Customer Reviews

Mein Kampf: My Struggle

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Adolf Hitler was probably one of the most successful leaders in History, and I'm talking about before the war. Before the war, he managed to bring back an economically desolate Germany and instill a sense of nationalism in ALL GERMANS (yes, even jewish germans). In fact, he completed such a huge feat that he was Time Magazine's Man of the Year for 1938.

But this book shows what we all came to realize later. Though he was a genius politician and an excellent leader, Hitler had his issues. Emotional issues and mental issues warped him brutally. Read this book to understand the war. And I think Hitler is evil. I'm not defending him in the above paragraph. But you have to realize that he was a wonderful leader for a period of time. Then he crossed that line and spiralled into madness.

This book will help you understand that madness.

Amazon has set up this feature so that the book in question may be reviewed. This is not your shrink's couch.

Having reviewed the reviews, I have to say that most of them are not helpful at all. First I read about how Mein Kampf accurately portrays the horrors of socialism, which -- as any educated person would know -- is complete nonsense. (For the reviewer who wrote that: You should know that Nazi Germany is the quintessential example of a RIGHTIST dictatorship.)

And then, I just read just emotional reactions to the Holocaust. Thanks, I'm sure we're all very well aware of how horrific the Jewish Holocaust was. But if you haven't even read the book, why the hell are you "reviewing it"??

*SIGHS* Now, to the book itself:

I know any review of Mein Kampf is a blatant redundancy. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this work for the understanding of one of the most unsettling and significant political and sociological phenomena of recent history.

A crucial read to any student of poli sci, as well as psych and sociology.

Many people would like to ban this book, Germany has already done it. Personally I think that banning words is the worst way of dealing with history. People need to read, they need to learn how to think: and one shuld prevent a book's attraction to rise, which does seem to happen, just as result of banning it in the first place.
Read this book, take it as a historic document, build your own opinion. There is no good and evil in ths world, but there are prejudices and ways that lead to distruction of parts of humanity, which can only be a loss. Looking back into history, we know what this book has caused. In order to prevent such a history from happening again, we all need to read this book in to recognize a similar handwriting in our future.

The five stars are not for quality of content or ideas. The book itself is a stylistic nightmare, full of self-indulgent, raw rage. As any rational human knows (hopefully) the ideas are insane and poisonous. I could NEVER read it from cover to cover. The sole value of this book is that it's a window into the mind of a madman.

If you read Mein Kampf, you'll wonder how anyone could have followed someone who was obviously insane. The content of Hitler's ideas would be laughable, if not for the fact that people did take this stuff seriously. His ramblings are full of raw, angry, verbose garbage that force a rational person to cringe. At one time there were people who thought that his ideas were great. And there are the few who still do, a fact which is frightening to anyone capable of logical thinking. Mein Kampf is a journey into a deluded, twisted mind, a journey that isn't exacly enjoyable. It is, however, necessary to understand the depths to which humans can sink.

This book is a MUST READ for anyone wanting to know why US politics is the way it is! Reading Hitler describe the world he lived in before getting to power, is like reading about the United States as it is today. The way he speaks about how he wanted to pull his hair out when watching the Parliment in action, is how I feel when watching our congress on C-span.

Hitler's eloquent use of vocabulary and great analogies make reading this book take a long time, because I found myself stoping after every great statement, and thinking about it, then seeing how it fit our world today, and realizing why it is in the shape it is in today.

It also explains why no third party candidates are allowed to speak in the presidential debates, apparently the US government has read this book too.

I thought I was going to be reading a book of propaganda, as told by so many people (who never read the book themselves) but it turned out to be a great book on the philosophy of life and politics, that has not gone out of date, it fits in perfectly to describe the world exactly as it is today!

This should be required reading in schools.

Okay I had no interest in reading this book at first. I read Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto for a world governments course that I am currently enrolled in for college. I really don't agree with many of the opinions voiced in either book, but I take them at face value. Weather you agree with Hitler or not he was able to control the masses. My purpose for reading the book was to understand the man. The "method to the madness" if you will. Reading this book helped me to understand where he was comming from with some of his ideals. I don't agree with him, but atleast now I understand it. There's really no since in bashing something you know nothing about. I'm not saying that you should follow the "teachings" in this book. I'm only saying that you need to know what you are talking about if you are gonna bash something.

This review is for the First Volume of Mein Kampf.

One would think that a book like Mein Kampf would need no introduction, but after carrying it around for a while, I was surprised by the comments I'd get from other people. I'd always ask such "critics" what they thought of the book and they'd reply with disgust and anger. Yet, when I asked the question, "Have you read it?" the answer was consistently, "Well, no but . . ."

Reading something, or in this case, studying the life of the most influential person of the 20th century, should be nothing to feel embarrassed about. Understanding history helps humankind prosper and to avoid learning from historical works such as this can only slow down human progress. So, don't let the ignorant critics get to you. However, if you do read Mein Kampf, try not to do so in public places unless you want someone (who hasn't read it) to spit on your face.

Now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about the book itself. Mein Kampf is without a doubt a sensational work. The sociopolitical situation that inspired it, the rise and fall of the Third Reich, and the dark cloud that surrounds the evil genius who authored it make it a "must read" for any thinker who wishes to find the answers to the questions WHY and HOW.

Make no mistake about it, this is an evil book. But it is still a superb document that helps us understand the conditions that paved the way for a feeble and insignificant man such as Adolf Hitler to become the strongest and most powerful man in the world.

It is important to mention that Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was "dictated" by Adolf Hitler between 1923 and 1924 while he was in prison as a result of his participation in a failed coup. In other words, he never actually sat down to type it. That is why the entire book reads like a speech. Also, the title Hitler chose for his work was, "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice," but was later shortened by his publisher before its official release in 1925, well before Hitler became the man we know today.

