First published 1981
William Manchester chronicles the rise and persistence of the Krupp armaments dynasty across four centuries of German history. The book traces how this single family built and maintained their weapons manufacturing empire in Essen, surviving dramatic political upheavals from the Thirty Years War through the Kaiser's reign, the Weimar Republic, Nazi rule, American occupation, and into the Bonn government era. Manchester documents the family's knack for securing advantageous relationships with each successive regime, with the notable exception of the Weimar period. The narrative reveals the stark contradictions within the Krupp enterprise: progressive social welfare programs for regular workers existed alongside the brutal exploitation of forced laborers. Manchester details how the Krupps supplied arms to both the Kaiser and Hitler, helped finance Hitler's Terror Election of 1933, and operated 138 private concentration camps during the Nazi years. The book exposes the peculiar personalities and behaviors of individual family members while showing how industrial power intersected with political authority throughout German history.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, business, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-saga, power-dynamics
Setting: Essen, Germany
Period: 1587-1968
1068 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam Books, Inc.
Content warnings: violence