In fifteen incisive profiles, Joachim Fest, one of the greatest authorities on the Third Reich, offers a compelling and definitive examination of the lives of the most infamous Nazi leaders: the dark powers behind Hitler"s throne. They include Hermann Goering: Hitler"s designated successor and issuer of orders for the Final Solution; Joseph Goebbels: Reichsminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and the Kristallnacht mastermind; Heinrich Himmler: Reichsführer of the SS, responsible for the deaths of more than six million Jews; Martin Bormann: Hitler"s private secretary, who wielded power by controlling access to the Führer; Rudolph Hess: Deputy of the Nazi Party who was tried at Nuremberg and controversially imprisoned for life; Albert Speer: "the Nazi who said sorry"; and of course, Hitler himself.