Mein Kampf

Amazon.com

The angry ranting of an obscure, small-party politician, the first volume of Mein Kampf was virtually ignored when it was originally published in 1925. Likewise the second volume, which appeared in 1926. The book details Hitler's childhood, the "betrayal" of Germany in World War I, the desire for revenge against France, the need for lebensraum for the German people, and the means by which the National Socialist party can gain power. It also includes Hitler's racist agenda and his glorification of the "Aryan" race. The few outside the Nazi party who read it dismissed it as nonsense, not believing that anyone could--or would--carry out its radical, terrorist programs. As Hitler and the Nazis gained power, first party members and then the general public were pressured to buy the book. By the time Hitler became chancellor of the Third Reich in 1933, the book stood atop the German bestseller lists. Had the book been taken seriously when it was first published, perhaps the 20th century would have been very different.

Beyond the anger, hatred, bigotry, and self-aggrandizing, Mein Kampf is saddled with tortured prose, meandering narrative, and tangled metaphors (one person was described as "a thorn in the eyes of venal officials"). That said, it is an incredibly important book. It is foolish to think that the Holocaust could not happen again, especially if World War II and its horrors are forgotten. As an Amazon.com reader has pointed out, "If you want to learn about why the Holocaust happened, you can't avoid reading the words of the man who was most responsible for it happening." Mein Kampf, therefore, must be read as a reminder that evil can all too easily grow. --Sunny Delaney

Book Description

In 1922, just four years after the war to end all wars, an unknown Austrian then living in Bavaria planned a pamphlet to be called Settling Accounts. In it he intended to attack the ineffectiveness of the dominant political parties in Germany which were opposed to the new National Socialists (Nazis). In November 1923, Adolf Hitler was jailed for the abortive Munich Beer Hall putsch along with men willing and able to assist him with his writing. With the help of these collaborators, chief among them Rudolf Hess, the pamphlet became a book. Settling Accounts became Mein Kampf, an unparalleled example of muddled economics and history, appalling bigotry, and an intense self-glorification of Adolf Hitler as the true founder and builder of the National Socialist movement. It was written in hate and it contained a blueprint for violent bloodshed. When Mein Kampf was published in 1925, it was a failure. In 1926 a second volume appeared - it was no more successful than the first. People either laughed at it or ignored it. They were wrong to do so. As Hitler's power increased, pressure was put on all party members to buy the book. Gradually this pressure was extended to all elements of the German population. Soon Mein Kampf was even being passed out to newlywed couples as a gift. Ironically, and frighteningly, by the time Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, what has been considered by many to be the most satanic book ever written was running neck and neck with the Bible at the top of the German bestseller lists. In his excellent introduction to this definitive American translation of Mein Kampf, Konrad Heiden writes: "For years Mein Kampf stood as proof of the blindness and complacency of the world. For in its pages Hitler announced -- long before he came to power -- a program of blood and terror in a self-revelation of such overwhelming frankness that few among its readers had the courage to believe it ... That such a man could go so far toward realizing his ambitions, and -- above all -- could find millions of willing tools and helpers; that is a phenomenon the world will ponder for centuries to come." We would be wrong in thinking that such a program, such a man, and such appalling consequences could not reappear in our world of the present. We cannot permit our selves the luxury of forgetting the tragedy of World War II or the man who, more than any other, fostered it. Mein Kampf must be read and constantly remembered as a specimen of evil demagoguery that people whenever men grow tired of thinking and acting for themselves. Mein Kampf is a blueprint for the age of chaos. It transcends in historical importance any other book of the present generation. In his translation Ralph Manheim has taken particular care to give an exact English equivalent of Hitler's highly individual, and often awkward style, including his occasional grammatical errors. We believe this book should stand as the complete, final, and definitive English version of Hitler's own story of his life, his political philosophy, and his thwarted plans for world domination. Translated by Ralph Manheim with an introduction by Konrad Heiden. A compilation of Hitler's most famous prison writings of 1923--the bible of National Socialism and the blueprint for the Third Reich.

Customer Reviews:

The Seeds of Hatred.......2007-09-24

First of all I'd like to say that yes I read this book and as a person of Jewish descent, struggled through it, not so much for its hatred but its lack of "literary merit" to say the least, yet I think that it is a neccessary read for everyone, even in these times. However, as a person with mental illness, I find it too easy to label it "the ravings of a lunatic". If it was people would have ignored it (unlike "The Triumph of the Will" which is morally despicable but a work of cinematic brilliance). It was a (however poorly written) blueprint for what was to come later (though it toned down the extremity that the third reich would become). Firstly, Hitler was a careful strategist and worked with other hateful idealogues (such as Goebbels and Himmler and the like) to promote his viewpoints. However, the main reason he was such a "success story" was that the country at the time was in economic chaos and the climate of hatred was there, waiting for someone to take advantage of it, so sooner or later, someone would have filled his shoes and the poplulace (see the film "Shoah" for proof of this) not only went along with what he said, they were willing accomplices (as were other countries throughout Europe such as Austria or a large part of France or even Stalin-a despot on his own-had Hitler not betrayed the non aggression pact)as "The Sorrow and the Pity" may attest. But with reviewers who find "The Turner Diaries" to be "brilliant" and a certain "inspirational" Mel Gibson movie to be proof that "Jews control the media" (direct quotes) it shows that there are people like that even now and as for a climate of hatred and intolerance, I'd say that we are in the middle of that right now (on all sides). Read "Mein Kampf" and see the dvd of "It Happenned Here" (about a fictional third reich taking power again) and realize, that this work of hatred, is something still to be feared, not religated to the past.

You will be shocked how logical and appealing Hitler's argument is........2007-09-24

First, a disclaimer: I do not advocate or support Hitler's ideas, but I recommend this book because so much of the world currently thinks this way and applies this philosophy or similar to issues of economy, immigration, international relations, and even their daily business and community lives. Because Mein Kampf reflects the mindset of so many, from leaders such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran) down to the common American factory worker, it's important to realize that these ideas--as any really--are as dangerous as they are logical.

Is this an evil book? No. We have several maniacs publishing books, sitting in places of political power, and with loyal followings on political talk shows whose ideas are as or more threatening to world order if they were allowed to reign. And since you should understand those competing ideas for what they are, I recommend reading the father of them all--Mein Kampf.

The most shocking thing about reading this book is that Hitler offers a very logical and appealing argument: that foreigners (the Jews in his time, but perhaps we could substitute the Chinese or Mexicans in ours, or we Americans if you are from Europe or the Middle East, or 'White' Afrikans in 'Black' Africa) are a threat to our wealth and welfare, the health of our society, that they are slowing taking over economically, that it's only a matter of time before they are a ruling, wealthy minority which will subjegate our culture and people--and that they must be stopped.

After all, this has happened in other countries--you're bound to think--and isn't it happening today? Wouldn't we be right to protect our interests against this imminent threat? Of course, the answer is to irradicate them, seize their assets, erase all traces of their culture. At the very least, doesn't Mein Kampf match very well with the idea of closing United States borders to all immigration, and deporting those who are not already citizens? Hitler himself argues the point far better than any politician today--and boldly.

Hitler does not come off as insane or evil. He's preaching to the chior in his time and place, and it's not much of a stretch to say that this same argument would be very effective today.

It's scary how convincing this book is, and that's exactly why you should read it. Even if you, as I, may not agree with how he incorporated his political philosophy, it's a wake up call to read something by the individual who personified evil for nearly all of us and yet find that his ideas are considerably well thought out.

Excellent night time reading.......2007-09-10

Want to know what went on in the mind of one of the worlds most famous tirants? Then go ask him. Oh no you cant, so read this instead.
Its well written and shows a seriously twisted mind, and acts as a warning to what a twisted mind can achieve given the right circumstances and motivation.
Dont buy this if you expect a cheap jew-bashing novel, but do buy this if you think you can handle a well built up argument as to exactly why Hitler believed what he did.

Down & Out in Bavaria Hills.......2007-09-03

Achtung, Baby!

