Goring: A Biography

``I've had a good run for my money,'' said Hermann Goring shortly after his capture by American troops in 1945. In this important biography, Irving amply demonstrates that this gloating summation was justified. The book is the first major effort at documenting the life of the complex, multifaceted Nazi whom Hitler had named as his successor. Working from diaries, letters, medical reports, interviews and archival records, the author describes Goring's experiences as World War I fighter ace, Stormtroop commander in the 1920s, Reichstag official in the 1930s and Luftwaffe chief throughout World War II. New material includes details of Goring's two marriages, his morphine addiction and withdrawal, his role in founding the Gestapo, his secret negotiations with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain before the war with England, his intrigues to take over command of the German army as well as the air force, and his impressive performance during the Nuremberg war-crimes trials. Irving ( The Destruction of Dresden ) claims to have solved one minor but intriguing mystery: how the closely monitored Goring obtained the poison with which he committed suicide on the eve of his execution by hanging. Photos. (Mar.)