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Books, books, books--the 1995 harvest was generous. Books about journalism, many by sociologists telling us what we should be doing or what we did wrong; reporters' books of war stories and books of reportage.
My nomination for the best book of reportage--a book all journalists can envy--is "Albert Speer: His battle with Truth" by Gitta Sereny (Knopf, $35). Few writers combine the talents of historian and journalist as Sereny does.
We are all tired of books, movies and television documentaries about Hitler and the Nazis, as we are of re-examinations of Stalin, the gulag and communism. Still, new material continues to appear to describe and explain the horrific pain these evil men wrought on their own people and much of Europe.
The case of Speer is special. As Sereny points out, he was probably the most intelligent and most interesting individual in the immediate Hitler circle and the only one who survived to stand trial in Nuremberg, to serve a long prison sentence and to write a comprehensive, readable memoir.
Still in good physical and mental health after 20 years in Spandau Prison, Speer was willing to be interviewed time and again by the indomitable Sereny. She had access to the raw notes Speer wrote in prison that...