User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I was somewhat disturbed to hear from Lilo that the negative review of
Er ist wieder da which she had posted on Amazon had been removed without notice. As an experiment, I thought I would post a negative review of
Mein Kampf, where I do the same thing and advise people not to read it. You can find the review here.
So far, three people have voted for it and one person has attacked me in a rather bizarre way. I'm curious to find out what will happen next. In particular, I want to see if Amazon remove my review too. My guess is that this will only happen if the review gets a large number of votes - so if you're also curious, please go there and add your vote. I will post an update if and when there have been any significant developments.
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Well, here's an interesting development. The Amazon review, which is currently running at 20-3, has not been deleted... but one of the more deranged posts by "CitizenChampion", the guy who was attacking it,
has been removed.
So far, then, Amazon have behaved quite correctly. Did anyone on this thread flag Citizen's post? I didn't.
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Only a few hours later, and with the score at 24-3, we have a new incident: this time, Amazon have deleted a sarcastic post criticizing "CitizenChampion" and implying... well, let's not get into that. But it went remarkably quickly. Whoever's in charge certainly seems to have their eye on this one.
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I knew "CitizenChampion" wouldn't give up that easily. Since his latest post will probably soon be deleted by the moderator, I'm pasting in a copy here.
In all probability you are a Jew.It further seems that these hidden bastards might share a common trait that an enemy once is an enemy always. What you have committed has little or nothing to do with "Mein Kampf",though you truly fear them this is about an enbred contempt perhaps even the having of ill-will against my ability to participate. This forum like another forum here at Amazon is a wicked as it is corrupt.You are not honest Manny Rayner and neither are this hidden filth behind the scenes that I wpould rather grab you by the throat,You bastard menace.
Keep at it, "Citizen"! I'm feeling prouder of my partially Jewish ethnicity every day. The score is now 31-3.
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I'm afraid that all of Citizen's posts have now disappeared from the Amazon review: some have been deleted by the moderator, and some by Citizen himself. He's probably making a smart move. I don't know where he's from, but in quite a lot of countries he might have been getting into illegal hatespeech territory.
Well, Citizen, if that was so then I'm flattered you were willing to risk a fine or maybe even some community service to attack my little review.
[Update: in England, it seems that this would be entirely possible. See Paul's message #85 in the comment thread.] And I'm relieved that I had the presence of mind to save one of your comments for posterity. You have not written in vain.
The score is now 37-3, and the review has reached the first page. Thanks for all the support, guys!
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A few days later, and Citizen is back! I'm copying all his posts from now on. Why, oh why, didn't I do this right from the start? You can see that I'd never have made an investigative journalist. Anyway, here is his latest open letter to the world:
Your a liar Manny Rayner, however like your source of information it remains an embedded feature of your claim. You remain a hidden wretched wickedness that is a plague upon a honest word. You indeed like your claim of half and half is like your word,it is stolen and now you are crying wolf. One further thing your inability to be honest is likened to this websites inability to be honest as to "Mein Kampf". I really do not care whatever cornball crap your hustling whoever the hell you are but one thing is for certain this no good website has deleted many upon many comments of mine that require an honest approach to who is Adolf Hitler.This embedded feature is so determined to deny any claim of another opinion that this embedded feature is as your half and half claim,that is your history as well as this claim has legs. What I said was in all probability you are a Jew this was after Amazon was having a heart attack.Amazon is not capable of being honest.It is truly regretful to have worked well on an opinion and then to see this disease spread. Do you know who Amazon is ?
The score is now 45-4.
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Citizen's latest post has been deleted (it says by the author), but now a new voice has joined the conversation. "Loki" writes:
The statement "Hitler is evil" is a subjective statement: I for one do not subscribe to the idea of absolute "Good" and absolute "Evil". So, I do not think it appropriate to stay away from reading any book because someone thought the author "evil". One should read and assess for oneself.
So I do not think it appropriate that people should recommend against reading a particular because they consider the author or subject "Evil". They should make the recommendation solely on the merits of the book, AFTER reading the book.
I hope Amazon would take note and will not allow such reviews to be posted.
How will Amazon react? My prediction is that they'll just ignore it, but we will soon see.
The score is now 49-6.
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"Loki", who is a good deal more polite and coherent than Citizen, is still trying to persuade me that I am being unfair to
Mein Kampf. He says that everyone has a right to be heard, including Hitler. Well, as I just replied, I couldn't disagree more. Hitler long ago forfeited his right to be heard. He has no rights at all.
We're now at 50-6.
