Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 an informative, dark read September 27, 2008
Garth Hanna
I read Mein Kampf in the hope of understanding some of the madness of Hitler's actions and wasn't disappointed. Although written in the 1920s what can be found here is a sort of blue print for World war Two.Through the book Hitler exposes the dark side of the human race and tries to manipulate the reader into agreeing with him. Unlike the German people of the time the reader has the luxury of knowing the evil of his plan. An informative and dark book that gives history a slightly different slant
 RRRRR-----ZZZZZZZ------RRRRR-----ZZZZZ August 8, 2008
Bernard M. Abel (Langley, Berks, Angleterre)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
Well, may be I m going against the flow here, but this book, is one of the most boring, poorly written, waste of money and paper i ve ever read for ages.. Its full of hate, written by a guy who throw up his bitterness and hate of everything non German during pages after pages after pages..., like you would throw up when You re drunk....
It s brilliant to put you to sleep if you ve got insomnia though...
we all know about the context in which it was written and what it lead to. so, no need to make some fuss about it and call it a must read. when it s an absolute piece of human junk.and fuel for hate...
well. i read it.. did not like it, .. but that s my personal opinion.
 ay-dolf : bad writer, decent fascist. (if there is such a thing) June 30, 2008
popeye (london)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
i stopped reading this book about a quarter of the way into it. i got extremely tired of the repetitive points..i know this is a way to emphasise something, but they seem a tad unneccesary if you know what hitler was all about already (obviously when this book was written, not so much). i also got tired of how poorly written it was...it seems like very often his point becomes lost, as if his attention span is that of a hyperactive child (which makes sense in re-iterating my last point.)
obviously this book is intersting just as prying into the mind of jeffrey dahmer is interesting, but these writings, like his paintings, are just plain artless. his inability to write well, combined with his inability to paint were quite likely part reasons as to why he had such an enormous inferiority complex.
 A paranoid book by a fiercely intelligent man June 23, 2008
Geschichtsliebhaber (Oldenburg, Niedersachsen)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
As you read 'Mein Kampf', there is no doubt as to Hitler's intelligence: it smacks you in the face. He clearly was not the clownish buffoon he is usually presented as. He tackles many issues cleverly if not clearly: his opinions on parliamentary democracy, reading, and propaganda are particularly interesting.
As Golo Mann famously remarked, Hitler was a man who simply couldn't understand moderation, and 'Mein Kampf' furnishes plenty of examples. Parliamentary democracy is bad for Germany? Have the politicians strung up, then. A colonial policy won't secure Germany's status for the future? Conquer eastern Europe, work its inhabitants to death, and plant Germans there. His answers to problems (as he seems them) are shockingly radical and indicative of a disturbing amorality. 'Mein Kampf' speaks volumes (no pun intended) about the tortured workings of a paranoid mind. That, really, is my second point: rather than believing in accident, Hitler sees gigantic conspiracies at work in the world (read Richard Hofstadter's excellent essay 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics' on this).
Hitler's logic is frequently circular and flawed, his style questionable (as Stuart Hodgson wrote, with typical British understatement, 'Mein Kampf' is written in 'by no means irreproachable German') and his arrangement of the material confusing. Nonetheless he provides a fascinating commentary on his times - the 1920s. I am highly sceptical of attempts to see all of Hitler's future decisions in the pages of 'Mein Kampf'. The mere fact that he envisaged a future war to be between Britain, Germany and Italy on the one hand and France on the other must show us that he was no Cassandra.
 Fascinating Beyond Words August 22, 2007
Mr. S. J. Wade (United Kingdom)
30 out of 41 found this review helpful
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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