Product Description

This perennial classic of political literature remains the only book to document the trading of the American financial establishment with Hitler's Germany in World War II, from Pearl Harbor to V-E Day. Ford supplied tanks to Hitler, the Chase Bank financed the Nazis in Paris, ITT built rocket bombs for Goering and Standard Oil fueled U-boats in the Atlantic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #368370 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 302 pages

About the Author
Charles Higham is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Duchess of Windsor, Kate: The Life of Katharine Hepburn, and Bette Davis. His Howard Hughes: The Secret Life is the basis of the movie The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

He is the recipient of the Academie Francaise Prize of the Creators, among other awards.

Customer Reviews

Not a single source reference
The book makes radical claims but does not have a single source referenced throughout 220+ pages of its text to substantiate its allegations.

It does include an appendix with the list of books and documents that the author allegedly used, however there are no references to these sources from the main text to support author's statements, and the document list is not accompanied by archival case numbers. Some of the documents, for example, are listed as "FBI Reports, Various, 1942".

Overall, the book appears to be of the genre generally described as "folk history".

Tellingly, search in JSTOR database does not find a single academic review of the book. As a matter of fact, there are only two references to the book at all -- one in a theoretical article unconcerned with particulars of real history, another in an article published by Canadian labor history magazine.

The Hobo Philosopher
Do you want to read a book that will really rock your boat? Then pick up "Trading with the Enemy" The Nazi-American Money plot 1933-1949.
Since I have taken up as a research project for myself, the investigation of World War II, from the philosophical perspective of `The Just War' notion or concept, I find myself being lead down many a strange alley.
After reading much of the conventional literature on the rise of Adolf Hitler, the obvious question occurred to me; Where did Adolf get his money? Nobody gains political power, EVER, ANYWHERE, without money. Anybody who thinks that even our soft spoken, country gentleman Jimmy Carter jumped out of a peanut patch, or Harry Truman out of a Haberdashery store in Missouri, or Abe Lincoln out of a log cabin, or Sun Yat-Sen out of a rice paddy, or even Fidel Castro out of a sugarcane field, is very naive to say the least. Without money, nobody goes nowhere in politics - anywhere in the world - nor throughout the annals of History. It just doesn't happen - ever.
So as an adjunct to discovering the moral righteousness or immoral iniquity of World War II, I have been led to investigating also, the financing of the Third Reich, and the personal backing for Adolf and his buddies. This is without any doubt a story yet to be written, of unbelievable proportions.

Other books on this subject that the reader might find interesting:
"Who Financed Hitler" James Pool
"Hitler and his Secret Partners" James Pool
"The American Axis" Max Wallace
"Hitler's Secret Bankers" Adam Lebor
"The Arms of Krupp" William Manchester
"The Service" Reinhard Gehlen
"The Dutchess of Windsor" Charles Higham
"Merchants of Death" Engelbrecht and Hanighen
"Shattered Peace" Daniel Yergin
"The War Years 1939-1945" I. F. Stone
"Errol Flynn" Charles Higham
"The Secret War Against the Jews" Loftus and Aarons
"Blowback" Christpher Simpson
"The Plot to Seize the White House" Jules Archer

Books written by Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher:
"Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.."
"A Summer with Charlie"
"A Little Something: Poetry and Prose"
"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"
"The Eastpointer" Selections from award winning column.

A Tedious Re-Hash Of Old Issues, With No Citations Or Footnotes, That Relies On Over Gerneralization
I generally avoid books like "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949," because I do not like economics or political science/propaganda, except as they relate to larger sociological and cultural issues. However, after ordering this book for a friend, my interest in WWII was piqued, and at first blush I thought the book may be interesting to read. As I read the "Preface," I had to constantly remind myself it was just that, a preface. But after the first paragraph, I was screaming out for the lack of citations. I continually read through the Appendices, hoping to make connections on my own, but it soon proved pointless. The only reason I continued reading was because my friend wanted my assessment of the book. Given that I did so, I figured I might as well write a review, and hopefully help other potential buyers.