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This thing is in danger of getting out of hand; I had no idea that so many Goodreaders felt it was immoral to discourage people from reading what is widely cited as the most hateful and dangerous literary work in human history. But, be that as it may, I would just like to remind everyone what the original point of the exercise was: I wanted to see if Amazon would delete a review whose sole purpose was to persuade shoppers not to buy
Mein Kampf.
I have said harsh things about Amazon before, but this time I'm delighted to give them a clean bill of health. If anything, they have been overzealous in defending me. At least in this instance, they have made it very clear that they think it's more important to show respect towards Hitler's millions of victims than to try and increase their profits by removing or downplaying negative reviews of his dreadful, utterly evil book.
I misjudged you, Amazon. Apologies, and Merry Christmas!
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An interesting article in today's
Independent about the new edition of
Mein Kampf that is about to appear. As noted, there are quite a few well-informed people who disapprove. I was particularly struck by this passage:
Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish community in Munich, said she had not vigorously opposed it when the project first surfaced. But her position, she said, hardened after hearing from outraged Holocaust survivors.
“This book is most evil; it is the worst anti-Semitic pamphlet and a guidebook for the Holocaust,” she said. “It is a Pandora’s box that, once opened again, cannot be closed.”
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Visiting Pioneer Books this week, I noticed a 1936 English edition of
Mein Kampf on the shelf. The blurb is so fascinating that I have to copy it out here:
The Paternoster Library
This new and attractively produced series is specifically designed to appeal to the discriminating general reader who wishes to secure for a moderate outlay an up-to-date library which will provide him with a steady supply of interesting, informative and entertaining books that have already proved their worth in high-priced editions. All the titles in this series will be produced in a uniform and attractive format that will prove an ornament to any library shelf.
In choosing titles for this library the publishers wish to cater for the most varied taste, but in doing so they intend to ensure that only books of real merit are selected, and it is hoped that any books so chosen will come to be regarded as ones that are automatically worthy of a permanent place on any publisher's shelves.
My Struggle
It would not be exaggerating to say that no more important autobiography than this has been published since the War, and certainly no biography has been issued for decades over which controversy has raged so bitterly. Whatever one's political views may be, it is a book everyone should read, for it reveals the forces and circumstances which went to make a remarkable character, whose intense belief in his ideals won over a mighty nation, and changed the course of history.
The News Chronicle called it "an astonishing book"; the Evening News said "It commands attention." Morning Post: "We recommend a close study of this book." The Evening Standard said: "The whole of the political Hitler is in these brutally candid pages." The Yorkshire Post said: "The book should be extremely valuable in enabling English readers to obtain a general conception of Hitler's theories." Major F. Yeats-Brown wrote: "I hope My Struggle will be published in a cheap edition."
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I thought for a few seconds that a miracle had happened - but alas, it was only a software glitch.
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Someone calling themselves "Griselda Scott" has left a comment on my Amazon review:
Censorsship. JIDF has been here. The nose knows.
I had never heard of the Jewish Internet Defense Force until I looked them up just now. But if they want to pay me a small fee for every review I post attacking racist lunatics, I'm certainly not going to object. JIDF, you know where to find me.
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Another interesting comment on my Amazon review, this time from "Jorjan Felder Neal":
Hahaha Your relatives are living it up in Palestine! There was no Holicost or genoside only deportation! According to official Red Cross records the numbers of people, all people, who died in German concentration, actually, work or holding camps, was some 270,000. That's throughout the entire war, including those who died of communicable diseases such as typhus (rampant towards the end of the war) and cholera. since there weren't even six million Jews in all of Europe at that time, then, how did the extras die? Did they import them from Khazaria? t Khazars who proved to be the true barbarians and who were responsible for the mass slaughter of the innocent, including mass killings in Germany, Russia, Poland, and more.
The Zionist criminals used the war as the leveraging point to drive their plot home, which was the near complete imperialistic conquest of Palestine. The social strife they created led to the basis for mass emigration of European Jewry from their homes to Middle Eastern land. Without the war, an occupied Palestine would have never occurred. It was also the means by which well-placed Zionists and also low-level operatives could enrich themselves through theft, not only of the land of the Palestinian people but also through the usurpation of the assets and wealth of European nations.
Do your research before running your uneducated mouth! Your family is a bunch of liars !
A little tip for Mr Neal: if you don't want your antisemitic propaganda to sound like the ravings of an illiterate moron, it's important to get the spelling and grammar right. I don't mean it as criticism; I'm just trying to help.
