MacDonogh has worked as a journalist, most notably for the Financial Times (1988–2003), where he covered food, drink and a variety of other subjects.
[citation needed] His books have been translated into French, Italian, Bulgarian, German, Chinese, Slovakian, Spanish, Russian and Polish.
Reviewing 1938: Hitler’s Gamble in Spectator Magazine, Graham Stewart said: "Giles MacDonogh has repeatedly shown himself to be in the front rank of British scholars of German history.
The depth of his human understanding, the judiciousness of his pickings from source material and the quality of his writing make this book at once gripping and grave.
Mohnke was rumoured, but never proven, to have ordered the execution of a group of British POWs in the Wormhoudt massacre near Dunkirk in 1940, while Schenck's experiments with medicinal plants in 1938 allegedly led to the deaths of a number of concentration camp prisoners.