Mein Kampf has a nasty reputation. When it comes right down to it, Mein Kampf is a bad dog, a bad, bad dawg. If Mein Kampf were human, it would be the balding forty-year old guy with the canting glass eye who loiters down by the stairwell selling tap-dancing aphids out of a hat.

But if you step back, take a deep breath, get the mental picture of grim soot blackened kilns and miles of concertina fence and razor wire and baying German shepherds and slaughterhouses & black-smoke belching smokestacks festering and brooding beneath a slate-grey sky---

Where were we? Oh yes: if you get past that stuff, you'll be able to see Mein Kampf for what it really is: the world's most influential Self-Help manual.

Who needs Dale Carnegie & all that "Smile 'til your Gums Bleed!" crap when you've got Adolf Hitler: Carnegie wants you to wag your tail & get another friend, Hitler wants you to wag your fist in your enemy's face & slice off another rump puppet state.

Let's take a little mental inventory of Adolf Hitler, circa 1923: starving, failed artist, no money to pay the rent, wandered around ranting and drinking all day in beerhalls, and worst of all, stuck in the Munich pokey after he and the boys got knocked around by the local hoo-haw after a wild night gomezing around on the town and a few too many Heffeweisen.

And yet this guy, not even a decade later, is not only shooting hoops and slam dunks but kicking everybody's [EXPLETIVE!] around the court. Around about 1941, Hitler doesn't have any time left to kick [EXPLETIVE!] & take names. Why? Because he's too busy kicking [NAUGHTY!] to take names.

With that in mind, let's break this little masterwork of Teutonic Take-no-Prisoners Motivation down by the numbers & see what Mein Kampf can do for you---today!

1) Give in to your Anger! Your Hate will make you Strong! Whether it's building a battle station that can destroy a planet in a single blast or emptying the Eastern Marches of Bolshevik Scum, get in touch with your Inner Monster & give that bad boy a ticket to ride!

2) It's all about Marketing! Coco Chanel knew it! Tommy Hilfiger knew it! Idi Amin knew it!---Marketing Matters! Hitler proved it. Schwag matters. Gift boxes matter! Little corporate doohickeys with your logo & slogan on it---all of that matters.

WWHD?---'What would Hitler Do?' He'd make it colorful! Primary colors, baby, lots of red and black and white! He'd add chrome! He'd come up with a catchy slogan. He'd probably have a military march with torches somewhere in there! He'd invade Poland!

3) Mission Statement: KISS goes here ("Keep it SS"): make it brutally simple. Example: a) Revenge the betrayed fatherland by shooting the Bolshevik rotters; b) hold lots of torchlit parades; c) invade Russia.

Show me, don't tell me. It's results that count, daddy-o. See #3.

3) Business is War! Get in the other guy's face & scream! Make him wipe your spittle off his mouth! Yes! Go over the line! Pound on the table all you want to, but if you don't get what you want, it's time to cross the enemy's line of Death! No more Mr. Nice Guy!

Your Enemies are a bunch of Fairies! They shave their legs & go cycling after work. Think I'm wrong? Think Carstairs in Accounting has the mojo to take you on, Dear Leader? Try nailing his cat to his desk. Your patience is at an end! Exactly! Would you like a little Belgium or France with your order, Sir?

4)Shoot your rivals. What about Carruthers, the guy from Marketing? Seriously, Old Hoss, keep an eye on that guy. He's quiet, he's shifty eyed, he does what you tell him, and when you screamed at him in that P&L meeting last week he---I jest thee not---he wet himself. That said, remember: it's the quiet ones who get ya, one way or another. Hitler, for instance. Hitler was a frustrated Marketing guy, too.

It's kinda funny to think about, but had someone back on the old arts school admissions council at the Vienna School for Drawing Little Teutonic stick figures decided to let Hitler in, we'd have gotten about 15 years of bad cubist stuff instead of the Blitz & the Holocaust.

5) Strike first! Strike hard! Kill! Kill! Pick yourself up out of the gutter and get back on that Tiger tank! You think it's enough to humiliate Dimwiddy in the board room, you lunk? Fool! You've got to destroy Dimwiddy! You've got to crush him, annex his office space, invade and destroy all those little projects that mean so much to him, get him fired, laugh as he has to haul all his personal shxt out in a cardboard box---and even then it's not over! You've got to gloat, gloat and cackle, when you spot him on the street corner, down in the gutter, eating his daily ration of cat food out of a tin! Shove his face in that horsemeat! Push!

6) Never Underestimate the Stupidity of the Masses: This is a biggie. Think about it: you're German, it's 1930, and one of the candidates for Reichs Chancellor has a shifty looking brush moustache. When asked about his resume, he replies nonchalantly about being big on killing vermin.

Would you vote for that guy? Guess what? They did! Hitler won in a landslide! If he can, you can too!

With that in mind, ACHTUNG! Baby! We got a little Liebensrauming to do.

JSG

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-08-30

I read this book for its political, intellectual, and philosophical content and not its anti-Semitism and vitriol. This book should be studied in every political discussion group or government class in America. Everything that confronts us today in our political debate is and was debated in this book; religion and politics, the individual and the state, social diseases, teenage pregnancy, democracy vs socialism or communism, ethnic cleansing, aggressive war, the right to torture, freedom of speech, the right to organize, unionism, the free market, globalization, internationalism, capitalism, Central banking, the right to unlimited profits, obligation of citizens to state and state to citizens, leadership, organization, advertising, propaganda, private property, entrepreneurship, the news media, the stock market, banking, patriotism, treason, God, science, world peace, imperialism, education, military industrial complex - you name it and it is discussed in this work and Adolf's answer is given on every subject matter.
This book intrigued me so much and so boggled and confused my mind that I decided to write my own page by page analysis. I have been serializing this analysis on my blog - the hobo philosopher. My copy of Mein Kampf is over 1000 pages. I have finished analyzing book one which is only 500 pages and my analysis is over 800 pages. Needless to say reading Mein Kampf has been quite and educating experience for me. You should try it.

Average customer rating:

An amazing story, not the best account
It gives me hope
In All My Life
In All My Life
You Could Die if You Knew!

The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943
Inge Scholl , and Dorothee Soelle
Manufacturer: Wesleyan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0819560863

Book Description

The White Rose tells the story of Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, who in 1942 led a small underground organization of German students and professors to oppose the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi Party. They named their group the White Rose, and they distributed leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime. Sophie, Hans, and a third student were caught and executed.

Written by Inge Scholl (Han's and Sophie's sister), The White Rose features letters, diary excerpts, photographs of Hans and Sophie, transcriptions of the leaflets, and accounts of the trial and execution. This is a gripping account of courage and morality.

CONTRIBUTORS: Dorthe Solle.

Customer Reviews:

An amazing story, not the best account.......2006-03-12

I bought this book wanting some background on the White Rose before going to see the German film on Sophie Scholl, and it was informative, if rather short - the actual story is less than 100 pages, as half the book represents documents. On the plus side, it is by the sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, so though it isn't a great read, presumably it is an accurate account. However, I have since read some negative comments that the author used this book to place herself more centre stage, which put me off a bit as I like to think the books I read - at least those on historical events - are well-researched and unbiased.

For a more gripping account with a fast-paced narrative, I would recommend Dumbach and Newborn's Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, which I've just finished. It has some rave reviews, is a much more vivid account, and as well as all the photographs of the students also includes all the leaflets including the seventh, previously unpublished, leaflet of the White Rose group that was discovered in the Gestapo archives after the fall of the Berlin Wall. So if you want both a good read and some very interesting historical documents, this is by far the better book.

It gives me hope.......2004-08-05

For those unfamiliar with the story of The White Rose, it is a testament to the power and courage of those who are willing to stand up for freedom and independence in a world gone mad. Once again I find this book paticularly compelling today, for obvious reasons. The pamphlets the White Rose students distributed (that they subsequently paid the ultimate price for) are reprinted in their entirety in the book. They are well written, beautiful in spirit, and as compelling today as they were then.