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I hate to say it, but just when Amazon were doing so well here they seem to have messed up. I thought I'd take a look at their page for
Mein Kampf, which I hadn't visited for at least a year. I found it had changed in an important way. Previously, the page had a list of all reviews, and it was easy to find mine. Now, there's only a link to a list of
verified purchase reviews. So although my review is still there, no one will see it, since I didn't buy a copy of
Mein Kampf. But Amazon don't want me to feel I've missed out. There's a tempting little notice:
Right, let's get this straight. Amazon are using the good old stick and carrot approach to get me to buy a copy of what is probably the most evil and dangerous book in human history. The stick is that they're hiding my review until I can prove I've bought a copy from them. The carrot is that they'll offer it to me for free, as long as I sign up for an Amazon Rewards Visa Card.
As Reese Witherspoon says in
Just Like Heaven, excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth.
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This just in: a mere six years after this review was first posted, Amazon bans sale of most editions of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Well, I understand they needed time to think about the pros and cons before making such an important decision.
Rating: really liked it
Let's distill my previous review.
This book is badly written, presents scientifically incorrect, racist ideas as fact, and takes a comically long time to tell a boring story about formulating an idiotic military plan that didn't work.
People who should read this book don't need to be told they should read it. They also have listened to Wagner and read Nietzsche, and find their respective worldviews problematic.
If your explanation for reading this book does not involve understanding mistakes from the past and/or exploring why people find nationalism engaging you shouldn't read it.
Rating: really liked it
It is very difficult to talk about this book, and to agree with those who review it positively, because the person who wrote it did terrible things. Anyone who reads this book should not fall prey to manipulation. But any book can be dangerous. We can blame the Holy Quran and the Holy Bible in just the same way.
I read Mein Kampf when I was quite young actually and because it was a forbidden book. There was only one copy at the town library and I had to sneak it out. So the context is as important as the rest.
This is a memoir, a historical document, a madman's vision on politics and the organisation of the world. We send our youths to visit concentration camps in Germany beause what happend must never be forgotten. Well, I think that they should also read this book because it is part of what remains of those dark times, it is a part of our common European heritage. Yes, it is terrifying. But we need to remember the good and the bad.
Rating: really liked it
While I was teaching on my placement at the start of the year my supervising teacher had an incentive program going on with some of the students in the VCE history class we were taking. He told them he would pay $50 to any student who finished reading Mein Kampf by the end of the year. He told me he had made this offer every year and had never been required to pay up. He believed this was because the book was so poorly written and so turgid that even the most money hungry 16 year old would figure there were easier ways to make some cash.
That was the head-space I approached this book in. I was expecting it to be almost painfully badly written and pretty much the awful rants of a nearly insane fool. I need to assure you, that is not the book I found. This book is actually frighteningly lucid and remarkably well written. It is a much more dangerous book than, say, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. That book is so embarrassingly badly written, so pathetically obviously a forgery that anyone with half a brain could do little else than laugh at it with derision. I was actually a bit surprised when Hitler referred to the Protocols in this – as I thought even he would have had more shame. Nevertheless, the rest of his arguments against the Jews are much more carefully constructed and build in a way that has become a virtual template for any conspiracy theory.
And what a conspiracy theory this is! Hitler starts by saying he never really had anything against the Jews, thought that they were just another religion and could hardly be bothered worrying about them. In fact, he goes as far to say that if he had heard people speaking against them he would probably have stopped them and regarded these people as reactionary fools. At least, until his eyes were opened to the Jews infinite deceit after a series of interactions with them and Social Democrats following the death of his parents.
The Jews are responsible for EVERYTHING that is wrong with the world – from Finance capitalism to the stock market to trade unions to communism and social democracy to modern art and theatre and just about anything else you can think of. This is the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories. He keeps telling the reader just how lacking in creativity the Jews are – but if they are able to pull off half of the stuff he blames them for they must be nearly godlike in their powers.
There were only one or two sections in the book when these rants became tiresome – he clearly understood when to push his point and when to hold back. He sounds much more reasonable than I would have ever dreamt.
The things that are most interesting about this book, to me anyway, were the glimpses into his life given early. The stuff with the mice he watched playing on the floor is the last thing I thought I would find in this book. The stuff about his father is gobsmackingly interesting. As he says, he respected his father, but loved his mother. In fact, he makes it clear that he definitely did not want to become anything at all like his father. Ironically, for someone who did not want to be a Civil Servant, I’m not sure that becoming Dictator of Germany was necessarily the most obvious way of avoiding that fate.
