In a skillful combination of biographical case study and contextual analysis, Scheck presents a readable, often thrilling, account of the troubled transition period before the Nazi catastrophe. Drawing from a vast base of previously unused documents, the book traces the conspiracies and public campaigns of Great Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, a key figure of the German right. By focusing on Tirpitz, known as a supreme politician and manipulator of public opinion, Scheck explains the political and ideological problems contributing to the breakdown of the conservative German right and to the success of the National Socialists in the early 1930s.