Mein Kampf or My Struggle: Five Hundred and Sixty Pages of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, Irrationality and Sheer ProlixityUnderstanding Hitlers political methods, rhetorical techniques and organizational skills is often cited as the best reason to read this book in the modern age, since many dictators still use it as a handbook. Understanding their guidebook might be the best way to beat them at their own game. Many readers today avoid the book to avoid the taint of being seen reading it and also out of fear of perhaps falling under its influence. That is considered to be playing into the hands of the ones who are willing to use he powerful methods present therein.If the book was indeed a powerfully reasoned piece of work this would have held true. Instead it turned out to be a pathetic work, which only showcases the workings of a weak mind that constructed all its arguments from pre-conceived notions and never examined the basis of its arguments. It is clear that Hitler never bothered to understand the core ideas behind evolution, species selection, etc. Darwin had been pretty clear about all this, writing half a century or more before Hitler came up with his tripe. Instead he just assumes that a race came perfect unto this world and the world is beholden to preserve it I mean, that is not evolution, that is just a naturalistic version of creationism and a variation of the chosen people concept - he cannot even even be given points for being imaginative!So instead of being outraged by the dangerous and enticing nature of a charismatic leaders arguments, I found myself just plain disappointed by their weak and leaky nature. And it s not because of hasty constructions. Hitler takes all the time n the world and spends most of his book rehashing the same ideas in the same ways again and again. It is an insufferable drag.And even when he departs from his obsession with race purity and talks of geopolitics and grand strategy, he again jumps to conclusions about Britain, France and Russia that clearly proved to be wrong within his lifetime. Most of his ideas had to be abandoned in the course of the war. I am sure he came up with great explanations whenever this happened. That is the thing with this kind of 'method'. There is just no being wrong in it. The real question then is not whether we would buy his arguments but why anyone did. It is not about reading Hitler to understand how modern Dictators might use the same tactics, but understanding the conditions that allow these pretty rudimentary tactics to succeed and to avoid those conditions. The answers are in the society itself and not in Hitlers work. The same applies for modern dictators who use his book as a guide - the answer is in a society that allows such extreme paranoid ideas to be propagated. It requires a grave threat and an almost pathological need to surrender once reason to a raving lunatic, who is willing to be a Führer. The best way yo have a world which rejects its Hitlers is to have a world that is not scared enough to accept without question essentially baseless fascist arguments. Hitler provides a good litmus test - wherever we see such ideas are getting currency, it might be time to examine what is causing the society to suspend common sense. Unfortunately, we might not have to look far to see test cases.++++I am not attempting a dissection of Hitlers many pet theories (hobby horses?) here. I just cant spare the time and I have wasted enough on reading this already.Many unsupported rants pepper the book, repeated ad nauseam. A sample:Austria: Everything about it is bad, except the Germans. Should be brought into the fold, but carefully.Germany/Germans: The perfect race, the one to be preserved. So perfect that they are under threat from the worst/weakest race (I mean, how does THAT work?). Has to be expanded. World, including Britain, should make sure Germany expands if they dont want this magnificent race to disappear from the face of the earth, leaving it poorer forever more. Germany has been greatly discriminated against after the First World War (okay, have to concede this, but it doesn't take a genius to figure that. Probably just echoing Keynes in any case). German people have suffered enough. It is time for a Great Leader to arise again. No prizes for guessing who that is!Jews: Always vaguely and conveniently defined. But incontrovertibly the scum of humanity. To be eliminated. However jews are clearly shown to be a broader term, to include all traitors against the German people. Thus the word comes across mostly as a class badge in hitlers writings.Democracy: How can the masses ever rule? Democracy is only an excuse for rulers to pass on responsibility and avoid taking tough decisions. What a country under there needs is a strong leader who canned do what needs to be done. To be avoided at all costs.The Masses: The mindless lot. Manipulated and brain washed by the Jews. They have to be emancipated by effective and complete control, by a leader. They have to be reeducated and freed of the influence of the Jews - by propaganda.Trade & Business: The purview of the Jews. Only the weak and the leach-like attempt these activities. The German people to abjure them and take to manly activities that does not suck the life blood of the country and the race.The Market: Sheer anarchy! Not to be allowed. State has to control production to avoid wastage.Monarchy: Well, not in name, but we need a leader who can recreate the grand Reich of old. Who cares if it looks exactly like a kingship?Marxism: The scourge of this earth! The tool of the Jews! Initiated by a Jew, what more proof do you need? Exists only to corrupt the masses. Has to be used only to reach the masses. Should be superseded forthwith after that.The Press: Has to be controlled so that only the state views are set forth. Otherwise the Jews and the Marxists will take it over and corrupt the public even more.The Races: Have to be preserved and kept apart to prevent dilution, especially the Germanic race of the Aryans. Dont question my assumptions here!My Way or The Highway! Got it?