What he has to say about propaganda – essentially, people are stupid and so need to be told in the simplest terms imaginable what they need to believe and that all subtlety is wasted on them, made me wonder how people ever followed him (given he is saying he is more than happy to lie to his followers). This ought to be much more chilling for us today (flicked on the television and watched any ads lately?) than it tends to be.
I was also surprised by his frequent references to German young men doing things to ‘harden their bodies’, there is a homoerotic element to the text (delicately stated, of course) that I found completely unexpected. This view is increased by this dismissal of female sexuality as entirely submissive.
Sex plays a large role in his argument against the Jews. Jews marry off their daughters to Aryans (as they know that the best way to overcome a nation is to attack its blood) and their sons lie in wait to seduce Aryan women. By diluting Aryan blood and keeping the purity of their own blood (he never explains how both of these are possible at the same time except for vague references to the purity of the male blood line of Jews - the opposite of the case, in fact) they hope to one day take over the world. The argument sounds much more crazy in my summary than it does in his endlessly longer version – I didn’t say his ideas made sense, but he has presented them in the best possible light for the nonsense he has to deliver. I can see how easy it would be for someone suffering from the defeat of Germany to want to believe the reason for their defeat and hardships was a Jewish conspiracy.
I didn’t finish this. I got to the end of the first volume and decided I had heard enough. I was surprised by how similar his arguments are to conservative arguments today about keeping refugees out or for the ‘increase’ in social violence or crime or whatever else. If you wanted a conspiracy theory, perhaps a good one would be that conservatives tend to say Hitler is impossible to read so that people will not see the similarities of his views with their arguments. But to be honest, I’m over conspiracy theories. This one is so extreme it is little wonder it took the entire efforts of the state to continue it. Even then, it is doubtful Germans actually believed it – the big lie was just enough to allow one of the greatest crimes in history to be committed, but not enough to truly justify it even to those following through with the vision.
There are chilling moments here – particularly given what happened next and not just to the Jews but also to the Slavs. His discussion of Russia is particularly chilling.
But then there are moments of remarkable insight. He talks of people who want to lead the movement who have been active for 40 years and yet have not achieved their aims or stopped their opponents from achieving their aims. He points out that this is a clear sign of how pathetic their aims must be. This is a very interesting argument and one it would be difficult to argue against. There are many long standing Marxists and Nazis who would do well to consider the implications of what he is saying here.
All the same, this book is disturbing given what we know about what came next. And it is impossible now to not read between the lines and hear the awful silence of the death camps echoing throughout this book. The point is, however, that many of his arguments are little different from what is dished up today. I would have preferred this to be much more extreme than it ended up being. I would have felt safer that way. Our remarkable ability to create scapegoats has not deserted us with the years or with the knowledge of the consequences this madness had in Europe. I am glad I read this – but one volume was more than enough.
Rating: really liked it
Mein Kampf = My Struggle, Adolf Hitler My Struggle is a 1925 autobiographical book by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler.
The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany.
Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926.
The book was edited by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز چهارم ماه مارس سال 1966میلادی
