Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir
Leni Riefenstahl was a dancer, actress, and pioneering filmmaker whose work for the Nazi Party, above all Triumph of the Will and the 1936 Olympics film Olympia, made her brilliance and her guilt impossible to separate. In this long autobiography she tells her own version of that life: her rise, her famous friendships, her account of her relationship to Hitler's regime, and her insistence on being judged as an artist. The book is self-serving and selective, which is part of why readers return to it. Tina Fey has called it her favorite cautionary book, a reminder of what it means to make art in service of a leader without asking where he is leading.
What you might want to know about Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
The memoir of the German filmmaker behind Triumph of the Will and Olympia, whose talent and ties to the Nazi regime made her one of the most argued-over artists of the century.
Tina Fey has named it her favorite cautionary book, treating Riefenstahl as a warning about being a gifted artist who goes along with a destructive leader.
It is her own version of events and is widely seen as selective and self-serving, especially about her ties to the Nazi regime, which is part of why it is read critically.
Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir was written by Leni Riefenstahl, published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press.
Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir is 669 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir takes most readers 10 to 14 hours to finish.
Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