UPDATE: December 29, 2008

If you do not like long, detailed reviews, this review is not for you!

Since writing this review, I have written a number of other reviews and have been actively trying to get Amazon.com to broaden customer feedback processes. One issue is that reviews for a title are all lumped together, regardless of the edition or printing. Ironically, that is not the case for "Trading With The Enemy." So, you may want to look at other versions if you are looking for more reviews (I have not written reviews of these other editions as I have not seen or read those editions, which in fact may be more academic editions of the book).

I also want to reiterate that this review of "Trading With The Enemy" is based upon the fact that the book is classified as an academically and professionally written political science book, and not a general reading non-fiction book. As such, my criticisms are NOT about the authenticity or factuality of the topic, but rather the utter absence of academic rigor, the questionable need for yet another book on the subject, the fallacy that "This perennial classic of political literature remains the only book to document the trading of the American financial establishment with Hitler's Germany in World War II, from Pearl Harbor to V-E Day" and the questionable credentials of the author to write on the topic. As one comment to this review noted, the book's bibliography is 15 pages long; almost all of which deals with the very topic of this "seminal" book.

Lastly, I want to make it clear that if you are unfamiliar with the subject matter--American Financing of Hitler's Germany--and interested in learning about this chapter of American history, "Trading With The Enemy" is a (poorly written and dull) non-academic, non-professional popular reading book that may interest you.

UPDATE: February 3, 2009

I have continued to get requests for alternative books/resources on this subject, and would like to state that I learned about this when I was in High School back in the late 1960s, so I have long forgotten any titles specific to this topic. Nonetheless, I have done considerable research since first posting this review. As a result, I have posted several web pages that would make good starting points for doing your own research, which I have listed in my latest comment. In addition to those web site references, I have now listed the government documents cited in "Trading With The Enemy," along with a couple of other books books that I can't fit in this review; nor do I think they may be any better than this book.

Hence, I would like to suggest several books that I enjoyed reading when I was young, that are resources you might find helpful in understanding the circumstances of the era; (again, it has been years since I have read these books). While they may not provide valid or reliable history, Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf, Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich (as well as his other books), Joseph Goebbel's The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943 (which I actually read in Jr HS) and Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich, Hermann Göring's Germany Reborn, and if you can find Rudolf Hess' "Speeches," his wife's (Ilse Hess) book, "Prisoner of Peace," or his son's (Wolf Ruidger Hess) book, "My Father Rudolf Hess" are all excellent reading and provide personal insight about the Third Reich. There are two other books that I have glanced at, but cannot personally comment on, that are more recently published on the subject of "Trading With The Enemy," which you might want to consider: IBM and IBM and the Holocaust : The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most PowerfulCorporation and German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler. Both books have excellent reviews; for a professional review of "German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler" go to http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v08/v08p369_Ries.html.

For more generalized sociological understanding of power, oppression, and strange bedfellows, I would highly recommend Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (Penguin Classics), C. Wright Mills' The Power Elite, and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, all of which I have read several times and used in classes.


Analytical/Academic Review of "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949":

While I have no way of documenting this, it is my belief that "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949" is little more than a very boring synthesis of several of the books the author read and listed in his bibliography. I read nothing that I had not read before (primarily in high school), including the author's "conclusions." In the Preface, Mr. Higham states in his final paragraph:
"I have tried to write this book as dispassionately as possible, without attempting a moral commentary, and without, of course, intending implications of present corporations and their executive boards." (p.xx)

I can emphatically state that the author, Charles Higman, fails to live up to this claim. The text is riddled with inflammatory words (e.g., "muckraking," "duplicitous") and phrases (e.g., "...ruthlessly ambitious," "...a high-pitched, intense voice, small, probing eyes..." (p.3)). While there are even more colorful terms used, my citing such would take more time than I care to spend.