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: فرشاد؛ تهران، کانون معرفت، چاپ سوم، 1341، در 176ص؛ موضوع: نازیسم - زندگی و اندیشه های رهبر افسانه ای رایش سوم نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: عنایت الله شکیباپور؛ تهران (شهریار)، خرد، 1351، در 531ص؛ چاپ سوم، دنیای کتاب، 1371؛ در دو جلد و 508ص؛ چاپ دیگر دنیای کتاب، علم، 1373؛ دو جلد در یک مجلد؛ چاپ ششم 1375؛ هفتم 1376؛ نهم 1382؛ شابک 9645870844؛ یازدهم 1384؛ پانزدهم 1386؛ هفدهم 1387؛ هجدهم 1388؛ نوزدهم 1388؛ چاپ بیست و دوم 1392؛ شابک 9789645870841؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: عنایت الله بخشی؛ تهران، دنیای کتاب، 1369، در 532ص؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: عباس کرمی فر؛ تهران، ارغوان، 1389، در 744ص؛ شابک 9786005912036؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: مهدی افشار؛ تهران، پارسه، 1390، در 589ص؛ شابک 9786002530035؛ چاپ دوم 1392؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: شهرزاد حکیم مختار؛ مهرداد مهاجر؛ تهران، معیار اندیشه، 1390، در 604ص؛ شابک 9786005462166؛ چاپ چهارم 1392؛ چاپ پنجم 1393؛ در 605ص؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: حسین سماواتیان؛ تهران، لیدا، 1391، در 671ص؛ شابک 9786006538433؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: فرشته اکبرپور؛ تهران، نگاه، 1392، در 663ص؛ شابک 9789643518073؛
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: مهرداد انتظاری؛ تهران، آراسب، 1396، در 450ص؛ شابک 9786008696193
عنوان: نبرد من؛ نویسنده: آدولف هیتلر؛ مترجم: کیمیا مرادقلی؛ تهران، نکوراد، 1396، در 456ص؛ شابک 9786006443225؛
جلد اول: یک تسویه حساب: فصل اول: دوران کودکی و کانون خانوادگی؛ فصل دوم: سالهای تحصیل و تحمل مشقت در وین؛ فصل سوم: ملاحظات سیاسی عمومی بر اساس دوره حضور من در وین؛ فصل چهارم: در مونیخ؛ فصل پنجم: جنگ جهانی؛ فصل ششم: تبلیغات جنگ؛ فصل هفتم: انقلاب؛ فصل هشتم: آغاز فعالیتهای سیاسی من؛ فصل نهم: برای چه آلمان شکست خورد؛ فصل دهم: حزب کارگر آلمان؛ فصل یازدهم: ملل و نژاد؛ فصل دوازدهم: اولین طلیعه پیشرفت حزب کارگر ناسیونال سوسیالیست؛
جلد دوم: جنبش سوسیالیست ملی: فصل اول: عقاید فلسفی حزب؛ فصل دوم: دولت؛ فصل سوم: موضوع-دولت و ملت؛ فصل چهارم: مفهوم دولت از نظر راسیست؛ فصل پنجم: مفهوم فلسفی سازمان دولت؛ فصل ششم: اولین مبارزه و اهمیت سخنرانی؛ فصل هفتم: مبارزه جدید با جبهه سرخ؛ فصل هشتم: نیرومند تا وقتی تنهاست نیرومند میماند؛ فصل نهم: حملهها چگونه آغاز میشدند؛ فصل دهم: فدرالیسم غیر از ظاهرسازی چیزی نیست؛ فصل یازدهم: پروپاگاندا مسئله سازمان؛ فصل دوازدهم: مسئله سندیکاها؛ فصل سیزدهم: سیاست آلمان و مسئله اتحادهای بعد از جنگ؛ فصل چهاردهم: سیاست یا جهتگیری شرقی؛ فصل پانزدهم حق دفاع اضطراری؛
نبرد من (به آلمانی: ماین کامف) کتابی که توسط «آدولف هیتلر» نوشته شده است، و بیانگر اندیشه های سیاسی «هیتلر» و باورهای «ناسیونال سوسیالیسم» میباشد؛ «هیتلر» در سال 1924میلادی، هنگامیکه در قلعه «لندربرگ» زندانی بود، بخش نخست کتاب را، با دیکته کردن جملات، به منشی خود «رودلف هس»، به وجود آورد؛ بخش دوم، در پایان همان سال، پس از آزادی زود هنگام او از زندان، نوشته شد؛ پس از به قدرت رسیدن حزب «ناسیونال سوسیالیسم» در «آلمان»، و تشکیل «رایش سوم»، این متن به کتاب مقدس حکومت نازی تبدیل شد
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 29/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 05/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Rating: really liked it
Hitler... booooooooooooooo!
Call me a crazy talking liberal if you want, but I am against burning human beings in big ovens. I don't care how trendy and cool it was considered back in the day, that's just the way I was raised.
I read this book on the recommendation of a friend. Or at least I thought he was my friend. It turned out he was actually just a cashier at Borders. But he looked an awful lot like this guy I used to be friends with when I worked at Gamestop. I could have sworn it was him. The only real difference was that he worked at Borders and not Gamestop. Oh and he apparently enjoys Nazi literature. And I'm pretty sure the guy I worked with at Gamestop was black.
But in any case I suppose I should blame myself. Perhaps the next time a skinny bald white cashier recommends a book written by Adolf Hitler I should get a second opinion. Especially if he's not the tall black guy with dreads I used to work with.
So in summary...
1) Hiter bad
2) Gamestop = Cherished memories from my youth
3) Books not returnable at Borders after 15 days.
Rating: really liked it
I read this in 1979 as part of my first degree (in history) whilst doing a course on Modern German History. It doesn’t read easily; Hitler wasn’t a natural author! The most interesting thing is that this was written without hindsight or from a position of power, or at the time any immediate likelihood of power.
