Leni:
The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl
Steven Bach
Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
Steven Bach’s Leni is an engaging historical narrative unencumbered by
rich historical details about the Third Reich’s chief documentary filmmaker and
Adolph Hitler’s personal confident, Leni Riefenstahl. What is remarkable is that
her dynamic and dubious life spans the pre-war 1920s to 2002 when she died at
the age of 101.
Bach characterizes Leni Riefenstahl’s attitude and behavior toward her own
people as a person who “remained culturally a tourist in the city of