Adolf Hitler

[aksser]

Who read his "Meine Kampf"?

[zifranka]

I did.

[gali]

I didn't and won't. A "master piece" it isn't. To call him an author is going overboard.

[AryanaMender]

I read it and while I don't remember the entire book, I remember being intrigued, and will read it again when I get a little caught up on my reading and reviews. I'm a little on the side of Gali, though--I definitely wouldn't consider it a masterpiece.

[Dando]

Meine Kampf is on my "to read" list. Maybe it isn't a masterpiece, but it's place in history can not be denied.

[ciscokid]

I've read it. In fact, I own it, and use it as a reference from time to time. Reading it
had no effect on me emotionally. I had already decided where Hitler belonged in
the march of history and Mein Kampf did nothing to dissuade me. The impression that will endure is his casual, almost mundane approach to the task at hand: The Final Solution.

[Himmelslicht]

I have it but haven't read it.
He wasn't a writer. He wasn't an author. But I want to see what his mind was like and Mein Kampf is as close as anyone can get.

[suzy1124]

I didn't and won't. A "master piece" it isn't. To call him an author is going overboard.

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PRECISELY!

[gali]

Meine Kampf is on my "to read" list. Maybe it isn't a masterpiece, but it's place in history can not be denied.

Indeed its place in history can not be denied since it led to genocide. There is a straight line leading from Mein Kampf to Auschwitz.

[LivreAmour217]

I feel that I "should" because of his impact on our world (the ramifications of his actions are still unfurling), but the idea of reading it just gives me the creeps. I may have a psychology degree, but Hitler's is one mind that I don't want to better understand!!!

[literarylover+]

I won't ever read it. The horrific impression of disaster, death, and devastation he left on our world is not worth honoring by reading the warped mindset that began it all!

[WendyM]

I don't think I will read it. There are more than enough books that are thrilling / entertaining / uplifting to keep me occupied.

That said, I can understand why some people would choose to pick it up. When I was at high school we had a German exchange student who read it - it was banned in her country and she was curious. She wasn't very impressed with it though, from memory, and decided the ban was more about the author than the content of the book itself.

[GKCfan]

For a comic send-up of Hitler, take a look at Beryl Bainbridge's "Young Adolf." It's a novel that presents Hitler as a pathetic little man during his early years, drawing on real-life events and his deserved failures and frustrations.

[newhere]

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.

[DATo]

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.