I don't visit /pol/ or anything like that but as somebody curious about history, I feel like I should ask: is there any genuine literary merit to Mein Kampf?
Has anyone on /lit/ read it? Does it give any insight into who Hitler was in terms of his motivations and personality or is it just a bunch of conspiratorial anti-semitic material? Is it actually worth reading if I'm interested in the history of Germany? Is there anything redeemable about the book that could be educational or at least psychologically revealing about the man himself?
historical merit at the absolute very least
>>7219895
Yeah, basically this. It should give insight into the nazi ideology that was building in prominence and maybe indicate how confident Hitler was but apart from that, I don't think I'd recommend it unless if you have a dissertation on Nazi-era Germany or something. Just download a PDF of it if you're curious.
it was a book for the masses, and like mass-market books today it's banal, bland and simplistic. no literary merit.
I found it interesting solely because of its historical context. Outside of that, there's some elements where Hitler is discussing his childhood and living with his parents but that's only really a small part of the book. I don't think I'd recommend it unless if you're interested in history or if you've got an essay about hitler
>>7219874
As an art project, do a collage of Mein Kampf and the magnum opus of Anders Breivik, Burrough style.
>>7219937
Since your opinions of it seem to coincide with mine, I would like to ask you this: should I read it? I read the first ~100 pages or so; I read until he was struggling in Vienna and realised that ‘the Bolsheviks were actually Jews all along’ at which point I got bored with it. The early parts were interesting, but if I wanted to read tirades about Jews I’d just go on /pol/ – I do not mean to say that it surprised me: it did not; I pretty much expected it. Nor do I mean to say that I found it offensive and stopped reading for that reason; I just found quite dull and began to wonder why I was even reading it. If it is ‘worth it’ I can finish it. Is it?
>>7220020
I don't think it's really worth it, no. It would help to illustrate the full extent of Hitler's anti-semitism but honestly, we all know he didn't like the Jews and I can understand why a book containing most of his anti-semitic concerns would be a tedious read. Outside of purely academic reasons, I don't think I could recommend it.
>>7220031
All right. I did like the early parts about his father and his childhood, as well as the early parts of his life in Vienna. His opinions on communism were somewhat novel and interesting as well: the bit about how communists use underhanded methods to advance communism. What I found interesting was that his opinion was not that such methods are distasteful, but that they are effective, and that were an ideology with a sounder basis than that of communism employ them, it would surely defeat communism. But then he began on a long tirade about Jews. If the rest of the book is more of the former than the latter I don’t really have much of an interest in it. I might still read it one day, but it won’t be much of a priority.
>>7219874
Mein Kampf is written by a jew to rewrite history.
Go figure.
>>7220050
>more of the former than the latter
I meant to say more latter than the former
>>7220050
you would like The Young Hitler I Knew, written by Adolf's childhood friend August Kubizek
>>7219874
I read it. It does give a very singular description and reasoning for Nazi ideology(though the reasoning is far from excusing). It also contains some interesting stories about Hitler's youth, though some of them are lies.
Overall, though, it's not amazing from a literary standpoint and, due to the inconsistent nature of it's reliability in recounting events, it is not not useful as a historical work.
Lots of shills today. Oh, and just from a purely intellectual standpoint: you should always go to the primary source.
>>7219874
Mien Kampf is almost certainly a forgery. It probably had three or four different authors, one of which was Hitler.
Read the Second Book instead.
>>7219874
You should buy the official translation released by Nazi Germany
>>7219874
Mein Kampf isn't very well-written. It's only important to read if you intend to become some sort of WW2 scholar.