The ideas are not new; they are recycled and an understanding of fin de siècle Vienna and the maelstrom of ideas in the late nineteenth century which influenced Hitler is vital. The mix of ideas following Darwin, combined with Nietzsche (superman), the anti-Semitism and eugenics; not to mention all the madcap scientific ideas around and the growth of psychoanalysis. We sometimes forget that eugenics was very popular and respectable. The idea that certain classes of people should not be allowed to breed was very current and popular and took people in many different directions; some of which are still around today (“designer babies”). The list of those advocating some form of eugenics is impressive; H G Wells, Kellogg, Keynes, Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Havelock Ellis, Pauling, Marie Stopes to name a few. The list in opposition is much shorter.
Hitler was influenced these ideas, especially the virulent anti-Semitism. All these were filtered through his experiences in the First World War and Germany’s humiliation by the Treaty of Versailles. The Russian Revolution and the rise of Bolshevism were also significant, as was the decadence of the Weimar Republic and the rampant inflation.
Following his imprisonment after the failed putsch of 1923 Hitler dictated the bulk to Hess and it was published in 1925/6. Hitler expounds his Jewish conspiracy theories and adapts the racial theories of Haeckel. The rise of Marxist theory he considered, was part of the broader Jewish conspiracy.
Hitler adapted all of this mix into a world view, adding the concept of Lebensraum. This relates to the need for expansion to give the German nation room and space. It originates from the English and French drive for colonies and the westward expansion in America; it was just applied to Europe by the Nazis.
It is an honest political manifesto and the parts on propaganda are fascinating, especially the use of colour, the borrowing of techniques from opponents’ and the best way to run a mass movement.
Everything is there that leads to the gas chamber and genocide. But many of Hitler’s ideas were common currency and not out of place at the time; he just followed them to their logical conclusion and most pertinently, he achieved power. He didn’t do it on his own; he had loyal followers and a party machine and he was voted into power, despite his opposition to parliamentary democracy.
It is easy to laugh at extremists, people certainly laughed at Hitler, but they have to be taken seriously, especially if they capture the mood of the time. Mein Kampf, when read with our hindsight, is horrific, and the author is vile. However he is the product of people and times slightly less extreme. Free debate and analysis of ideas and their meaning will usually show up the extremes. Censorship in any form is dangerous; the first thing Hitler did with power was to begin to move against people and ideas he considered a threat to his ideology. A lesson we need to keep relearning.
Rating: really liked it
Mein Kampf or My Struggle:
Five Hundred and Sixty Pages of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, Irrationality and Sheer ProlixityUnderstanding Hitler’s political methods, rhetorical techniques and organizational skills is often cited as the best reason to read this book in the modern age, since many dictators still use it as a handbook. Understanding their guidebook might be the best way to beat them at their own game. Many readers today avoid the book to avoid the taint of being seen reading it and also out of fear of perhaps falling under its influence. That is considered to be playing into the hands of the ones who are willing to use he powerful methods present therein.
If the book was indeed a powerfully reasoned piece of work this would have held true. Instead it turned out to be a pathetic work, which only showcases the workings of a weak mind that constructed all its arguments from pre-conceived notions and never examined the basis of its arguments. It is clear that Hitler never bothered to understand the core ideas behind evolution, species selection, etc. Darwin had been pretty clear about all this, writing half a century or more before Hitler came up with his tripe. Instead he just assumes that a race came perfect unto this world and the world is beholden to “preserve” it… I mean, that is not
evolution, that is just a naturalistic version of
creationism and a variation of the “chosen people’ concept - he cannot even even be given points for being imaginative!
So instead of being outraged by the dangerous and enticing nature of a charismatic leader’s arguments, I found myself just plain disappointed by their weak and leaky nature. And it s not because of hasty constructions. Hitler takes all the time n the world and spends most of his book rehashing the same ideas in the same ways again and again. It is an insufferable drag.
And even when he departs from his obsession with race purity and talks of geopolitics and grand strategy, he again jumps to conclusions about Britain, France and Russia that clearly proved to be wrong within his lifetime. Most of his ideas had to be abandoned in the course of the war. I am sure he came up with great explanations whenever this happened. That is the thing with this kind of 'method'. There is just no being wrong in it.
The real question then is not whether we would buy his arguments but why anyone did. It is not about reading Hitler to understand how modern Dictators might use the same tactics, but understanding the conditions that allow these pretty rudimentary tactics to succeed and to avoid those conditions. The answers are in the society itself and not in Hitler’s work. The same applies for modern dictators’ who use his book as a guide - the answer is in a society that allows such extreme paranoid ideas to be propagated. It requires a grave threat and an almost pathological need to surrender once reason to a raving lunatic, who is willing to be a
Führer. The best way yo have a world which rejects its Hitlers is to have a world that is not scared enough to accept without question essentially baseless fascist arguments. Hitler provides a good litmus test - wherever we see such ideas are getting currency, it might be time to examine what is causing the society to suspend common sense. Unfortunately, we might not have to look far to see test cases.
