Krupps biography

The Arms of Krupp (1968) is William Manchester's history of the Krupp family, which owned a dominant armaments manufacturing company based in Essen, Germany.

Synopsis

The book presents readable and often humorous descriptions of the Krupp family and its businesses from the Thirty Years' War to the Kaisers, the Weimar Republic, the Nazis, the American occupation, and finally the Bonn government.

Krupp - Encyclopedia.com

The book describes how the family and its business received generally favorable treatment from the government, culminating in a special law Lex Krupp. Manchester's book describes family members in detail from the first Krupp (circa 1500) "a shrewd chandler with a keen eye for the main chance," through the family's incarnation by the sixth generation as "Essen's uncrowned kings," to the powerful weapons company that armed Germany for three major wars, and finally the dissolution of the business.

Manchester biases his story; he describes every member as having some Krupp: A History of the Legendary German Firm DAF