Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Appaling quality, 26 Oct 2008
This review is a warning regarding the actual physical quality of the book, rather than the content.
I ordered this very same version of Mein kampf off Amazon and just reading it was a battle (no fault of Adolf's!)
a) It is littered with typos. I lost count of the time I had to re-read a sentence to make sense of it because of basic errors; 'that' instead of 'than', etc.
b) Dozens (literally) of the pages were stuck together along the leading (opening) edge. I had to rip apart so many pages that hadn't been separated that the book now looks like it's been gnawed at by a rotweiller
c) Huge chunks of pages came away from the binding. My copy has about 15-20 sections that now protrude from edge when closed, because they came out. The first chunk of pages popped away from the binding when I opened it to look at the photos in the middle. Seriously, what was it bound together with, saliva?
If you want to read Mein Kampf I suggest you purchase a different copy to this. Reading it was a physical chore; tearing pages apart, holding chunks into the spine, etc. etc.
My copy of this book looks like it was hand-made by a one-armed blind man with no love for his craft.
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227 of 267 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book of surprises and incomparably outlandish suggestions, 22 Mar 2006
By A Customer
`My Struggle’ is a book that few people will want to read. This is because it was written by one of the most reviled men in history and because of the way it was written. The impression of Hitler from films and World War II books is simply a negative one: An evil war mongerer responsible for the deaths of millions. Reading his own book is intriguing and this is part of its relatively small appeal. In a similar way that classic books (e.g. Anna Karenina/Dead Souls) begin, after the first few pages you realise you are reading something created by an exceptional mind. However this book is not a beautiful story. This is not like a magazine article tackling a hard subject with little time which gives the astute reader the impression that he or she knows more about the subject than the writer. The first book `A Reckoning’ is partially a story of Hitler’s life, World War One and much of his theories and philosophy. You enter into a strange world of paragraph long sentences, repetition, constantly twisting and turning. Hitler has a go at politicians, policies, parasites e.t.c. and in a classic way is blind to the concept that his ideas might be as blinkered as those he attacks. He believes anything miserable, weak or cowardly must be eradicated, having no compassion or pity for anything that does not conform to his ideals. Hatred is a large part of this book. This book has more hatred in it than a quarter of a mile long oil tanker has oil. There is hatred for Jews, hatred against anyone who is not ulta-nationalistic or anyone not German. The author gives the impression that if the whole world were wiped out except for Germany this in itself would not be a bad thing. The reader might see from Hitler’s poverty, his misery, the huge bitterness and then a World War that this has formed something rather grotesque. It is intriguing however and there are some gems. His thoughts on history, propaganda, ideas about the state and nature are interesting but it’s not long before we are back to hatred of Marxism or an attack against incompetent politicians or greedy businesses or shopkeepers. Hitler’s solution is to have them shot. Very clear is the determination to use force rather than another means. I didn’t understand much of Mein Kampf, there is no attempt to explain anything clearly and you have to read and re-read sentences to get any impression of what exactly he is trying to say. Like a man prodding an angry dog on the other side of a fence, Mein Kampf draws you into some idea and then changes and swirls mid sentence and then modifies to another idea, all to irritate you and wear you out. I almost think Hitler sets out to confuse, as if to say I don’t really know the answer to all this and so I’ll muddy the waters as much as possible. Much of it is incomprehensible. This is not a book that sets out principles and builds them into a unifying theory. Hitler jumps from one idea to the next, there is little continuity and function is always narrowly beaten into second place by style. Mein Kampf does have a certain elegance and style that draws the reader in. Consistent with this book there are also tedious parts and sustained outbursts. The first book is hard going and the second `The National Socialist Movement’ you think will be even harder and true to form it’s not as theoretical or complicated as the first. The second book is less of a story than the first volume and I found it tedious. It shows you the near anarchy of groups struggling for power and describes marches and sinister fights in the beer halls. Here Hitler sets out his ideas for his party. Hitler’s National Socialism is an extremist workers party, a dictatorship with some distorted policies. This was a revolutionary party or perhaps terrorism on a large scale. This is a cold book, sarcastic, verbose, right on some things, wrong on others with a hefty dose of vileness. This book is an unimaginable creation and callous in the extreme. Symptomatic of the world we live in Mein Kamp offers a rare insight into the mind of a talented man who turns to bad things. This multi-sided book gives us a glimpse of why some things are but also leads you into the cul-de-sac of incorrect suppositions, his machinations going on and on exasperatingly. Hitler is religious, nationalistic, the fatherland is far more important than anyone else on Earth, but also strangely moralistic, family orientated, even faintly comical, dragged down into fine details, you won’t forget the huge impression of reading this book. For:
Intriguing
Some truth in there Against:
Vile racism, nationalism and extremism
Very poorly written
Too long for the number of ideas, leading to much repetition
Ideas that are wrong
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64 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Beyond Words, 22 Aug 2007
History is enraging in the way it always tends to pander to current prejudice and contemporary political need. We are all so wise and good at this point in history and can pretend that we are far too well-educated and morally pure, that nothing so bad is going to be done in our name, on our watch. We are so frantic in our wish to be distanced from the sustained and systematic evils of history, that we condemn the guilty as geniuses, or more remarkably, fools. Those who cling to their denial would prefer that books like this should be banned, as they bear witness to not only Hitler's evil but the pan-European common-denominator, he aspired to tap into.
It is morally convenient to believe that Hitler invented the evil aims laid out in this book. Hitler did not invent racism or anti-Semitism, he merely exploited what was already there and was actually voted into power by those who shared those views - many still do.
Published in 1925 & 1926, the two parts of the book gave fair warning of his aims and his fanatical hatreds. Across the world, many read his words and had their own feelings and hatreds confirmed. These people ranged across every class in most societies, and definitely from top to the bottom of the British social strata. It must be noted that even having been aware of Hitler's promises and even in the knowledge of seeing him carry them out, the country was willing to look the other way. It was just total chance that Churchill became leader and not Halifax - our moral superiority is based on mere luck not natural goodness. Our jingoistic pride, a deluded vanity.
Hitler's ranting coalescence of the hatreds and prejudices still bears witness to the heart of darkness of humanity, which shows no sign of going away.
Let this book be read and stand as a warning of what still continues to inspire many people, beneath the veneer of our "civilization".
Once you have read Hitler's poisonous rantings, you are forever aware that the same raving appeal to the common denominator, can still be heard or read, in the words of those who likewise wish to make us the sponsors of the contemporary fantatic's road to historical immortality.
Knowing who said it all before, might guard us against such folly.
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