Mein Kampf

[meshmdz]

has anyone read this book written by hitler? just curious.

[AC37]

I have not, but I've been interested in reading it ever since I recently finished reading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover to cover...another book I highly recommend BTW. According to its author, William Shirer, Mein Kampf is a fascinating insight into Hitler's very misguided, misinformed, yet brilliant mind and he more or less did exactly what he said he would in his book, right down to the betrayal and invasion of Russia in Operation: Barbossa, though it does have to be taken with a grain of salt from time to time as it is largely a propaganda work which grossly distorts a significant number of verifiable facts. It's very fascinating to see how Hitler only accomplished all the atrocities he did with the virtual complicity with all the nations around him, who could have stopped him with very minor losses many times along the way. Edmund Burke sure knew what he was talking about when he said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Edit: Seek and you shall find, I guess neither of us will have to go out and actually buy a hardcopy, I just found a free online version of it via Wikipedia, in English to boot. I'm going to start reading it ASAP.

http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/meinkampf/toc.htm

[Chikan]

In my less than valued opinion, Mein Kampf illustrated, perfectly, the degree to which Hitler was an absolutely brilliant propagandist and leader; it also depicted, however, the degree to which he was absolutely insane.

I'm not speaking in buzzword, feel-good, CNN liberal terms-- I mean that you could actually SEE just how crazy he was. His neurosis and high-energy insanity becomes quite evident about halfway through the book. You can literally FEEL the intensity, tenacity and compulsive hatred he has in his vague ramblings...and rambling is exactly what he does for a good forty-percent of the book.

He was a brilliant mind, but midguided, jaded and, often times, incoherent in his hatred. Mein Kampf should be required reading for ALL sociology and literary courses, as it's a shining example of a talent led astray and obsession taken too far.

Read it. It's not very enjoyable, but it's worth experiencing for experience's sake.



Chikan

[MrMurphy]

Kind of like watching one of his filmed speeches/rants from Nuremberg, especially if you speak German. Yes the man's totally insane, but you could get caught up in it all and go along with him quite easily if you were weak willed.