Anticipating the defeat of the Third Reich; Reichsleiter Martin Bormann set up 750 corporations in neutral countries; primed as vehicles to receive the liquid wealth of Germany in addition to patents and other proprietary industrial information. An organizational genius and the real power behind Hitler; Bormann; known as the "Brown Eminence"; successfully fled Europe for South America and administered a "Reich in Exile" in the years following the war. With remnants of the SS as an enforcement arm; former Gestapo chief General Heinrich Mueller as security director; the 750 corporations as a base of economic power and the willing silence and cooperation of the Western Allies; Bormann guided his organization to a position of consummate power. One banker quoted by Manning termed the Bormann Organization; the "world's most important accumulation of money power under one control in history". Controlling Germany's major corporations; the Federal Republic itself and much of Latin America; the Bormann Organization also maintained a formidable circle of influence in the United States. Paul Manning has written the definitive text on the Bormann Organization. Manning worked with CBS radio during World War II in London as a member of the elite Edward R. Murrow/Walter Cronkite team. As part of his coverage duties; he was the only member actually allowed to fly on U.S. Air Force missions as a fully functional crew member. Having qualified as a gunner; his flights included B-17 missions with the 8th Air Force over Germany and several B-29 missions to Japan. On behalf of CBS; he broadcasted the surrenders of Japan and Germany. In 1948; along with fifteen other distinguished war correspondents; he was awarded a medal for his reporting of the unconditional surrender of the Germans at Rheims. After the war Manning continued his journalistic profession and also served as a speechwriter for Nelson Rockefeller.
#2036611 in Books 2013-10-04Original language:English 9.00 x .9 x 6.00l; #File Name: 149288892336 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A great addition to a great line of fascinating books on people from a past that we should know aboutBy Ron ArnoldAnother in the excellent Charles River Editors library of well-written; well-illustrated and thoroughly readable explorations of world culture that's rewarding to the interested layman. While describing the archaeological and social background of an important Mesoamerican people; The Toltec manages to cover nearly all the experts and avoid technical jargon that could put off the beginning reader in the field. The study of the Toltec people is lively and even rowdy; still rife with scholarly conflict over who they were and how they related to their neighbors in both space and time: were they direct descendants of the Olmec mother culture or later invading immigrants from north of the Valley of Mexico? Were the Toltec conquerors or trade partners who intermarried with the Maya in Chichen (later known as Chichen Itza)? Did the Toltec build or conquer an already-built Tollan; their capital city; and why is the name applied to two cities; Tula and Teotihuacan? Were the Teotichuacano Toltec related to the founder of the great polity of Copan in present-day Honduras; K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo; who came from Teotichuacan according to David Stuart's study of inscriptions on Copan's Altar Q? And how did we discover that these "altars" were actually thrones for rulers to sit on for ceremonies; not the platforms for human sacrifice (of which the Toltec did plenty in other settings)? These and many other questions are posed and investigated like a detective story with unpredictable plot twists in The Toltec. Highly recommended.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Absorbing; Authoritative!By Dr. Johnson C. PhilipThe Toltecs were a civilization highly advanced in technology. It is a wonder as to how such an advanced civilization perished so completely.The book is highly enjoyable and each of its 8 chapters is full of fascinating information about this ancient culture and civilization. The charm of reading this book is enhanced by a liberal sprinkling of pictures. I must say that I was full of awe about this technologically advanced civilization by the time I can to the end of this book.As the intro says; the book does include*** Pictures depicting important people; places; and events.*** A bibliography for further reading.Recommendation:*** Well-written; absorbing book*** I highly recommend it1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. competent introductory primerBy C. D. VarnAside from a strange chapter on Carlos Castaneda that has no relationship to the archeological and historical summaries of the rest of the book; this serves as a sufficient introduction to beginning to look into Toltec history in English. Very basic but designed to be that way; the bibliography itself is very useful.
