Mein Kampf [The Ford Translation]

Growing up learning about the Holocaust and World War II always left me with a bit of a fascination and desire to understand what was going through Hitler’s head. “Mein Kampf” being both an autobiography, political party history, and political manifesto provides some understanding.

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.