The Perfect Nazi

In "The Perfect Nazi," BBC commissioning editor Martin Davidson tells the world a dark family secret — that his German grandfather was a dyed-in-the-wool Nazi, an SA Sturmführer, and a captain in Heinrich Himmler’s SS — and finds it a liberating experience. In the following interview, Davidson discusses his memories of his grandfather, his family’s response to the book, and why he characterizes Bruno Langbehn as the Perfect Nazi.

Photos from inside Cheve, the deepest cave in North America

Just released in paperback: James M. Tabor's best-seller "Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth." (Special thanks to Mr. Tabor for providing Failure with the photos included here.) For more on the book and the race to discover the Mount Everest of caves, read To the Supercave (Failure magazine, July 2010).

Above: Bart Hogan, 3,000 feet deep in Cheve’s vast Low Rider Parkway. Though impressive, the Parkway is not especially huge by Cheve standards. Photo © 2010 by Kenneth Davis.

Bill Stone, leader of the expeditions into Cheve cave. Photo © 2010 by Bill Stone.

Marcus Preissner rappels a section of Angel Falls, at a depth of 1,100 feet in Cheve Cave. Redirectionals pull the rope away from plunging water. Photo copyright © 2010 by Kenneth Davis.

Photos from inside Krubera cave

Krubera (KRU-bera) cave is located within the Arabika Massif in the western Caucasus Mountains, in a region of Abkhazia in southeastern Republic of Georgia.

The above photo shows Gennady Samokhin (in red) returning from an abortive dive into Krubera’s Siphon 2, August 2004.

To read about Alexander Klimchouk and the race to discover the Mount Everest of caves, see To the Supercave (Failure magazine, July 2010).

Above: Denis Kurta dropping into Krubera’s 500-foot deep Grand Cascade. Photo ©2010 Alexander Klimchouk and the Call of the Abyss Project.