The commentary essentially uses a dichotomy system of categorizing people and groups: anti-Nazi and anyone else (by implication or comment) is pro-Nazi. As such, the author implies that nearly everyone is a Nazi--including the predecessors and successors of those people and organizations he "discusses." Through this dichotomy, then, "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949," is also implying that the actions of various (if not all) multi-national organizations, directly or through their representatives, placed and continue to place the international market ahead of all other things. (A theme that my friend is seeking; that is, a "smoking gun" to prove "why" the USA is involved in two "wars.")

In addition to using this style of writing that leads to over generalizations, the author provides absolutely no support for what he has written. Hence, beyond the author's claims, there is absolutely no supporting evidence (i.e., citations to (multiple) PRIMARY sources). Without citations, the author was unable to provide expanded discussions in footnotes/endnotes, that are used in good books, to counterpoint arguments, draw unsubstantiated conclusions, add supplemental information and commentary, or make points that are evaluative or opinionated. Instead, Mr Higham does all of this, without stating that he is doing so, in the body of the book. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT MEAN the reader should think that the claims and information presented in "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949" are inaccurate; that is not what I am saying. I am saying that the "facts" are not appropriately cited; historically, or otherwise, presented; and, as such, one cannot take any conclusions as scientifically/historically valid or reliable.

In my opinion, the author relies upon an old method of "impressing" the reader: endless numbers of specific names of individuals and organizations; and repetitive, back and forth, usage of dates. This technique--one that I commonly saw as a former college professor in "research" and "term" papers, that were, in fact, not researched; but rather "re-written" from a book or set of books--gives the illusion of being factual and well researched. This, then, is what the Mr Higham is doing in his book, "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949": he is re-writing what is already out there in other books, GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS, and articles, while appearing to be a "new" treatise on an old subject.

As such, I must completely disagree with the description provided by Amazon (and presumably whomever they got it from): "This perennial classic of political literature remains the only book to document the trading of the American financial establishment with Hitler's Germany in World War II, from Pearl Harbor to V-E Day." The falsehood of this statement--THAT IT IS THE ONLY BOOK TO DOCUMENT AMERICAN FINANCIAL INVOLVEMENT WITH HITLER'S GERMANY--is most easily found in the author's own bibliography, which lists dozens of books and a number of Congressional reports dealing with American's financial involvement with Germany (and other non-sanctioned countries), from prior to Pearl Harbor to after the end of the war.

I also have questions concerning Mr Charles Higham's credentials for writing this book, and with the books unusual printing history. After spending two days of research (on-line and in the local library) trying to learn more about the author's credentials, I found that Wikipedia's write up on Mr Higham along with the description provided by Amazon, are about as informative as it gets concerning his credentials. To sum it up, Mr Higham graduated in English poetry, acquired a position at University of California, Santa Cruz, and started reviewing and studying movie history. The only other publication by Mr Higham remotely related to this book is a "biography" of Erroll Flynn (a book not even mentioned in Amazon's description), whom the author was attempting to prove was a Nazi when he decided to write "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949." Mr Higham's book on Flynn has been nearly universally panned as misleading, inaccurate, and making false conclusions. Thus, the author's credentials are simply this: Mr Higham is a "movie historian/critic" who has won a French award for "creative" writing! As to the printing history of "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949," I believe that Dell Publishing may have published the book first; but I have not been able to verify that point. [NOTE: On Jul 5, 2008, M. Cooper, in a comment on this review, stated: "FYI, the 1983 hardcover edition was published by Delacorte Press." Given this information, I have backtracked my research and found that the first edition, Trading With the Enemy: An exposé of the Nazi-American money plot, 1933-1949, also had at least five printings!] The current edition, by Backinprint.com, is essentially an "on demand" printing. That is, the book is on a computer with the "publisher" and they print out copies as needed/requested.

In conclusion, "Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949" is a book I really wish I had never read. For someone who did not receive a complete education in US history, the issues and events re-hashed in the book may be "revealing" and, to a degree, may provide insight into today's international economy; but not in any valid or reliable format.

If this review was not helpful to you, I would appreciate learning the reason(s) so I can improve my reviews. My goal is to provide help to potential buyers, not get into any arguments. So, if you only disagree with my opinion, could you please say so in the comments and not indicate that the review was not helpful. Thanks.