Name: Hitler's Piano Player
ISBN: 9780715635285

Peter Conradi

Conradi recounts the remarkable life of Ernst Hanfstaengl--Hitler's court jester, pianist, and foreign press chief, and history's personal link between Hitler and FDR--through newly declassified documents, photographs, interviews with members of his family and writing by Hanfstaengl himself.

The Rise and Fall of Ernst Hanfstaengl, Confidant of Hitler, Ally of FDR

Hitler's Piano Player

Tim Pendry

A competent and well written account of a politically naive, rather second-rate bit-player in the Nazi drama. What is interesting here is that an experienced working journalist is looking at the life story of a PR man who just happened to be pals with the biggest gangster in an era of gangsters and who scuttled out of fear and not conviction because he became an increasingly embarrassing buffoon. What is truly fascinating is how nothing changes in terms of the sort of personality attracted to power and the techniques employed in media manipulation - should be read by anyone in the PR business or political communications who is under the illusion that they actually matter. There are many better books on the Nazi era but we need such books on the buffone to keep us all grounded.

Hitler's Piano Player The Rise and Fall of Ernst Hanfstaengl, Confidant of Hitler, Ally of FDR

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