Through the first half of the first volume, we follow the young Adolf from his early childhood. We learn about his parents, his town, his school, his teachers, and see how his ideals began to take shape at a very early age. At this stage of the book, I was amazed by how brilliant Hitler's storytelling abilities were. His remarks were smart, his opinions well-founded, his motivations honourable, and his actions brave. Especially when considering the conditions in which he was brought up. As we learn about his early life and experiences, we get a beautiful introduction to Austria and Germany at the turn of the century. The first-person account of Hitler's early years is a very enjoyable read that will have you wonder, "How could something so good come from someone so evil?"

Then, as we progress through his late teens and early twenties, we take a turn down political avenue. Here, we begin to see the result of his early experiences and the first manifestations of his strong ideals and his destiny to become the man we now know. We learn about the trade union movements, the rise of Marxism in Germany, and of course, the prelude and aftermath of World War I. At first, and this will be shocking to most readers, Hitler admitted to have been a defender of the Jews. That's when he saw them as a religious group, though. At that time, his real enemies were the media, the elite (which he calls "the bourgeoisie"), the Marxists, the immigrants, the leaders of the social democratic party, and the leaders of all the other parties for that matter. His views, however, began to change dramatically as he started to realize that all these groups were led by Jews, including Karl Marx himself.

At first, he saw no racial difference between the Jews and the Aryans (as he called the "pure" Germanic races), but he was a strong nationalist in a time when all of his enemies advocated in favour of international involvement in German culture and economy. At which point, he began to ponder when looking at a German-looking Jew, "Is this a Jew?" A question which he approached by asking himself, "Is this . . . a German?"

From then on, the book starts to go downhill humanistically, but gets quite interesting politically. As a strong nationalist, he believed that Germans were the superior race, and as such, all other races must have been inferior. He then goes on to further subdivide races and brings up evolution and natural selection as the reason the world had become plagued by disease, thieves, and poverty. He makes a strong case, though. However, his mere existence is breaks the argument that pure races are stronger by genetics (as opposed to alimentation, wealth, exercise, and education), for the simple fact that he was not physically stronger than any of his counterparts. At first, he was also against socialism. But again, inspired by others, he became a hardcore socialist and enemy of capitalism, as capitalism, in his opinion, would lead to the ruin of Germany.

Now, what's marvellous about the bulk of the book is how well he describes the situation in Germany that led to the creation and the subsequent overwhelming popularity of Nazism (also known as National Socialism). There were some chapters were we could simply change the name of the German parties and use current counterparts and the whole conflict would have applied just as well. Also, his insight about the most effective use of propaganda is brilliant; a quality recipe still used today in many of the so-called free democratic nations of the world. Adolf Hitler, a champion of the poor, an enemy of the ruling classes, a defender against international intervention, a coupster and martyr, an incredibly charismatic leader, a gifted orator, a convincing politician, a relentless leader, a nationalist, a socialist, and a bigot who blamed all the problems of his country on them, them, and them. If he were still alive, and spoke Spanish, he would have been elected unanimously as president of any Latin American country today.

You could feel Hitler's animosity toward the Jew in earlier sections of the book, but it wasn't any different than the animosity that political leaders use today against immigrants, or the common hatred expressed by the poor against the "rich" (composed of everyone who isn't poor). In later parts of the book, however, all of his hatred comes out in a matter ALMOST as disgusting as any opinion expressed by Bill O'Reilly of FOX (USA). He goes on to rant about racial superiority and spells out the alphabet, giving with each letter an explanation of why the Jew is the reason the world is going to hell. He even goes on to say, literally, that the Jew is the incarnation of Satan and the symbol of evil (p.269), which is quite ironical considering that the tilted Swastika that he chose himself as the emblem of his Nazi party earned that title.

Before his chapter on race, after having understood his upbringing and the conditions of the era, you could understand how he came to form his opinions. And though you still wouldn't agree with his take on race, you could still not disagree that his arguments were presented in a logical manner (however misconstrued). The good thing is that once you finish reading the first volume of Mein Kampf, you will then earn the right to say that all of his hypotheses, as intelligent and well-presented as they may be . . . can just go to hell.

It's always good to know and recognize the roots of fascism so that you can nip it early. We have with this book a historical model that we can use to recognize such charismatic maniacs we when encounter them.

I was so tired of reading all the ignorant reviews of this book that I had to share my point of view. First off, political views aren't grounds to deffecate on a book that is a first hand account delving into THE MOST BRILLIANT AND SADISTIC MIND the world has ever known! What else could you want in a reading. haha Hitler Liberal? Someone can actual fathom the thought of someone that wants to control everything as liberal? Are you serious? L. Boyles Sir I think you might have your facts messed up, because she meant that they were a right wing organization because they like to control anything and everything, from Newspapers to peoples choices, IE look at the US government right now trying to make womens choices for them by trying to make it illegal to be prochoice.

Back to the book already! It's nothing short of incredible. I think everyone from any background or race should read this book. It's just great. You have to understand that to respect and actually enjoy this book you don't have to AGREE WITH IT! I'm no nazi, I'm no racist, I'm simply a man with an open mind and open eyes.

Hitler, although extremely evil, was possibly one of the best orators of all time. He could move crowds like no one else with his powerful speeches and yet virtually nothing he said is still quoted today. Why? Because it was not what Hitler said, but rather how he said it. Do not buy Mein Kampf if you want an entertaining, well written read; rather buy this book for its historical significance. Were this book written by some other unknown man the ramblings about racial purity and Jews as parasitic sub humans would enthrall very few and put most to sleep. However for those interested in how Hitler's mind worked there can be no better direct example than his book, but in literary quality two stars is very generous.