The political analysis and motivation of people analysis is
very well done and I would say quite good. It was also lacking. I found it
interesting that Hitler would look at the media of the time and point at the
editors as the primary motivators for tone. And perhaps he was right to only
look there. But Hitler never seemed to question who owned a given paper and
whether they might have an agenda they were pushing on their editors and
writers (which I would say is fairly common practice now especially in the 24
hours news networks).
I found that my education regarding pre-war Jewish life is
perhaps lacking. On the one side we have the portrayal of the ghetto,
self-segregation, and the shtetl. On the other side we have owners of expensive
pieces of art, factory owners, fine artisans, and people with strong media or
political influence. My education focused on the former. Hitler focused on the
supposedly subversive and nation ruining aspects of the latter.
I don’t really have much to say about this book though. I’ve
read it. Hitler was smart and charismatic and had a strong sense of how to run
a focused movement (though I don’t think it would work as well today now that
communication is easier). But he also had a deep seeded hate for the Jewish boogeyman
without seemingly doing due diligence regarding the forces behind them.
This books was a tough read for me. It took me well over a
year to actually finish it. And, befitting the autobiography of one of the more
notorious killers and megalomaniacs of known history I read most of his books
while on the toilet and taking a crap.