The story is told with honor and reverence by the sister of Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, siblings and two of the students in Germany who brainstormed the pamphlets and were executed swiftly and denounced publicly for their trouble. In spite of that, or because of it, their efforts caused a ripple of resistance in the German republic that caused its fair share of trouble for the Nazi regime.

Calling for a policy of passive resistance -- the ability for each one, individually, to sabotage any efforts of the fascist regime in power -- was a brilliant move on their part. No fundraising, no unending meetings, no need for mailing lists or computer databases. Sabotage rallies, sabotage in all areas of science and scolarship which further the continuation of the war, sabotage in all branches of the arts, and a refusal to give a penny to any government organized charity...such was the call of these noble individuals who had no great army, but who understood the power of the individual.

I only learned of the White Rose within the past couple of years myself. Everyone should learn and understand what they did and why. It gives me hope.

In All My Life.......2003-06-13

In all my life I don't think I have read a book about such courageous people as Hans and Sophie Scholl. They are involved in an anti-fascist resistance movement and know they can be killed at any hour of the day. They are in constant fear of the people around them, wondering if they are Nazi spies, and yet they keep going.
This inspiring book, so full of tears, fearfulness, joy, anxiety, and love should be read by every young person.
Janice Wipf

In All My Life.......2003-06-13

In all my life I don't think I have read a book about such courageous people as Hans and Sophie Scholl. They are involved in an anti-fascist resistance movement and know they can be killed at any hour of the day. They are in constant fear of the people around them, wondering if they are Nazi spies, and yet they keep going. This inspiring book, so full of tears, fearfulness, joy, anxiety, and love should be read by every young person. Janice Wipf, ninth grade.

You Could Die if You Knew!.......2003-05-28

Would you be willing to join a cause, knowing that you could be killed for even associating with members of that cause? Would you be ready to leave family and friends for something that is almost impossible to achieve? The young people of the White Rose movement did just that.

Sophie and Hans Scholl lived in Germany during the reign of the cruel dictator Adolph Hitler. They and several other young people and their teacher stood up to Hitler's brutal rulership and tried to bring about peace and justice in a country devoid of almost everything but propaganda, hate, and bloodshed.

Exactly what steps these young people took is not as important as the great Idea they stood for, the vision of peace, love, and justice. Writing such things as "Freedom"and "Down with Hitler" on walls and streets took courage that only the most devout and focused person could have. These people, who were killed for their beliefs, should have more than just a book about them with the name of their group, The White Rose. They should be known and honored world-wide for their nonviolent stand against the most wicked and horrible dictatorship in modern history!

Book Description

If anyone still questions the power which myth exercises over the human mind, he should read The Occult Rules of Nazism."
—Anthony Storr

"An extensive survey of . . . theosophy, astrology, and `ariosophy' (Aryan-racist-occult theories) . . . An intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies."
—Times Literary Supplement

Nearly half a century after the defeat of the Third Reich, Nazism remains a subject of extensive historical inquiry, general interest, and, alarmingly, a source of inspiration for resurgent fascism in Europe. Goodrick-Clarke's powerful and timely book traces the intellectual roots of Nazism back to a number of influential occult and millenarian sects in the Habsburg Empire during its waning years. These sects combined notions of popular nationalism with an advocacy of Aryan racism and a proclaimed need for German world-rule.

This book provides the first serious account of the way in which Nazism was influenced by powerful millenarian and occult sects that thrived in Germany and Austria almost fifty years before the rise to power of Adolf Hitler.

These millenarian sects (principally the Ariosophists) espoused a mixture of popular nationalism, Aryan racism, and occultism to support their advocacy of German world-rule. Over time their ideas and symbols, filtered through nationalist-racist groups associated with the infant Nazi party, came to exert a strong influence on Himmler's SS.

The fantasies thus fueled were played out with terrifying consequences in the realities structured into the Third Reich: Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka, the hellish museums of Nazi apocalypse, had psychic roots reaching back to millenial visions of occult sects. Beyond what the TImes Literary Supplement calls an intriguing study of apocalyptic fantasies, this bizarre and fascinating story contains lessons we cannot afford to ignore.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2005-10-24

Great book. Well researched and sheds light on how myths can be so powerful. Unfortunately it was misused power!

The Occult Roots of Nazism........2004-06-03

_The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology_ by Nicholas Goodrick-Clark is an intriguing academic study on the pre-Nazi occult scene in Germany. The cover features a rather threatening Thule Gesellschaft symbol: a sword and swastika wrapped in laurels and a halo of emanating light. Many of the occult practices described in this book--palmistry, crystals, secret orders, hidden knowledge, spirit guides, channeling, tarot cards, fortune telling, astrology--have retained their popularity today in the New Age movement. What's particularly interesting about Goodrick-Clarke's work is he compares the Ariosophists List and Lanz to the ancient duelist philosophies of Gnosticism and Manicheanism in their extreme division of reality into two eternally conflicting forces of good (Aryans) and evil (Jews). Goodrick-Clarke begins his discussion by going back to the writings of Madame Helena Blavatsky, her two books _The Secret Doctrine_ and _Isis Unvieled_, and her occult Theosophical Society. Her books propagated a form of anti-rationalism and anti-scientism, instead relying upon supposed revealed secret doctrines by hidden masters in Tibet. Blavatsky believed there was a series of seven "root races" that lived on earth, of which the Aryan race was the fifth. Other notables connected with the occult at this time included Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and Bulwer Lytton. Lytton wrote in his work _The Coming Race_ of a subterranean race that was to give mankind new enlightenment and psychic abilities. Ariosophy, the so-called wisdom of the Aryans, developed from theosophical ideas and the general occult subcultures of the time. The political and motivation for the rise of occultism in Germany and Austria was the situation of the Austro -Hungarian Empire and the Hapsburg monarchy. Prussia had permanently excluded Austria from a role in a united German state by Bismark's military victories before 1871. However the Austrian Empire encompassed not only Hungary but also many nationalities of Slavic, non-German descent, in addition to Jewish minorities. The status of Germans as a whole in Austria was tenuous and the conservative elements of the populace were more inclined to fall for unorthodox metaphysical beliefs that would allow them to fight against the tides of political liberalism in the Empire. Hitler, it is to be noted, was not actually born in "Germany" proper but in the Austro-Hungarian Empire near the German border. Goodrick-Clarke takes care to note that Hitler despised the Hapsburg monarchy, while his sectarian occultist predecessors admired it as a bastion of German mystical/mythical tradition. In Vienna, during the late 1800s and early 1900s before World War I, two radical German nationalists, Guido von List and Adolf Lanz (who self-styled himself with the aristocratic title of von Liebenfels) researched and published a considerable amount of literature dealing with Germany's so-called repressed history. List believed that ancient, pagan, pre-Christian Germany was a center of culture kept alive by a secret order of initiates, the Armanenschaft, who established a decentralized aristocratic hierarchy and kept the German race pure through eugenic practices. Oddly enough, their secret doctrine, according to List, was encoded and given to the Rabbis for safekeeping in the form of the Cabala, in order to preserve it from Christian destruction. Lanz, whose _Ostara_ pamphlets Hitler is likely to have read, was an ex-Cistercian monk who joined the pan-German movement. Lanz made an extensive study of ancient civilizations and the Old Testament and concluded that the ancestors of the German race lived on Atlantis, which sank, and spread to Northern Europe and the Middle East. The supposed Aryan Middle Easterners founded the great civilizations of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, including the Hebrews. The Hebrew Scripture, according to Lanz's analysis, was a history of the attempt for Aryans to preserve their race. He interpreted the fall as the miscegenation between Aryans and lesser races. Lanz believed Jesus ("Frauja") was an Aryan savior and the medieval Christian character of Europe, with its monasteries and nobility, embodied the Aryan ideal. He believed Alexandria, known for its library and scholarship, was the center of gravity of ancient Ariosophy. The first bishop to convert the Germans to Christianity was Ulifas, an Arian bishop from Alexandria, thus Lanz equates "Aryanism" with the Christian heresy of "Arianism," or disbelief in the deity of Christ. The Ariosophists and pan-Germanists believed the only way to preserve Germany's Aryan past was to fight against modern liberal tendencies and take aggressive action against those corrupting Germany's traditional landscape: the Jews, communists and Slavs. Several quasi-Masonic lodges were founded throughout Germany and Austria before, during and after WWI. Among these were the Thule Society and the Germannorden. There is some speculation that the Thule Society, its membership being a collection of well-educated professionals and aristocrats, founded the German Workers Party (DAP) as an activist political party to attract a mass membership. Hitler was sent as a spy to the DAP to survey its activities. Hitler later joined this party, which eventually renamed itself the German National Socialist Party (NASDAP or Nazi Party). Although Hitler never mentioned Lanz by name in any of his recorded words, Goodrick-Clarke attributes this fact to Hitler not wanting to call attention to where he got his ideas during his formative years in Vienna. Although Hitler did not have much of an interest in actual occult practices, his chief of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, did. Himmler consulted a former mental asylum inmate, Karl Maria Willigut (a.k.a. Weisthor), who claimed to possess an ancient ancestral knowledge of the German race. Himmler constructed a "Nazi Vatican" at a castle in Wewelsburg where neo-pagan ceremonies for the Nazi SS were held. Goodrick-Clarke's final appendix to this study is an examination of the mythology Nazi Germany's meteoric rise and fall from an obscure party from the 1920s to a totalitarian government that had Europe from the English Channel to the Caucasus Mountains under its thumb (albeit briefly). A considerable amount of literature has been published in various countries about how the Nazi Party's rise to power was aided by supernatural and demonic forces.

