Mengele

January 1, 1986
Based on five years' research and exclusive access to family papers, this highly engrossing book gives the fullest account yet published of Josef Mengele's life. Posner, a Manhattan attorney, and Ware, a British journalist, also examine the efforts to bring the doctor to trial and draw conclusions about why he was never caught. They separate fact from legend, account for the false trails that enticed West German and Israeli agents and self-appointed Nazi hunters, and describe the media circus in 1985 when the grave of the "Angel of Death'' was finally found. The book is filled with startling touches, such as Mengele's first wife's comments after visiting her husband at Auschwitz when he was conducting his ``experiments.'' The book is an exciting chronicle of escape, evasion, close calls and fearful loneliness. Through extended quotes from a diary Mengele kept from May 1960 until shortly before his death in 1979, plus the comments of many people who knew him at various stages, a memorable multifaceted portrait of ``the world's most hated man'' emerges. Photos. 50,000 first printing; $20,000 ad/promo; author tour. (June 16