author examines the origins of his internal crisis: his professional association with Hermann Göring. El-Hai details the intensive interaction between the two men. Kelley was called in to perform physical and mental evaluations on the top Nazi officials awaiting arraignment in the Nuremberg tribunals. He zeroed in on Göring. Hitler's right-hand man. The prideful and charming Göring acquiesced to the general orthodoxy of Kelley's medical assessments. The doctor became increasingly enraptured by Göring, delving intensively into his fearlessness and exploring the unshakable allegiance of the Nazi personality. This obsessive research would negatively manifest itself in Kelley's psyche for decades, ultimately facilitating his undoing. El-Hai's spadework involved scouring Kelley's trove of private documents, letters and clinical journals, provided by the doctor's oldest son. El-Hai's gripping account turns a page in American history and provides an unsettling meditation on the machinations of evil.
