Selling Hitler: The Extraordinary Story Of The Con Job Of The Century—The Faking Of The Hitler "Diaries"
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First US Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In 1983, the world's media was electrified by a sensational announcement: the secret diaries of Adolf Hitler had been discovered, smuggled out of East Germany, and authenticated by leading historians — but the entire affair was one of the most audacious and spectacular forgeries of the twentieth century. Selling Hitler chronicles the outrageous true story of how a small-time German con artist named Konrad Kujau fabricated sixty volumes of fake Hitler diaries and duped the global media empire of Rupert Murdoch, the prestigious magazine Stern, and some of history's most respected academics into paying millions for worthless fabrications. Robert Harris reconstructs the scandal with the pacing of a thriller, dissecting the greed, vanity, and willful blindness that allowed so many experts to suspend their critical judgment in pursuit of the scoop of the century. Harris, who would later achieve fame as a novelist with works such as Fatherland and Archangel, demonstrates here his extraordinary gift for narrative non-fiction, weaving together investigative journalism and historical analysis into a seamless and deeply unsettling account of institutional failure. Selling Hitler stands as a cautionary tale about the dangerous intersection of media sensationalism, academic hubris, and unchecked ambition — a story so improbable that, had it been fiction, it would have been dismissed as too far-fetched. For anyone who believes that truth is stranger than fiction, this riveting account will leave them wondering just how easily the world can be deceived.
Author: Robert Harris
Format: Hardback
Published: 1986, Pantheon Books.
Genre: True crime
Edition: First US Edition.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Tanning and foxing
In 1983, the world's media was electrified by a sensational announcement: the secret diaries of Adolf Hitler had been discovered, smuggled out of East Germany, and authenticated by leading historians — but the entire affair was one of the most audacious and spectacular forgeries of the twentieth century. Selling Hitler chronicles the outrageous true story of how a small-time German con artist named Konrad Kujau fabricated sixty volumes of fake Hitler diaries and duped the global media empire of Rupert Murdoch, the prestigious magazine Stern, and some of history's most respected academics into paying millions for worthless fabrications. Robert Harris reconstructs the scandal with the pacing of a thriller, dissecting the greed, vanity, and willful blindness that allowed so many experts to suspend their critical judgment in pursuit of the scoop of the century. Harris, who would later achieve fame as a novelist with works such as Fatherland and Archangel, demonstrates here his extraordinary gift for narrative non-fiction, weaving together investigative journalism and historical analysis into a seamless and deeply unsettling account of institutional failure. Selling Hitler stands as a cautionary tale about the dangerous intersection of media sensationalism, academic hubris, and unchecked ambition — a story so improbable that, had it been fiction, it would have been dismissed as too far-fetched. For anyone who believes that truth is stranger than fiction, this riveting account will leave them wondering just how easily the world can be deceived.