Quite possibly the most dangerous and intelligent member of the Nazi hierarchy, Joseph Goebbels’s flair for propaganda and spectacular organization ensured the fu¨hrer’s rise to power. As founder of the Reich Chamber of Culture, gauleiter of Berlin, and architect of complex machinery of modern totalitarian propaganda, Goebbels is considered one of the most evil figures of the twentieth century. It was through his understanding of the instruments of ?public enlightenment” that the dictatorship was built and maintained. Through interviews with his friends and family and with information from his own unpublished diary, a remarkable picture of Goebbels emerges.