Mengele

The Complete Story

By: Gerald Posner, John Ware, Michael Berenbaum - introduction

Narrated by: Bruce Mann

Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on exclusive and unrestricted access to more than 5,000 pages of personal writings and family photos, this definitive biography of German physician and SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Josef Mengele (1911-1979) probes the personality and motivations of Auschwitz's "Angel of Death". From May 1943 through January 1945, Mengele selected who would be gassed immediately, who would be worked to death, and who would serve as involuntary guinea pigs for his spurious and ghastly human experiments (twins were Mengele's particular obsession). With authority and insight, Mengele examines the entire life of the world's most infamous doctor.

©1986 Gerald L. Posner and John Ware (P)2020 Tantor

A Solid Biography of a Fugitive

Mengele continues to fascinate because he was never caught as much as much as for what he did during the war. Posner and Ware give you the full measure here, from youth to Auschwitz to South America. While sketchy on his youth and early service on the Eastern Front, from there on the detail is present and accounted for. His activities in the camp are presented in full measure and the authors avoid a long rehash of the Holocaust in total to remain focused on Mengele. His postwar odyssey is the focus of the narrative, with the necessary aside about Eichmann's capture to give the context that although he was wanted and was sometimes searched for, no real effort was ever made to get him, aside from Mossad's brief interest. He lived under his own name for years, traveled back to Germany in his own name once and had far too much contact with his family to have remained hidden away for decades if the authorities really wanted to get him. His final years, fading away in ill health, isolated and bitter, going a bit mad, perhaps, lead up to the rather banal death and the subsequent effort to cover up his identity as long as possible. Well worth the listen if you have an interest in the war.

Too extensive details no really interesting

It seems to include to little information about his life and work during the war, and a lot of info about what everyone thinks about him after. No what I expected

good narration; exhaustively detailed

Credibly written and seems exhaustive. For me, too much detail of little interest or consequence. Narration is good. I did finish it, albeit without great enthusiasm.

Tedious

Exhaustively researched, but the author really, really, really wants the reader to know how much work he put into it, so he includes everything he found, even if it is just an extraneous detail. He also is highly prone to hyperbole (“satanic” “demonic”) and makes snide comments throughout the writing. The narrator has a nasal, grating voice. I’m glad this book was free

Good Book, Bad Audio

I bought this audio from Audible and the narrator was so bad that I could not listen to it. Buyer beware. I wish Audible would give me a free credit to get something I can at least listen to without becoming distracted or falling asleep. The narrator can make or break an audio book. Be careful when making your purchases.

great book

10/10 truly. great listen and I enjoyed every second of it. compelling storytelling and writing

Great book, really interesting

I'm not sure who these people are giving this one-star, but I'm going to guess they're the same people that watch a 30-min documentary (with 12 mins of commercials and intros) and think they're an expert on the subject.

I went in not knowing much about Mengele other than the obvious. I've read hundreds of WW2 books and Mengele is touched on, but they never go into any depth. Anyways, I thought this book was fantastic. It stays interesting the entire time, gives a load of information, and something I really appreciate, it tells you what the outside world is thinking at the time. It helps put events in context. Also it makes movies from the 70s that touch on Mengele make a lot more sense.

The 2nd half of the book, about escaping to South America and being on the run is really interesting. Again, just hearing it in context of the time, how he's be hunted for, all the false alarms, all the people arrested that authorities thought was Mengele, how the news shaped events, it's remarkable stuff.

The reader does a good professional job. I listened at 1.3x speed, my usual, and it never felt overly rushed.

Love this book

I love this book so much! It goes into depth about Josef Mengele's whole life with very accurate information. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the life of Josef Mengele, aka angel of death. Overall, I love this book cuz I have it in audio and a physical copy of this book and others on him.

Good performance, but heavily biased

The book goes into great detail about Mengele's life. But sometimes it seems to lean heavily on opinion and personal desire of the authors which makes questionable the accuracy of some historical events mentioned in the book

Terrible narrator

I was really disappointed in who narrated this book. I felt annoyed before the introduction was over. I feel as tho Stefan Rudnicki would make this a 5 star rating. Please let me know if you ever decide to go in that direction.