The Last Nazi: The Life and Times of Dr. Joseph Mengele

Now that Mengele's remains have been exhumed and identified, we can expect a number of popular biographies. Astor spent several years preparing this loosely documented study. As to the ``Angel of Death's'' motives and inner psyche, the author has few thoughtful answers. The Auschwitz chapters are predictably shocking and melodramatic; it is only when Astor focuses on Mengele's decades of evasion in South America that the story becomes taut and meaningful. For it is only then that the aging and impenitent Nazi achieves those human qualities that make him seem plausible and understandable. A well-written albeit somewhat sensationalistic study that many public libraries will wish to acquire. Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll. Lib., Burlington, Vt.Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.