Adolf Hitler

[Vermont Reviews]

Some trivia about this book:

The interesting thing about this book is that Hitler essentially telegraphed his future intentions and yet the world ignored it. Somewhere I learned that it was intentionally NOT translated to any other language but was published only in German, thus many did not read it and had no clue of what his plans were; others, though they had been told, did nothing.

Many German families bought the book making Hitler a millionaire, but they never read it. They placed it prominently visible on coffee tables and fireplace mantles out of fear. By displaying it they hoped to give any denouncers the illusion that they were supporters of Hitler even if they weren't.

Hitler wrote the book while in prison for trying to overthrow the government, but by this time he had a large number of admirers numbered, oddly enough, among the wives of wealthy industrialists and other prominent men. He probably should have been executed but instead he got a 6 year sentence but was out in about 9 months after living a lavish lifestyle in the equivalent of a "white collar" prison.

Hitler dictated what he wanted to say in this book to one of his henchmen, Rudolph Hess, who had to constantly interrupt him when he would fly off into rages and begin to rant unintelligibly.

Excellent summary.

[gaporter]

Don't bother reading it because it is incredibly poorly written. "As common as the swill wiped off a bar" in HG Well's words. It's so disorganized and banal that it will give you little insight into Hitler or fascism. Better to read Hannah Arendt's Banality of Evil and Origins of Totalitarianism.

If you feel you must read first hand from fascists, Mussolini is at least a clear writer (also ex journalist). The founding document of fascism is Comte de Gobineau's Essay on Inequality of Human Races.

I didn't know it was so poorly written. I've learned some new things about the man/book just from reading this thread. I don't think I will be interested in reading this book in the future. It has historical significance, yes, but crazy people are crazy people and they still exist today if we want to study them.

[Nichol]

It is definitely on my to do list