First things first...Who should read this: Anyone intelligent enough to see through Hitler's BS.Who should not-read this: everyone elseUnfortunately I was in the second category when I read Mein Kampf; most teenagers are. The first part of the book is a very convincing patriotic, nationalistic point of view. The second part is where all the hate propaganda truly begins. By the time naive readers reach the second part, they might be convinced that Hitler is making sensible arguments.I was well through three quarters of the book before I saw through Hitler's ruse. This was the first (and last, so far) book to trick me, and give Hitler props for that. As for the actual substance of the book, it is nothing but a desperate attempt to allot blame where it does not belong.It fails at being a literary work of any decent calibre; but thoroughly succeeds in being a work of unflinching propaganda.

Hitler... booooooooooooooo!Call me a crazy talking liberal if you want, but I am against burning human beings in big ovens. I don't care how trendy and cool it was considered back in the day, that's just the way I was raised.I read this book on the recommendation of a friend. Or at least I thought he was my friend. It turned out he was actually just a cashier at Borders. But he looked an awful lot like this guy I used to be friends with when I worked at Gamestop. I could have sworn it was him. The only real difference was that he worked at Borders and not Gamestop. Oh and he apparently enjoys Nazi literature. And I'm pretty sure the guy I worked with at Gamestop was black.But in any case I suppose I should blame myself. Perhaps the next time a skinny bald white cashier recommends a book written by Adolf Hitler I should get a second opinion. Especially if he's not the tall black guy with dreads I used to work with.So in summary...1) Hiter bad2) Gamestop = Cherished memories from my youth3) Books not returnable at Borders after 15 days.

I was standing at the check out desk at Tolman Halls library at U.C. Berkeley back in the 1970s. I have no idea what I was checking out at the time. Maybe it was the time that I had spent at their library reading the Salem Witch Trials, the court documents. But as I was standing at the counter, I noticed a speech written on the wall behind the desk. I stood there reading it, and while I was reading it I realized that it was a humanitarian speech, and I thought, That is the most beautiful speech that I have ever read. Who wrote it? I continued reading, and then it was signed, Adolph Hitler. Imagine my shock. I have not been able to find that speech, and it is no longer on their wall behind that check out desk. I had known about Hitler; I had read Anne Franks Diary, but I hadnt read much else at the time. Just that you dont go through life without knowing what happened to the Jews during WWII. I have read a lot of books about the holocaust since then.Well, back in 2011, when I was helping our library during their book sale, the one where I frequent now, I noticed some books on Hitler and bought one. That led me to wondering about the book Mein Kampf, so I ordered it used online. After reading maybe half of it, I threw it in the garbage where it belonged. Mein Kampf was a constant rant on Jews. It repeated the same issues over and over again. I saw how people could actually believe what he was saying if they were not educated. It was an old story, one that was heard in Germany often, which people believed, which let to them accepting Hitlers own rants. Then I read some of Hitlers speeches, still trying to find the one that I had read at the library. I never found it. So, Hitlers book is finally being published again, but this time with information to inform people so that they will know that Hitler spoke lies. Still, I think if a person in inclined to be racist, to hate, they will not pay any attention to these comments. For hate is blinding. If you have grown up with parents who hate, who are bigots or racists, you will grow up with these views as well. Some people get over these views, especially if they get an education, and then there are those who see through it from a young age. We are told to love all people by the various religions, but I have seen so much hatred i the Christian religions, so much crime, that my eyes have been opened. I just want to get away from them and stay away. I learned that you cant easily change peoples minds. I have tried; I now just tell them what I think and walk away. I will not compare Hitler with anyone in political power today and hope to not get any comments on this book in this regards, because if I do, those comments will be deleted. Remember, what you write on the internet you are writing on the sky. I will also delete any comments made by racists. I happen to believe that free speech does not include hate speech, and I think we should incorporate a law against hate speech here in America.

I don't actually intend to read this book, just to share the following passage from Volume 4 of Kasparov's My Great Predecessors. Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky at the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca:During the tournament they could sometimes be seen, leisurely walking along, peacefully chatting, little Sammy and tall Fischer. An idyllic picture: an orthodox Jew and an extremist who praised Mein Kampf. Later Reshevsky explained: 'He has his views, I have my views. It didn't bother me. I tried to make him see the light. I didn't succeed, but I tried.'One of the most extraordinary things about Fischer was that almost all his colleagues in the chess world genuinely liked and respected him. He was a unique person.