Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf (Bk. 2) [Hardcover]

Gerhard L. Weinberg (Editor), Krista Smith (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1929631162 | ISBN-13: 978-1929631162 | Publication Date: October 1, 2003 | Edition: 1st

The first complete and annotated edition of the book Hitler dictated just before his rise to power. Contains startling, revealing ideas that became his programme once in power but that he didn't want publicised. New here is the much broader, 'open' vision Hitler gave of his foreign policy views and the fact that all were oriented toward war and aggression. Perhaps the most unnerving vision is the terrifying future Hitler offered, one of continuous warfare, with new wars being carried out in a kind of chain-reaction until the final inevitable clash with the United States. These statements are wrapped in the trademark rhetoric and with many references to people and events, which are fully explained by Dr Weinberg's annotations. An essential document, unavailable until now, for a deeper understanding of the Nazi period and its dismal list of horrors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1958, while directing the microfilming and organization of a trove of archives that the U.S. forces had taken from the Nazis at the end of WWII, historian Weinberg (A World at Arms) discovered the manuscript of a second book that Hitler had written but never published. The manuscript was published in German in 1961, accompanied by Weinberg's annotations, but this is the first authoritative English version (a pirated and poor translation appeared in the 1960s). The text bears all of Hitler's hallmarks: rambling thoughts, half-baked ideas, pedantic writing-along with a terrifying, sustained belief in war and violence as the means to ensure that Germans would flourish. Compared to Mein Kampf, there are fewer pages devoted to Jews. Nonetheless, what comes across most strongly is Hitler's abiding commitment to the principle of race and his identification of Jews as the enemy that threatened to undo all that Germans had created. Hitler dwells at length on foreign policy, and outlines a strategy of alliance with Fascist Italy and Great Britain. (He actually believed that Britain would accept a German-dominated European continent so long as Germany did not challenge the overseas British empire.) He also foresees an inevitable clash with the United States. This provides solid historical background on Hitler's thinking in the late 1920s, when his party was nothing more than a tiny, radical sect. Weinberg provides helpful notes and a very informative introduction.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Dr. Gerhard L. Weinberg was born in Germany and came to the U.S. in 1940. After serving in the U.S. Army, he received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. He was one of the scholars to work on German documents captured in 1945.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 249 pages
• Publisher: Enigma Books; 1st edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929631162
• ISBN-13: 978-1929631162
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MEIN FLOPF, July 28, 2006

By 

DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf (Bk. 2) (Hardcover)

It was apparently in 1961 that a book alleged to be the second literary effort of Hitler was published in Munich. I recall seeing a very small news item around then to that effect in one of the British papers, and I recall the statement in that same item that the work had achieved no significant sales. As it started, so it seems to have continued. It surprises me still that a document of so much historical significance has had to wait more than 40 years for its first English edition, and I naturally wondered whether it could really be genuine under the circumstances. Apparently it is, but it still seems to be avoiding the best-seller lists, and I can't recall a great deal of critical discussion of it either. Nothing that I have seen has cast doubt on the work's authenticity, which I am therefore taking on trust. In attempting a review I am mainly concerned with the actual content of the volume. However in awarding a rating I have given regard only to the editorial work, and I imagine it would go without saying that this rating does not reflect any endorsement of the poisonous doctrines of Adolf Hitler.

The editor at least addresses the basic questions that I wanted to see addressed, namely -
Is the authorship firmly established? Is this (seemingly untitled) book definitely a later work than Mein Kampf? Why was it not published in Hitler's lifetime? He also ponders earnestly the question why an English edition should be published. Because most of us struggle a bit with German would be sufficient answer for me. The likelihood that this text might be inflammatory nowadays would have struck me as nil in any case even if I had not known about its poor sales record. As for the other questions, Weinberg's arguments are the only side of the case that I know, but they are at least plausible. His credentials as a scholar are not familiar to me, but he has written extensively about Hitler and any criticism of his work that I have spotted reads to me like standard academic niggling and infighting rather than anything that undermines my confidence in his conclusions here. As for internal evidence of authorship, I can assure you that the style possesses a conspicuous and frightful familiarity.