The Occult Roots of Nazism.......2002-08-06

This is a great book on the history of the movement. A lot of good info about Aryan Paganism in Germany at the start of the 1900s. I've known people who were involved with German Wotanism between the 1920s to 1945 and have books of and about that time period, but Mr. Goodricke-Clarke talks about alot of people I've never heard of before, and he gives new details about people I've read a great deal about. This book is the only source for a lot of this info.
His new book Black Sun is like part II of The Occult Roots of Nazism. He talks about the Pagan Revival after WWII and all the new ideas and people in the movement. These two books should be read together.

Ariosophism.......2001-11-08

The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is a very well written study of the massive influence Aryan occultism and esoteric societies had upon Hitler and the theoriticians of the NSDAP. He is quite comprehensive in his coverage of Ariosophist philosophers and enigmatic volkish groups which blossomed in late ninteenth-early twentieth century middle Europe.

What makes this book worth reading to the student of Modern European History, is not only Goodrick-Clarke's ability to link these movements to Nazi philosophy, but his attention to detail. Further, he carefully explains the historical surroundings and mystical, sometimes ludicrous, beliefs held by members of the various Ariosophical societies.These explanations, coupled with what must have been very tedious research, enlighten these somewhat obscure and often forgotten influences on the NSDAP.

This book is well worth a read. However, its appeal is somewhat limited to those with particular interest in the occult

philosophy sub-genre of Nazi Studies. By no means is it a typical Shirer inspired playscript of the Reich.

TAB

my personal review.......2001-08-31

this was a well written book, if you have an interest in the history of nazi europe this is a must read!

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

Average customer rating:

"Physician, Heal Thyself" The Nazi Doctor and the Holocaust
In our own time...
Fascinating
Fascinating insight into the darkness of war.
Not deep enough

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide
LIFTON
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0465049052

Book Description

A brilliant analysis and history of the crucial role that German doctors played in Nazi genocide.

Customer Reviews:

"Physician, Heal Thyself" The Nazi Doctor and the Holocaust.......2005-05-24

In this detailed and well-researched account, psychologist Robert J. Lifton chronicles the Holocaust from a unique perspective: the role played by Nazi medical doctors. In doing so he explains the Nazi philosophy that formed the basis for mass murder: the necessity to heal the ills of German society by eliminating all its corrupting influences. Healing was and is the raison d'etre for the medical profession. Doctors were thus compelled to become killers in the application of this all encompassing "cure."

Lifton traces the evolution of the Holocaust beginning with the "euthanasia" projects of the 30's. Anyone incapable of being a productive member of society was consided, "life unworthy of life" and euthanized. Initially this was confined to the mentally challenged and the old/infirmed. Later even severely wounded German soldiers were not spared. Execution technology perfected here formed the basis for the mass executions conducted later.

Lifton interviews many physicians in this work including some former Nazi's and many Jewish doctors forced to work at Auschwitz. Here, the inner conflicts of persons trained to heal but actively involved in killing reached its apex. Reactions varied from the cold, view of inmates as "laboratory rats" and nothing more by Josef Mengele, to the tortured acceptance of the necessity of doing his duty of Eduard Wirths. Coping mechanisms included sending others to do the "dirty work" when possible, excessive use of alcohol, and in some cases, suicide. Still, the work went on, despite any internal contradictions.

This is the first work I have seen that explained the Nazi philosophy and its impact on the Holocaust. Because it was the stated goal of National Socialism to cleanse German society of all its ills, the participation of healers was essential. The Nazi's never wavered in this twisted belief. Would the Holocaust have occurred without the doctor's participation? Undoubtedly, yes! However doe's this excuse their participation? You the reader must decide. A great read. Five stars!!

Harold Y. Grooms

In our own time..........2005-03-14

This book is relevant to our nation and society in the present time. With the Terry Schiavo case in the forefront of the news, one can only reflect on the position of the courts, and the doctors, in Germany in the 1930's. The book carefully shows the slippery slope which can confront a society that fails to protect the least among us. It is not a book about another place and another time. It is a book about us, in our own time. Strongly recommended that one reads this with open eyes and and open heart to the decisions we make today.

Robert W. Smith, MD, MBA

Fascinating.......2005-01-11

This is a fascinating look not only at what the Nazi doctors did during the reign of the Third Reich but also how they perceived what they were doing and the legislative precedents that culminated in the general acceptance of medicalised killing by many German doctors.

The book is easy to read. Whilst it is a factual account, it still flows with the continuity of a novel making it hard to put down.

Informative and fascinating. Well worth a read and makes you realise the importance of global medical ethical debate as its absence in pre-war Germany, most certainly contributed to the precedents that allowed legalised genocide.

Fascinating insight into the darkness of war........2003-12-22

Fascinating looks at the psychological make up of some of the most infamous people who, in absolute hatred of Jews and other so called undesirables, committed unforgivable crimes against humanity during the Second World War. The author gives a good case study of each of these doctors, and attempts to give an explanation as to why they believed their experiments were in the name of medical research. Chilling but real.

Not deep enough.......2003-07-20

This book is based on direct interviews with a number of Nazi Doctors, but rarely quotes from them. It covers a wide range of issues, but delves deeply into few of them.

It purports to be a pyschological insight into why the Nazi doctors did what they did, and how the psychological mechanisms worked that allowed them to operate. Though Lifton is a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, I didn't find his explanations particularly insightful. He repeats a few key ideas often, without going into how these mechanisms work. Instead, he fills the book with detail of what they did.

On balance, it added little to my understanding of the subject. The detail of what the Nazi Doctors did is readily available elsewhere.

I was hoping to find first hand accounts, of which very little was included, and psychological insights. Perhaps it would have been more useful if he had covered fewer people and situations in more depth, with more analysis.

He actually spoke to these people, but the book mostly reads as drily as any history book.

Customer Reviews:

Nazis in Newark: do the ends justify the means?.......2004-03-04

This book is well-researched, well-written and well argued, but at its core the author's message is immoral. He glorifies the use of Jewish gangsters to beat up Nazi sympathizers in Newark during the 1930s. He also defends a wide range of government actions which denied these Nazi sympathizers their First Amendment rights.

It would be one thing if the Jewish gangsters were defending the Jewish community in Newark from Nazi abuse and harassment, but the author provides no evidence of this. Rather the Jewish gangsters, who called themselves the Minutemen, went out of their way to attack Nazi meetings and beat up the participants. I guess you could call these attacks pre-emptive, but Grover fails to show that the Jewish community was in danger of immanent attack. The author seems to believe that the mere presence of Nazis in public justified the use of violence against them. As obnoxious as Nazis were and are, that is a dangerous notion.