++++
I am not attempting a dissection of Hitler’s many pet theories (hobby horses?) here. I just can’t spare the time and I have wasted enough on reading this already.
Many unsupported rants pepper the book, repeated
ad nauseam. A sample:
Austria: Everything about it is bad, except the Germans. Should be brought into the fold, but carefully.
Germany/Germans: The perfect race, the one to be preserved. So perfect that they are under threat from the worst/weakest race (I mean, how does THAT work?). Has to be expanded. World, including Britain, should make sure Germany expands if they don’t want this magnificent race to disappear from the face of the earth, leaving it poorer forever more. Germany has been greatly discriminated against after the First World War (okay, have to concede this, but it doesn't take a genius to figure that. Probably just echoing Keynes in any case). German people have suffered enough. It is time for a Great Leader to arise again. No prizes for guessing who that is!
Jews: Always vaguely and conveniently defined. But incontrovertibly the scum of humanity. To be eliminated. However “jews” are clearly shown to be a broader term, to include all traitors against the German people. Thus the word comes across mostly as a class badge in hitler’s writings.
Democracy: How can the masses ever rule? Democracy is only an excuse for rulers to pass on responsibility and avoid taking tough decisions. What a country under there needs is a strong leader who canned do what needs to be done. To be avoided at all costs.
The Masses: The mindless lot. Manipulated and brain washed by the Jews. They have to be emancipated by effective and complete control, by a leader. They have to be reeducated and freed of the influence of the Jews - by “propaganda”.
Trade & Business: The purview of the Jews. Only the weak and the leach-like attempt these activities. The German people to abjure them and take to manly activities that does not suck the life blood of the country and the race.
The Market: Sheer anarchy! Not to be allowed. State has to control production to avoid wastage.
Monarchy: Well, not in name, but we need a leader who can recreate the grand Reich of old. Who cares if it looks exactly like a kingship?
Marxism: The scourge of this earth! The tool of the Jews! Initiated by a Jew, what more proof do you need? Exists only to corrupt the masses. Has to be used only to reach the masses. Should be superseded forthwith after that.
The Press: Has to be controlled so that only the state views are set forth. Otherwise the Jews and the Marxists will take it over and corrupt the public even more.
The Races: Have to be preserved and kept apart to prevent dilution, especially the Germanic race of the Aryans. Don’t question my assumptions here!
My Way or The Highway! Got it?
Rating: really liked it
Of course I didn't expect
Mein Kampf to be a great book, even within the admittedly narrow antisemitic messianic homoerotic prison genre, but I did expect a little more showmanship. If you've seen Riefenstahl's
Triumph of the Will, then you know Adolf* could really work himself into an artful spittle-flying lather. My German is middling, but I've heard he was all charismatic and persuasive or whatever. Like, if you were just planning to go out for a stroll and pick up some schnitzel, you'd happen to overhear him on a radio broadcast and all of a sudden you'd be smashing windows, incarcerating Jews, and annexing strategic swaths of Lebensraum before you even knew what you were doing. He was
that powerful.
Yeah, we all understand that Hitler didn't have the best taste. He was into retro-Greek kitsch and probably those paintings of clowns and kittens and whaling ships. All the more reason to expect a semi-entertaining wallow in the muck and mire. I hate to make such an outlandish comparison (not really), but if Zsa Zsa Gabor wrote a 600+ autobiography detailing her grudges and her plans for rescuing America from its position of weakness and social decadence, we'd really have a right to expect a side-splitting compendium of both balls-to-the-wall absurdity and showbiz razzle-dazzle. Why can't we expect the same from Adolf Hitler? We expect idiots to entertain us with their idiocy; we
don't expect them to be dull.
I'll bet Mel Gibson's ghost writer would shit out a much better book. With more anecdotes about Jodie Foster than your standard-issue xenophobic tract.
* Holy dumbass! I just realized I've been misspelling Hitler's first name my whole life as 'Adolph.' Where did I get that from? Probably the Jews...
