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.

Several decades after WWII, Manning stumbled across the U.S. military CSDIC (Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centers) interviews of members of German industrial and banking magnates in the US National Archives. Aghast at the findings, Manning set out to write a book about the secret machinations of Nazi money laundering. Unknown to Manning, the manuscript was a stake in the heart of former CIA director Allen Dulles (brother of Allan Dulles) who represented many German interests on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1930's and 40's through his law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell with offices in New York and Berlin. Upon the German surrender, Dulles was instrumental in quietly recruiting Hitler's chief intelligence officer General Reinhard Gehlen and many of his key operatives. They were brought to Fort Hunt, Virginia and folded into the American O.S.S. which was converted into the C.I.A. with enactment under Truman of NSC-68 in 1948. Gehlen remained covertly in full U.S. employ until returning to head the German BND in the fifties.

Concerned over public exposure of Manning's investigation, Dulles volunteered to "help" the unsuspecting Manning with his manuscript, and sent him on a carefully orchestrated wild goose chase, searching for Martin Bormann in South America. Without knowing that he had been deliberately sidetracked, Manning wrote a forward to his book personally thanking Allen Dulles for his assurance that "I was on the right track" and "should keep going." In actuality, Dulles' assistance was aimed at sending Manning and his manuscript into obscurity to avoid disclosure of the transfer and protection of Nazi money.

Through its connections with major American corporations, the Bormann group successfully pressured publisher after publisher to decline Manning's manuscript. Of particular significance in the suppression of Manning's book was the Thyssen family.(patriarch Fritz Thyssen was Hitler's earliest and most prominent backer among German industrialists) His grandson, Count Zichy-Thyssen, who controlled Thyssen Steel from his base in Argentina, let it be known it would be very much appreciated if American publishers "stayed away" from the Manning text.

Manning finally found a home for the book at the maverick publishing house Lyle Stuart. In retaliation, the head of the publishing house had his legs broken the week the book was released and reviews of the book were blocked in major newspaper markets and mainstream publications. In 1993, after another decade of intense research, Manning's son Jerry, was senselessly and inexplicably murdered. Based on information garnered from his contacts in the intelligence community, Manning concluded the killing was in retaliation for his continued work and intent to publish a follow-up book, "In Search of Martin Bormann". The death of his son devastated Manning and stymied completion of the 2nd book. He died shortly after in 1995.

In December 1998, California-based researcher and broadcaster Dave Emory conducted a live, on-air radio interview ... with Manning's surviving son, Peter, concerning the Bormann flight capital organization and his father's work in bringing its activities to light. Peter movingly recounted the difficulties his family experienced as a result of his father's work on the book. In addition to surveillance and harassment, the family experienced economic and mental hardship as a result of deliberate efforts by elements hostile to its message. For obvious reasons, copies of this book were assiduously removed from market and have, for some time, been unobtainable. This landmark work nonetheless remains the unvarnished truth regarding Germany's post-war economic rebirth and lays the groundwork for understanding its current bid for dominance in manufacturing, banking and most importantly, publishing. "Martin Bormann: Nazi in Exile" is without peer in detail, accuracy and courage in probing the most important and successfully concealed story of the twentieth century. Mandatory reading.

one of the most disturbing and truth filled books. read this and you will never backdown from the facists again.true grit.

Manning's protaginist, Bourne, wanders through this grisly narrative like a ghost. Friend of the enlisted and confidante of the sub-altern and officers, he cadges, scrounges, fights and kills in the mud, towns and trenches of WW1... Bourne is as likeable as any poet or writer is in a classroom of fellow lads, for that is what most of them were.. Yet his compassion and love for the suffering of his fellow men, though understated and pressed down here, betrays the real experiences of this little known Australian writer.. Hemingway wrote " The finest and noblest book of war that I have ever read " ..

A truly remarkable story of the horrors of the trenches in WWI. Manning, an Australian who moved to Britain to pursue his writing, served in WWI as an enlisted man, upon which the book is based. Bourne, the main character, is based upon Manning's experiences in France on the Western Front during WWI.
The novel provides an interesting insight into the lives of the common man in the trench, based on the perspective of a man who is from the upper class. Despite the class difference, Bourne is able to befriend his comrades, while at the same time, engage with the NCOs and officers who are senior to him.
An important element to derive from the book is the horror of the trenches, and the commanality of the experiences of the men who served, despite their social status. Once a man went "over the top" the base instinct of kill or be killed prevailed. Manning grasps this concept and adeptly describes the mechanical routine of sending men to their death, in what today is an inconceivable amount of casualties.
If you are looking for a good read on what life is like in the trenches, this is a great book.
Manning, while not a household name, won the acclaim of writers of his era to include Hemmingway and T.E. Lawrence. It is an enjoyable read and not easy to put down.

This is an unsung classic. Frederic Manning published it anonymously during his lifetime, but he was a poet and essayist of some repute, and it shows in his first class writing style.

The book, published ten years after the end of the First World War, runs along similar lines to the movie "Saving Private Ryan". The first chapter is stunning. We first find the hero (perhaps not quite the right word), Bourne, struggling back to British lines after a battle. You could almost be there such is the writing. Manning then gives a fantastic account of the emptiness and tension of the First World War battlefield as Bourne thinks over the days events that night.

The rest of book follows Bourne and his friends out of the front lines, and through various travails as they recover from the battle, recruit new men, and prepare for an inevitable return to the trenches.

If you have any interest in war, if you wish to understand what the First World War was really like -- it was not all "mud and blood" as the historians would have you believe -- this is the book for you.

It is a novel, but highly autobiographical. It is therefore easy to read and credible.

I give it five stars, and recommend it to all.