In making these thugs into heroes, Grover ignores that they were largely immunized from the consequences of their actions. Despite their flagrant use of violence, they always escaped serious punishment. Why? Because they were under the protection of a Jewish crime boss, who fixed things with the authorities. You call that heroism?

Finally these same gangsters were running protection rackets, corrupting unions and breaking strikes. And you can be sure that most of the victims of their criminal behavior were Jews. They were also used to prevent a rally in support of union organizing in Newark, lead by legendary socialist leader Norman Thomas, who, of course, was an enemy of anti-Semitism.

That Grover has no problem with this, as long as the Minutemen were beating up Nazis too, shows misplaced loyalties.

Still, it is an interesting book and a good read.

"Ex-Newarker's Reaction to 'Nazis In Newark" ".......2003-07-26

A masterfully written and meticulously researched
history of Nazi sympathizers in the Newark NJ area during the era from Hitler's rise to power until the start of World War 2, and the reactions and efforts of Newark's then large Jewish community to deal with the Hitler-sympathizers.

The book also contains the story of the Newark Third Ward legendary "Minutemen" ... youthful Newark Jewish musclemen, mobsters, and ex-boxers who broke up Newark-area Nazi rallies, cracked heads, and otherwise disrupted and made life miserable for the Hitler-followers.

The author, Warren Grover, is a native Newarker and Jewish community leader, as well as a Newark historian who relied on scores of interviews and insider sources who makes the reader feel like he or she is there as part of the action.

A book for all ex Newarkers and those with an interest in Newark
or Newark-Jewish history, and not to be missed.

Amazon.com

Writing this book must have required enormous courage; reading it is overwhelming, especially for anyone personally connected to the events it describes. Martin Goldsmith, best known as the host of NPR's Performance Today, is the American-born son of two German-Jewish musicians who escaped the Holocaust. He anchors the Holocaust to the story of his own family, whom he never knew because most of them perished in Hitler's death camps. Goldsmith accompanies them through their lives in Nazi Germany, with its ever-tightening persecution and repression of the Jews, and on their nightmarish journey to the gas chambers. He follows his parents through their early musical training, their blossoming love, courtship, and marriage--making them seem like a normal, happy young couple--to their miraculous rescue and escape to America.

The book's linchpin is the Jewish Culture Association ("Jüdische Kulturbund"), in whose Berlin orchestra his parents met. Established by prominent Jewish leaders in 1933, after a "purge" of all Jewish Civil Servants, the Kulturbund flourished for eight years, with the permission and under the constant, increasingly repressive surveillance of the Nazis, who exploited it as a propaganda tool. Spreading from Berlin to other cities, its musical and theatrical presentations, lectures, and films offered employment to thousands of Jewish artists and the only cultural oasis to its Jewish audiences. In 1941, Germany's preoccupation with the war and the "Final Solution" rendered it superfluous, and it was dissolved.

But Goldsmith also furnishes the proper historical context for his uniquely individual, human account of the 20th century's most inhuman period. After a chillingly detailed description of the grass-roots rise of Nazism, he focuses on particularly horrifying events: the infamous 1935 Nuremberg Laws and the devastating 1938 pogrom, "Kristallnacht." The tragedy of the 937 refugees, including Goldsmith's grandfather and uncle, who were refused disembarkation first in Cuba, then in Miami, illustrates the world's customary indifference to "other" people's misfortunes. Nobody paid attention when, as early as 1922, Hitler declared that his first priority on coming to power would be the extermination of the Jews.

Goldsmith's factual, reportorial style increases the sickening horror, and he reminds us frequently that he is writing about his own family. Though his story's outcome is never in doubt, he generates real suspense--a measure of his skill, despite his unfortunate habit of hinting at the future. The Kulturbund has been accused of encouraging the Jews to ignore the desperate circumstances outside the theater, and therefore the imminence of their danger. Goldsmith refutes this. For most of them, emigration was impossible because, apart from the natural fear of pulling up roots, leaving everything behind, and starting a new life, they had nowhere to go. Moreover, how could anyone foresee the depth of the impending horror? It was, and still is, beyond the human imagination.

Goldsmith writes with insight and aching honesty about the survivors' guilt and its numbing effect even upon the next generation. But his parents also taught him to love music and appreciate its meaning in people's lives, and he talks about it with real knowledge and understanding. (However, someone should have corrected his opening reference to Siegmund's sword in Die Walküre, which is made of steel, not gold.) This is a brilliantly written, important, unforgettable book. --Edith Eisler

Book Description

Advance Praise for the Inextinguishable Symphony "A Fascinating Insight into a Virtually Unknown Chapter of Nazi Rule in Germany, Made all the More Engaging through a Son's Discovery of His Own Remarkable Parents." -Ted Koppel, ABC News "An Immensely Moving and Powerful Description of those Evil Times. I couldn't Put the Book Down." -James Galway "Martin Goldsmith has Written a Moving and Personal Account of a Search for Identity. His is a Story that will Touch All Readers with Its Integrity. This is not about Exorcising Ghosts, but Rather Awakening Passions that no One Ever Knew Existed. This is a Journey Everyone should Take." -Leonard Slatkin, Music Director National Symphony Orchestra "For Years I've been Familiar with Martin Goldsmith's Musical Expertise. This Book Explains the Source of His Knowledge and His Passion for the Subject. In Tracking the Extraordinary Story of His Parents and the Jewish Kulturbund, Martin Unfolds a Little-Known Piece of Holocaust History, and Finds Depths in His Own Heart that Warm the Hearts of Readers." -Susan Stamberg, Special Correspondent National Public Radio "[A] Strong and Painful Book, Well-Written, Well-Researched, Moving, and Very Instructive." -Ned Rorem, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully Haunting ... .......2007-09-28

My bookclub is entering into its Holocaust Month. Someone recommended this book to me last year and I thought, it sounded interesting enough to read. Interesting just barely describes this book. Haunting is more the word that I think of when I finished this book. Incredibly lucky are two more words.

There are so many books out there about the Holocaust that it can be confusing sometimes to read what. This book definitely should be read simply because it's beautifully moving, tragically sad and not only that, it provides a different viewpoint of what happened during the early years of Nazihood in Germany and before the "Final Solution" was proposed to exterminate the Jews. This happened and I don't recall hearing much about any of this till I read this book. Before Hitler and Goring proposed the death camps and just while trying to get rid of Germany of the non-Aryan blood, they came up with a solution that provides entertainment and music/art/theater productions just for the Jews. This is a place for the Jews to retreat to. They were only allowed to play Jewish pieces written by Jewish artists/musicans. And they were left alone in the 30s and early 40s. Well, not quite completely left alone as they still had to follow the Nazi rules. But it was a place of refuge for the Jews, especially in Berlin.

This book, while devoting a huge portion to the Kulturbund and its orgins, the author writes of his personal family history. His mother and father were musicans in the Kulturbund. And they suffered horrible tragedies as the war progressed over the years. However, they were young, in love and naive like a lot of people were. They did manage to escape Germany but they also managed to leave behind family members which have haunted them and their children even to this day. It is very intense reading at times and with hindsight on the reader's part, it is very hard to fathom their optimism that things will work out ok in the end. Not only that, this book brings up the question of whether or not the Kulturbund was good for the Jews or kept them compliant enough to keep them in Germany instead of escaping to other countries, so the Nazis could gas them too. This book is haunting and disturbing. The questions that the author may have unknowingly stirred are now raised in my mind ... and the answers are not easy to figure out.

This is not your typical Holocaust book nor is it like the other books about the camps ~~ this book simply tells a tale of two musicans who were unfortunate to be caught up in the times that stirred Germany (and the world) ~~ but yet, their love of music has sustained them through the years before they left Germany. Are they heros? Not in the sense that we associate it with. They are more like survivors and like all survivors, they carry a burden of guilt that resounded through the years. But it is a book that honors the memory of those who were left behind in a time of turmoil that even today, still vibrates through the years.