Rating: really liked it
Yes, I have read it, hell I still own a copy. I make no excuses, and will not issue apologies. I am not a nazi sympathizer, anti-semitic, or racist, fascist, or any other variety of colorful names that I have been called for having this on my shelf. I confess that I was curious about the method to the madness and how such whole sale slaughter of human life could be rationalized. Get past impressions that are forced down your throat in history class and read it for what it is, a historical text that, like it or not, had a tremendous impact on the world as we know it today. It is a difficult read and, to be frank, a large percent of the population will not have the fortitude to pick it up off the shelf in a bookstore or be able get past the ideas presented and discard it outright. One does not have to agree with the author in order to examine the text as a political and social commentary of the time. The important thing, as in so many hot issues, is to keep everything in perspective and make up your own mind.
Rating: really liked it
I found the narrator, a racist german war veteran imprisoned for an attempted coup, very unrelateable. He was just not very sympathetic or likeable. Also the book is written in german, which is not very relateable to me, someone who doesnt speak german.
Rating: really liked it
hitler should have changed his last name to "hit", because that's what this book is! the main character, who looks like sarah jessica parker, is in her mid-30's and looking for love in all the wrong places. when she gets transported back in time to repressive regime of hitler, the language barrier and her liberal ideals won't stop her from finding true love.
a lil' bit of trivia: the audio book was narrated by a young jody foster.
Rating: really liked it
I was standing at the check out desk at Tolman Hall’s library at U.C. Berkeley back in the 1970s. I have no idea what I was checking out at the time. Maybe it was the time that I had spent at their library reading the Salem Witch Trials, the court documents. But as I was standing at the counter, I noticed a speech written on the wall behind the desk. I stood there reading it, and while I was reading it I realized that it was a humanitarian speech, and I thought, “That is the most beautiful speech that I have ever read. Who wrote it?” I continued reading, and then it was signed, “Adolph Hitler. Imagine my shock. I have not been able to find that speech, and it is no longer on their wall behind that check out desk.
I had known about Hitler; I had read Anne Frank’s Diary, but I hadn’t read much else at the time. Just that you don’t go through life without knowing what happened to the Jews during WWII. I have read a lot of books about the holocaust since then.
Well, back in 2011, when I was helping our library during their book sale, the one where I frequent now, I noticed some books on Hitler and bought one. That led me to wondering about the book Mein Kampf, so I ordered it used online. After reading maybe half of it, I threw it in the garbage where it belonged.
Mein Kampf was a constant rant on Jews. It repeated the same issues over and over again. I saw how people could actually believe what he was saying if they were not educated. It was an old story, one that was heard in Germany often, which people believed, which let to them accepting Hitler’s own rants. Then I read some of Hitler’s speeches, still trying to find the one that I had read at the library. I never found it.
So, Hitler’s book is finally being published again, but this time with information to inform people so that they will know that Hitler spoke lies. Still, I think if a person in inclined to be racist, to hate, they will not pay any attention to these comments.
For hate is blinding. If you have grown up with parents who hate, who are bigots or racists, you will grow up with these views as well. Some people get over these views, especially if they get an education, and then there are those who see through it from a young age. We are told to love all people by the various religions, but I have seen so much hatred i the Christian religions, so much crime, that my eyes have been opened. I just want to get away from them and stay away. I learned that you can’t easily change people’s minds. I have tried; I now just tell them what I think and walk away.
I will not compare Hitler with anyone in political power today and hope to not get any comments on this book in this regards, because if I do, those comments will be deleted. Remember, what you write on the internet you are writing on the sky. I will also delete any comments made by racists. I happen to believe that free speech does not include hate speech, and I think we should incorporate a law against hate speech here in America.
Rating: really liked it
The author of this book is certainly one of the five or ten biggest nutjobs in the history of the world. Complete raving lunatic. No one should ever listen to a thing he says. If you agree with him, you're some kind of Nazi scumbag.
Rating: really liked it
People rate this book so poorly because they disagree with the ideas laid out by Hitler; well I hope so. You do not read this to get inspired by German nationalism and white supremacy. I think that is entirely missing the point.
This book is fascinating for the glimpse it gives into the mind and thought processes of one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Any student of WWII or modern history in general should get acquainted with the ideas that drove Hitler to rally so many to his cause. You read this book to understand the roots of the ideas that drove so many headlong into such a massive and devastating conflict.
Regardless of what Hitler says, he undoubtedly has some pretty extreme views. But it is important to see how this megalomaniac justifies his cause and how that motivation drives him with such unrelenting purpose towards his goal of dominating and rearranging the entire world order to suit his own ends.
It is a pretty powerful notion to watch how a thread of ideology can manifest itself through a powerful and influential person into a mass movement that ends up having momentous consequences for the majority of the people on the planet.
For better or worse, powerful people like this are responsible for a large part of our history as the human race. And this book gives a front row seat into the mind of one of the most influential personalities of all time.