The book reads easily and fluently in English, and the translator Krista Smith has to get a great deal of credit for that. Whatever else he may have been, Hitler was supremely articulate and the text is not as prolix or repetitious as some comment might suggest. The reason he suppressed the book at the time of writing was apparently that it put some of his foreign-policy cards face upwards on the table, and he was not ready at the time to do that. We would have known about Lebensraum, but the blatancy of his endorsement of territorial conquest simply for the purpose of protecting the German food-supply is rather breathtaking. One of the things I slightly regret about the failure of this book to arouse general interest is that I would have liked to see some proper analysis by qualified economists of the quaintest economic reasoning I have ever read in my life. A strong nation, one gathers, must not rely on trade, imports, exports and such like to feed itself but must be self-sufficient in that regard. It would have made for a dull Speisekarte if it had even been achieved, I must say, but of course Hitler was vegetarian and his favourite gastronomic treat was Spiegeleier mit Kartoffeln. The rest of the text is mainly concerned with his attitude towards other European nations, France being seen as a traditional and irreconcilable foe, Italy and even England as potential allies. A surprising amount of space, and an even more astonishing level of emotion, is directed on to the strictly contemporary issue of the ownership of the South Tyrol, which he is happy enough to concede to Italy, at least pro tem, in the interests of securing an alliance with fascist Italy under his admired Mussolini. One reason for this unexpected emphasis is his concern to attack the enemy within, the bourgeois democratic traitors who were full of indignation over the trifling matter of the South Tyrol but failed to see the pressing need for large-scale territorial expansion.

Indeed Hitler is nothing if not candid in this work about the prime importance of carrying the sword to ensure his precious breathing-space. Economic superiority was in his view futile - a robust and healthy Germany should not shirk the task, staringly necessary to him, of suppression of its neighbours by force of arms, the basic reasoning being that a nation that is not the hammer will end up being the anvil. The familiar enemies and bogies are paraded too - Jews, Marxists, freemasons, pacifists and the weak-kneed campaigners for a restoration of the pre-1914 borders of Germany, which seemed to Hitler a paltry substitute for the massive expansion of his dreams. The expression is articulate to say the least, the phraseology often vivid, and the racial perceptions, taken unquestioningly as fact, foul beyond description. The reasoning is specious although the insights are often acute and even brilliant, but the book is past its sell-by date for some very bad and sinister reasons. The ugly and unreasoned racism has not really gone away, and indeed is a deeply ingrained European characteristic. This book is no longer dangerous only because it needs no Hitler to put the message across to those who are happy to take it on board without him.

The edition fulfils what is expected of it quite well so far as I can see, except that the proof-reading leaves a little to be desired (notably a rash of misprints on pp 89/90), the frequent insertion of '[sic]' is fussy and excessive, and some of the words inserted to complete the sense of the unrevised text are occasionally in the wrong place. Necessary as history.

62 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The historical truth of this book, October 17, 2005

By 

Saramugsy "saramugsy" (NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf (Bk. 2) (Hardcover)

After reading the reviews of this book I think serious history buffs need to know the history, the facts of this book. Weinberg discovered the original manuscript while working with captured war documents in Wash. D.C. after the war. It was published in German by Bavaria who owned the copyright to such things in 1961 with Weinbergs notes and introduction. Grove Press with Telford Taylor pirated it and issued a very poor translation and even used Weinbergs notes. Put the 2 books together and you will see that. That book quickly bombed as scholars and serious history buffs recognized the poor translation. Weinberg's Hitler's Second Book is a top notched translation of Hitler's words and contain well researched notes and introduction by Weinberg and this edition is being used by schools and Universities ---the pirated edition never was. Thus far, Bavaria has not given anyone or any country permission to translate this manuscript besides Weinberg. If one wants to compare this translation, the only true way is to get the original German edition. Otherwise, trust the professional literary reviews.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A important historical document, March 20, 2006

By 

C. Witwicki (Montreal, Qc) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf (Bk. 2) (Hardcover)

This book is intersting in the sense that it helps us understand better the views of Hitler in the way of foreign policy, especially towards the United States. Altough the book was published in french in the 1960's as L'Expansion du Reich, this edition offers great footnotes by Gerhard L. Weinberg that help us better understand the historical elements developped by Hitler in his manuscript.

While this book might not appeal to the general public, it is defenetly worth purchasing for people intersted in the history of fascism, nazism, Hitler (see also Hitler by Kershaw) or Germany.