9-28-07

A different Holocaust story.......2005-10-26

MG's story of his family during the early Nazi era is an unusual glimpse into the lives of German Jews during the period from 1933-1941. He writes about the Kulturbund, an organization created by the Nazis to (1) rid Germany of Jewish influence in the arts and (2) provide propaganda coverage of the maltreatment of Jews by the Third Reich.

In my opinion the book is generally well written and seems to be the result of careful research. My one complaint is that MG frequently quotes conversations which I doubt have been recorded in any way. I don't like that in historical writing, but in this case I was willing to overlook it, because of my interest in the story.

A son's voyage of discovery of his parents' nightmarish past.......2004-01-06

What do we really know about our parents' life before we were born? That depends largely, I guess, on how much of an interest we show - and on how much they are willing to reveal. Because in the life of every person there are instances and times they rather wish to forget, and not revive time and again by discussion, even if only among their nearest and dearest.

Such, in the lives of author Martin Goldsmith's parents, were the years from 1933 through 1941; so much so, in fact, that Goldsmith likens that time to the massive ash tree in the house of Germanic warlord Hunding, the setting of the first scene of Richard Wagner's opera "Die Walkuere:" Something looming large, yet never openly acknowledged. Because before George Gunther Goldsmith, furniture and home decorating salesman of Cleveland, Ohio, and his wife Rosemary, a violinist with the St. Louis Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, became American citizens in 1947, they had lived a whole other life - the hunted life of Jews in Adolf Hitler's Germany. And only years after his mother's death, on a trip to his father's home town of Oldenburg, did Goldsmith catch the first glimpses of what was hidden behind that massive ash tree, and George Goldsmith began to talk about the events which his, the Goldschmidt family had witnessed there; as well as the early life of Rosemarie nee Gumpert in Duesseldorf, the couple's first meeting in Frankfurt, and their later life in Berlin until their lucky escape to the United States. Beginning with this visit, Martin Goldsmith retraced his family's path to the early years of the 20th century, when his paternal grandfather Alex Goldschmidt took residence in Oldenburg, and his maternal grandfather Julian Gumpert settled in Duesseldorf.

How intensely personal this voyage into the past must have been becomes clear in the account of Goldsmith's visit to Oldenburg prison, as a participant in a march retracing the path taken by the Jews - among them the author's grandfather - driven through the streets of Oldenburg in 1938 by Nazi thugs, to later be shipped off (at least temporarily) to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. But although he writes about his very own family, and now in full knowledge of their fate, Goldsmith's narrative is in no way sentimental. With a journalist's detachment he talks about Guenther and Rosemarie, Alex, Julian and their wives and other children; turning a nonfiction account whose outcome is clear from the very start into a heartstopping tale few would be able to believe if presented with it under colors other than that of the plain historic truth.

Prominently featured in Goldsmith's account is the Jewish Culture Association, or Juedischer Kulturbund; as of 1933 the German Jews' only permitted artistic organization, in whose orchestra Guenther and Rosemarie had met and which had formed the center of their life until they finally left the country. One of the most controversial institutions of Nazi Germany, it reunited what was left of the country's Jewish musicians, artists, writers and composers - providing a modicum of shelter in an increasingly hostile environment, but also a convenient tool in the Nazi propaganda machine. Were the members of the Kulturbund instrumentalized to deceive public opinion, at home and abroad, about the true intentions of Hitler's government? By giving their Jewish audience a sense of comfort and "belonging," did they also prevent some of them from rescuing themselves when there still would have been time? The surviving members of the "Kubu" and their families, interviewed by Goldsmith, come down on both sides of the issue; and the fate of the survivors is probably as symptomatic as that of the many who ultimately did perish in Nazi concentration camps - chiefly among those the Kulturbund's charismatic founder Dr. Singer, who not only let himself deceive into returning to Germany after already having reached the safe shores of the U.S. but saw a mark of distinction even in his deportation to the "model" concentration camp of Theresienstadt.

Yet, for Guenther and Rosemarie the years with the Kulturbund were dominated, above all, by the musical companionship they experienced. What does seem to have haunted them most for the rest of their lives, however, was their very escape to America, while their remaining family members were stuck in Europe and, one way or another, died in Hitler's concentration camps - and the feeling that with a little effort they just *might* have saved at least some of them. The letters of Alex Goldschmidt and his younger son Helmut, written to Guenther from captivity in France after their own unsuccessful attempt to flee to Cuba, are among the most chilling testimonials contained in this book; and the decision to translate and include them conceivably cannot have been an easy one for Goldsmith. Indeed, it apparently was the knowledge of his family's fate that, all talent and love of music aside, eventually compelled George Goldsmith to forever retire the flute which, in his life as Guenther Goldschmidt, had been the only item of true importance besides his beloved wife Rosemarie; thus punishing himself in a way no outsider could have done. Yet, the couple's gift for music lives on in their son, who in his own way has brought many hours of joy to radio listeners all over the U.S.

Martin Goldsmith's "Inextinguishable Symphony" - named for Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Fourth Symphony, which sets music, as a parable for life itself, against war, terror and destruction - is as much a personal journey of discovery as a journalist's account of historic facts; seeking to understand rather than to judge. It deals with a time in which morality was thoroughly upset by a profoundly immoral regime, which cannot possibly have remained without effect on anybody who witnessed those events. In applying our own values to those facts, I think we would all do well in being careful to, likewise, make a thorough effort to understand before we judge. Goldsmith's insightful account is a great place to begin such a process.

A Very Moving Book.......2003-09-01

This story was impossible to put down and when you finish, it stays with you for a very long time. Its hard to believe that Gunther and Rosemary didn't make every effort to help their parents emigrate to U. S. What really bothers me most is, not being Jewish, what would I have done in Germany in the late thirties and early forties when I saw these atrocities happening?

Wow.......2003-06-09

I listened to Martin Goldsmith on "Performance Today" (and still listen to his successor, Fred Child) for many years. This man who for years described classical music on the radio -- composers and their life story, pieces and their histories, in accessible, engaging, and lightly humorous ways, and even sometimes tied it in to his love of baseball -- he also has an extraordinary family story. It's moving and well-written, and makes me think about the extraordinary stories that must dwell in the depths of my own geneological past.

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psychology of conservatism & fundamentalism

The Authoritarian Specter
Robert Altemeyer
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674053052

Book Description

The bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the emergence of militias and skinheads, the rise of the religious right, the attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics, the backlash against equal rights movements, the increase in poverty...these, according to Bob Altemeyer, are all versions of one story--the authoritarian personality in action. But aren't authoritarians Nazi types, kooks, the Klan? These are just the extreme examples, he argues. The Authoritarian Specter shows that many ordinary people today are psychologically disposed to embrace antidemocratic, fascist policies.

The book presents the latest results from a prize-winning research program on the authoritarian personality--a victory for the scientific method in the struggle to understand the worst aspects of ourselves. It connects for the first time the many ways authoritarianism undermines democracy. Many of our biggest problems, seemingly unrelated, have authoritarian roots. The scientific studies demonstrating this are extensive and thorough; their powerful findings are presented in a conversational, clear manner that engages readers from all backgrounds.

This is an important, timely work. It explains a growing movement to submit to a "man on horseback," to attack those who are different, to march in lockstep. Altemeyer reveals that these sentiments are strongly held even by many American lawmakers. These discoveries deserve careful attention in a presidential election year.

Customer Reviews:

psychology of conservatism & fundamentalism.......2000-02-08

Altemeyer is regarded by social psychologists as the world's leading authority on the psychology of political conservatism and the psychology of religious fundamentalism. He has also done the most-extensive studies in the psychology of bigotry. Altemeyer has submitted his fascinating personality-questionnaire to over 50,000 individuals, including young and old, various academic specializations, Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Jews, Moslems, religious reformists, religious fundamentalists, atheists, agnostics, professional politicians, U.S., Canada, the former Soviet Union--many categories of people. He has applied the sophisticated mathematical technique of factorial analysis to the results, so as to identify how a wide range of personality variables naturally cluster together or separate--are actually the same or different from one another. He has found that political conservatism, religious fundamentalism, and all kinds of bigotry--against Jews, gays, Blacks, women, the poor, and many other minority or other weak groups--cluster together as actually a single personality-trait, which he has thus called "Right-Wing Authoritarianism." He was amazed to find, when he submitted his questionnaires to members of the communist party in the former Soviet Union, that they too scored very high on his "RWA" scale--that the U.S.S.R.'s communists were true conservatives. However, communists in capitalist countries, interestingly, scored low on "RWA" or conservatism.

