The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir

The chief prosecutor of the four-power Nuremberg trials (1945-1946) delivers the ultimate insider's account of the war-crimes prosecution of surviving Nazi leaders. A National Book Critics Circle Award winner for Munich: The Price of Peace , Taylor explains how the Allied governments established the legal basis for the tribunal and organized the courtroom proceedings. He introduces the defendants--Goring, Hess, Ribbentrop, Speer et al.--defines the charges against them, outlines the evidence and recounts individual defense strategies, closing arguments, judicial sentences and (in the case of those condemned to death) the details of their executions. Taylor casts doubt on the legality of the charges against Nazi publisher Julius Streicher and argues that Rudolf Hess, mentally incapable of defending himself, should not have been tried. (Incidentally, he clears up the intrigue surrounding how former Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goring managed to conceal the cyanide capsule with which he committed suicide.) This gripping eyewitness report of an unprecedented international military tribunal is the definitive work on the subject. Photos. (Oct.)