The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty that Armed Germany at War

See Larger Image	List Price: $24.99 Our Price: $16.49 Your Save: $ 8.50 ( 34% ) Availability: Usually ships in 9 to 13 days Manufacturer: Back Bay Books Written By: William Manchester Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 338.7672 EAN: 9780316529402 ISBN: 0316529400 Label: Back Bay Books Manufacturer: Back Bay Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 992 Publication Date: 2003-03-04 Publisher: Back Bay Books Studio: Back Bay Books
Related Items Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964 A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance Portrait of an Age The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory
Editorial Reviews: A masterwork of history-restored to print and made available for the first time in trade paperback. In this massive, compellingly readable book, America's preeminent biographer/historian brings to life Europe's richest, most powerful family, a 400-year dynasty that developed the world's most technologically advanced weapons (from cannons to submarines to anti-aircraft guns); provided arms to generations of German leaders, including the Kaiser and Hitler; operated private concentration camps during the Nazi era; survived conviction at Nuremberg; and wielded enormous influence on the course of world events. William Manchester's account of the rise and fall of the Krupp dynasty is history as it should be written-alive with all its terrifying power.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: For such a monumental work never to become boring, is quite a feat Comment: It covers a lengthy span of time in Krupp saga. Its 900 pages have space for all kinds of detail, from the purely familiar and personal to the more general of German customs and idiosyncrasies, and finally -to me the most relevant and interesting- the historical. The historical from the ground perspective, is what I mean, not the ideological or political. There's a lot of merit in this author to keep the interest along so many pages. Some of these pages are of great style, elsewhere the interest plummets a little, which is totally understandable. One paradox in the book that can summarize the story of Krupp is the difference between the way the greatest Krupp (Alfred) treated a poor and foreign woman appealing for help, and the way his great-grandson, would treat people like her in his not-known-well-enough private concentration camps. For Alfred it was: "Necessity knows no law", a fitting motto. Exactly the opposite would be during the Nazi times. Here's a sample of great writing: "Yet there was a time when Alfred's great-grandson not only abandoned helpless women from abroad, but exploited them, and then left them to a doom far more unspeakable than the turbid gray waters of the Rhine. The bonfire of the Third Reich was rapidly being reduced to embers. No sources of manpower were left and so, necessity knowing no law, Krupp turned to girls, to mothers, and, in the end, to the construction of a private concentration camp for children." A must read, for the fine style in which it describes important historical subjects that must be known, the day-to-day lives of the people who lived those turbulent -to say something- times. Let's not forget those horrors. And don't try to understand them, just beware how low the human race can fall. Customer Rating: Summary: Krupp: the Epitome of the Military-Industrial Complex. Comment: William Manchester's "The Arms of Krupp" is an epic look at the company, personalities, dynasty, and the nation that formed one of the world's most infamous armaments manufacturers. From the earliest records of a Krupp in the late 16th century, the Krupp family profited off the suffering an misery of others when Arndt Krupp bought land in Essen for a bargain following an outbreak of bubonic plague. It was a pattern that played out again and again up to the Second World War; but the later tragedies the family profited off was human conflict rather than disease. Throughout the narrative, the reader is introduced to a long list of eccentric and sometimes brutal 'Cannon Kings': from manure-loving Alfred whose genius launched die Firma into its infamous glory, the scandalous Fritz, the robotic Gustav, to the WWII-era slaveholder Alfried. At times, readers will envy the early Krupps for their dedication to die Firma, while in other instances the audience will be appalled by the Krupps' cold-blooded arms dealings that led to the deaths of so many of their own countrymen. Manchester is keen on casting the house of Krupp as a symbol of modern Germany; as their trials and boons both seemed to coincide in recent history. Furthermore, "The Arms of Krupp" is an excellent source for insight on the pre-WWI arms race and the post-Versailles rearmament that other histories of the period overlook. Over all, it is a highly recommended book for anyone interested in the history of Germany and the barons of modern warfare. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent book with annoying features Comment: This book is excellent for all the reasons mentioned in the other reviews. What I found REALLY annoying was the author's use of German quotes. He provides quotes, in German, usually somewhat abbreviated as shown by the use of ellipses, and then provides the translation of the entire quote in English. Since most of his readers can't read German, and the entire quote is NOT in the German version, why include them? More frustrating are the German phrases that he quotes and doesn't translate, leaving us to guess at their meanings. Customer Rating: Summary: The Family That Armed Germany Comment: William Manchester squeezes yet another masterpiece into just under a thousand pages (not counting index!) For four centuries one name was associated with the armaments that were utilized in four major wars, creating the richest family in Europe; Krupp. Each leader of the dynasty had peculiar quirks that Manchester delights over, some were involved in sex scandals, and another ran his day to the second with pure Prussian obsessive-compulsion. Krupp innovations included the steel cannon and railroad wheel; they designed the notorious 88mm of WW II, and the descendant of that gun, the 120mm hypervelocity cannon, may be seen on U.S. tanks to this day. The driving force behind the industrialization of the Ruhr, it would be legitimate to ask if Germany were responsible for the rise of Krupp, or Krupp responsible for the rise of Germany. Like so many others, Alfried Krupp fell under Hitler's spell, spurring him to run private concentration camps in order to produce more weapons. Intrafirm Krupp memoranda from this period begin to use terms such as Sklavenarbeiter (slave labor), Sklavenmarkt (the slave market), Sklavenhalter (the slave-holder, Alfried Krupps), and Judenmaterial (Jewish livestock.) The Nuremberg Trials follow, and Krupp walks away almost unscathed, to continue in business until the company foundered in the 1960s. German history and the Krupp lineage is inextricable, and there is no better writer to bring such a unique saga to life. Customer Rating: Summary: The Arms of Krupp Comment: The ultimate story of the KanonenKonig. I highly recommend this book to anyone intersted in the industrial history of the Ruhr. The best work on the rise of Germany available. More Reviews