This book is a more-updated version of Altemeyer's ENEMIES OF FREEDOM, which won the Behavioral Science Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. However, it is not by any means a revised edition--it is a new work. Both books are phenomenally well-written, in a style that is both clear and engaging, and organized well. Both would probably have become national, if not international, bestsellers if only they had been promoted reasonably well, which neither was.

It is rare that the virtues of scientific professionalism and popular-appeal attractiveness are combined together. This book, like ENEMIES OF FREEDOM, is such a work. Anyone who wants to understand religious fundamentalism, political conservatism, or bigotry, cannot do better than to start with either of these two masterpieces by Altemeyer.

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Good but...

The Outstanding First Volume of an Epic Trilogy

Dissents from Gasman's thesis

Great look at how the Nazi's came to power

From Chaotic Disaster to Disasterous Order

The Coming of the Third Reich
Richard J. Evans
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143034693
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Book Description

There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand than HitlerÂ's rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the worldÂ's most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, EvansÂ's history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historianÂ's art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged.

Customer Reviews:

Good but..........2007-09-27

This is a solid introduction to the issues surrounding the cultural milieu out of which the Nazis developed and took the reigns of power from the Weimar Republic. I find it most illuminating because of his interweaving the grand narrative with social history. This precludes one from developing the idea if the Nazis had left power in 1938 they would have been okay. Rather it shows the violence the broader political realm of Germany, with the the major political parties it demonstrates that the Nazis were not sui generis, and the shock of 1918 on the German psyche in legitimizing violence.

Evans from his introduction states that it is not his place to put forward judgments and moralizing. I wish he had been more successful in this. He often throws in modifiers to certain terms that demonstrate his bias. For instance when he is discussing a leader in the nationalist movement he calls it "virulent" yet when he is discussing other behavior by parties of the left (his terminology) he is more generous in their discussions. Moreover his use of neo-conservative to identify the originator of the the term "Third Reich" demosntrates his opinion the Neoncons are the most dangerous group today.

These quibbles aside this is a great introduction. One of the most fascinating tidbits for me was the source for the 1000 year Reich concept. He notes that it derives from the Holy Roman Empires nearly 1000 year longevity and not the Christian doctrine.

The Outstanding First Volume of an Epic Trilogy.......2007-08-07

British historian Richard J. Evans is tackling the Herculean task of writing a trilogy that tells the entire story of the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich in a comprehensive, scholarly, fast-paced and readable form, using the latest available sources and recently discovered material. "The Coming of the Third Reich" is the first volume of the trilogy.

Spanning a 30-year period ending in 1933, "The Coming of the Third Reich" begins with the formative years of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (its German name shortened to "Nazi"). Evans examines the party's beginnings in the 1920s, in the time of civil strife, national outrage and runaway inflation that followed the Great War (World War I) and the disastrous Treaty of Versailles. Then, in what could be a cautionary tale for today's electorate, he traces the Nazis' inexorable, triumphant and completely legal accession to power in the Reichstag (German Parliament) elections of 1932. He describes how Hitler immediately consolidated absolute power in his own hands. In one of the most chilling parts of the story, he describes how, literally within weeks of the election victory that swept them into power, the Nazis embarked on the nationalistic, militaristic, demagogic, anti-Semitic course that would soon plunge the world into global war.

If you've avoided reading about the history of Nazi Germany because you thought the subject was boring, you should give Richard Evans a try. He writes in a compelling, conversational style that reads fast, but he does not sacrifice detail for the sake of the narrative. His examination of German social, cultural, military and political life is clear, lucid, well-organized and exhaustive. Interestingly, he spends just as much time on anecdotal stories about the "man in the street" as he does on the actions of Hitler and his cronies, thus showing, in terms that anyone can relate to, how the brutal Nazi regime affected the life of the average citizen.

My only quibble with "The Coming of the Third Reich" (it scarcely deserves mention) is Evans' insistence--which he addresses and rationalizes up front--on using only the English equivalents for certain common, well-known German terms. This is particularly jarring when he refers to the infamous, maniacal, hate-filled book that laid out Hitler's plans for the "Thousand-Year Reich" as "My Struggle," when all the world knows it as "Mein Kampf."

The other two volumes of the trilogy are "The Third Reich in Power," which covers the period from 1933 to the 1939 invasion of Poland that triggered World War II, and "The Third Reich at War," which covers the War itself. The third volume is not yet available, but that's no reason not to read and learn from the first two. "The Coming of the Third Reich" get my strongest possible recommendation.

Dissents from Gasman's thesis.......2007-06-17

A good book and, for a novice in the area of Nazi history, very readable. The primary interest this book had for me, in hindsight, is that it dissents from Daniel Gasman's thesis (in his book, Scientific Origins of National Socialism) of the etiology or origins of National Socialism in 19th century scientific biology, specifically Ernst Haeckel and his import, and purported perversion, of Darwinism into Germany. In short, those interested in the supposed pseudoscientific origins of National Socialism will find a brief but decisive objection to Gasman's main argument.

Great look at how the Nazi's came to power.......2007-06-04

The Coming of the Third Reich is the first of three by Richard Evans in his attempt to track the rise and fall of the Third Reich. The book starts out with an overview of German history from Bismarck to the end of World War 1 and provides a look at the factors that led to the identity of the Reich. Evans calls upon a tremendous amount of sources and summarizes them very well capturing the salient points. As always Evans is very fair in his treatment of the Nazi's and looks at their rise through the lens of a bystander. The hyperinflation in Germany is characterized very well and his point that the reparations were not beyond repayment before the financial crisis is a bold step. The rise of the Nazi party through their thugs and propaganda is tracked very well and they appear a modern political party. They spend vast amounts of money campaigning and they work the local election scene building a power base. This is characteristic of Europe and the rise is tracked with the right amount of detail. The rise of Hitler's lieutenants is also scene and there are almost mini biographies on Himler, Goring and Rohm. The rise of the SS and SA is clearly being formed however a great deal more detail to those organizations is given in the second book. The book ends with a look at how the Third Reich tried to reexamine the culture of Germany. The persecution of the jews is only one facet of this policy and the general disruption of law was the more shocking. Hitler believed that the Nazi's must obtain power legally but the Nazi's broke almost every law in the process. Violent pogroms became the norm and savage beatings are characteristic throughout the book. For those who want to begin to understand the Nazi rise to power this is an excellent book to start with. Book 2 is even better (The Third Reich in Power) and is a must read for anyone wanting to look at Germany.

From Chaotic Disaster to Disasterous Order.......2007-05-21

This is a well-written and informative book that I would recommend over some lengthy (and drier) volumes on the subject (e.g. The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany).

Richard Evans' book follows the rise of German fanatical nationalism from the early Weimar years to the Nazi's assumption of state power in 1933. However, he starts his analysis by examining the roots of authoritarian politics (monarchist, nationalist, authoritarian, conservative) in Wilhelmine Germany. In essence, like so many other nations in the early 20th Century Germany faced a bewildering array of change in lifestyle, technology, and economics. And like many nations to the present, many people clung to the reassuring steadiness of conservatism in turbulent times.

Where social democrats and moderates were interested in promoting personal freedoms and rights, the conservatives opted to focus on retaining economic and political power combined with financial and social stability. In a country torn apart by an undeclared civil war in 1918-1919, the choice was a difficult one. And it was a compromise - superficial moderate social democrat rule reliant on dangerously ambivalent and authoritarian military support. And yet, this need not have led to Nazi Germany.

The one man who would lead Germany down that path spent the early Weimar years observing the anarchic, democratic, and economic disasters unfolding before his eyes. Convinced (like many other Germans) that Germany's greatness was being subsumed by malign foreign influences, he decided to join in the political fray. Shortly after joining the German Worker's Party, he discovered (and practiced) his tremendous public-speaking abilities. As the party's main draw at all its assemblies, Hitler demanded and won uncontested leadership of the party, thus instituting 'the leadership principle' which Germany itself would hold a decade later. Since most Germans wouldn't have been to a Baptist sermon, Hitler's emotional and dramatic speeches were a unique, entertaining, and compelling performance. His was a searingly ruthless nationalistic and ethnic belief, though.

Evans recounts how Hitler, like any good professional speaker, adjusts his message according to his audience. Speaking with workers, he promised more jobs and to free up those held by anti-Germans (i.e. communists, Jews, etc.). When speaking with business leaders, he offered control over many workers and a competing dogma to worrisome communism. When speaking with the middle classes, he offered a return to stability, prosperity, and German greatness. But unlike most modern-day politicians, he also had a violently effective weapon immediately at hand, the Brownshirts, to follow his orders. (This tradition was common among political parties at the time, though.)

And though bent on authoritism, Hitler used all the modern technology available to successfully spread his gospel - airplanes, radio, films. And he needed to do so, as it turned out that the earliest enthusiastic Nazi supporters were located in hard-to-reach conservative rural areas and small towns across Germany. Hitler also realized the importance of pageantry and ritual, such as awe-inspiring assemblies and dramatic torchlight parades, keying in on many people's psychological need of being part of something greater than themselves. And Hitler successfully used these tactics throughout his rise from political oblivion to the threshold of power. However, after the Nazis' great election victories in the early 1930's, the Communists and Social Democrats caught on by successfully copying the Nazi's PR tactics.

At this point, Hitler began to intrigue with Weimar officials to inveigle his way into power, despite holding less than a majority in the Reichstag. After some near-run victories by the Communists, the Weimar leaders sought Hitler's support in forming a gov't. Hitler refused to accept anything less than the leading position - the Chancellorship - which he won. Immediately afterwards, he used his combination of emergency police powers and now semi-official Brownshirt units to flush out, imprison (or murder), and re-educate all those groups hated by the Nazis - communists, Jews, modern artists, sexologists, political critics, etc. All the while the one force able to decisively stop Hitler - the army - stood passively by. And in less than six months, almost the entire German nation had been completely cowed into abject submission by Hitler.

Male Fantasies, Volume 2: Male Bodies--Psychoanalyzing the White Terror (Theory and History of Literature, Volume 23)

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An invaluable companion to Volume One
An innovative feminist critique of fascist Literature.

Male Fantasies, Volume 2: Male Bodies--Psychoanalyzing the White Terror (Theory and History of Literature, Volume 23)
Klaus Theweleit , Erica Carter , and Anson Rabinbach
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0816614512

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An invaluable companion to Volume One.......1997-10-09

Where "eros" was covered in the first volume, the second deals with the thanatos, or death urge. Particularly interesting is Thewelveit's treatment of the "soldier's blackout," a synapse frying climax of inner psychological tension resulting from extended periods of drilled formation. An invaluable companion to Volume One, though less interesting in that Vol. I was (IMHO) a revolutionary reformulation and synthesis of many of the insights of Reich, wheras this volume merely elaborates on the (not so obvious) conclusions.

An innovative feminist critique of fascist Literature........1997-08-02

This second volume of Theleweit's ground-breaking examination of proto-fascist 'Freikorps' novels spans disciplinary lines by examining historical documents from a unique combination of feminist and psychological perspectives. While the text is intellectually weighty, Theleweit manages to avoid the verbal dryness inherent in the subject. His thesis is outrageous, illuminating and largely coherent. A must read for aspiring academics and cultural historian

The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR

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A cautionary tale, and a great American hero
Learn Some History
Did It Happen Nov.22, 1963 ?
One of the greatest conspiracies of all time
One of the most important books you will ever read!

The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR
Jules Archer
Manufacturer: Skyhorse Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1602390363

Book Description

Most people will be shocked to learn that in 1933 a cabal of wealthy industrialists—in league with groups like the K.K.K. and the American Liberty League—planned to overthrow the U.S. government in a fascist coup. Their plan was to turn discontented veterans into American “brown shirts,” depose F.D.R., and stop the New Deal. They clandestinely asked Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler to become the first American Caesar. He, though, was a true patriot and revealed the plot to journalists and to Congress. In a time when a sitting President has invoked national security to circumvent constitutional checks and balances, this episode puts the spotlight on attacks upon our democracy and the individual courage needed to repel them.

Customer Reviews:

A cautionary tale, and a great American hero.......2007-09-06

After many years of searching for this too-long out-of-print gem, it is finally back. (I bought three copies just to make sure it gets disseminated to those in my own immediate circle.)
The story of Smedley Butler's colorful career as a Marine probably wouldn't have been interesting to me, but it provides a necessary backdrop to the larger story here, and Jules Archer sketches it out with just enough attention to detail so one doesn't get the feeling that major events are being glossed over.
I should say, at times the book feels like it has a "stories for young adults" quality, but don't let that distract (or detract) from the fact that men of influence, wealth and power sought to overthrow Franklin Roosevelt, the PRESIDENT of the United States, in 1932.
You've never heard of such a thing? Well, citizen, THAT'S how powerful the conspirators were! And when the light of inquiry was shone on their traitorous plot, they scurried for cover like cockroaches heading back under a refrigerator, loudly claiming it was all nonsense. A.J. Leibling's dictum about freedom of the press (for those who own them) has rarely been so resoundingly underscored.
So kudos to the publishers of this volume, for resurrecting it for another generation. In the words of researcher Dave Emory, "if you don't study history, the world's a mystery."

Learn Some History.......2007-05-14

Well-researched, authoritative account of Wall Street's attempt to force a coup in 1933 to prevent New Deal policies from taking place. Every American should know this history, and understand the true politics of Wall Street and the "miracle" of the market.

Did It Happen Nov.22, 1963 ?.......2007-05-07

Chilling reading as Jules Archer tells the story of the attempted Wall Street against FDR. Maj. Smedley Butler, a Republican exposed the Morgan - DuPont financed coup aginst the President and the American people before Congress ( the McCormick - Dickstein Committee )and the plot crumpled. But Wall Street has always favored Pro - Business,War Making Regimes, with more than a pinch a racism. Wall Street wanted to remove FDR ( too radical ) or make him a " figurehead " as a front man for a fascist government. The Military - Industrial Complex succeeded on November 22, 1963, with the murder of John Kennedy. Howard Hunt's recent " confession " should awaken all Americans to the danger just around the corner. The LBJ regime wasn't racist, just the opposite, but starting with Nixon, are old ways are creeping back. "War is a Racket " - Smedley Butler. He should know,he says that he, as a U.S. military officer, was a gangster for Capitalism and Wall Street. Lets defeat facism again, this time at home !

One of the greatest conspiracies of all time.......2007-03-08

Who knows what the world would have been like if this conspiracy had succeeded. We might have never declared war against the Axis (Japan/Germany/Italy) powers in World War II. As Joseph Schumpeter writes in the book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: The political world consists of a series of short-run events that can change the course of history...The idea that good always triumphs over evil is one of those happy falsehoods. All patriots need to be vigilant!

One of the most important books you will ever read!.......2007-03-04

Excellent attractive and inexpensively priced paperback edition of the Jules Archer classic. It is terrific to have this wonderful book back in print again! The book tells the shocking true story of how United States Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was the savior of our Republic from a fascist plot by Wall Street plutocratic militarists in the early 1930s. Author Jules Archer is featured in The History Channel documentary, The Plot To Overthrow FDR, a concise summary of this exceptional book.

For more on Butler and the attempted 1930's fascist coup d'etat against FDR, see my Amazon.com Listmania! book and video list, Smedley Darlington Butler.

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