These Major Booksellers’ Description of ‘Mein Kampf’ Sounds like It Was Written by a Nazi

This content has been archived. It may no longer be accurate or relevant.

From HuffPost:

Several of the country’s biggest booksellers are hawking copies of Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto on their websites for $14.88 — a number that carries symbolic meaning among white supremacists — and marketing the book with a product description that could have been written by the Führer himself.

Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million currently list the book with a pro-fascist blurb on their websites. Walmart removed its listing Monday morning in response to the backlash on Twitter. And Amazon removed the product description after HuffPost requested comment.

. . . .

Modern-day racist extremists have cited “Mein Kampf,” Hitler’s early blueprint for achieving Aryan rule by blaming Jewish people for the world’s problems, as a source of inspiration. Unlike other countries, the U.S. has never prohibited its sale, even during World War II as American soldiers fought against the Nazis. But sellers typically avoid marketing the book as Nazi propaganda.

. . . .

The $14.88 price tag could have been dismissed as a bizarre coincidence if the product description didn’t read like an enthusiastic endorsement of Hitler’s racist ideology:

This book has set a path toward a much higher understanding of the self and of our magnificent destiny as living beings part of this Race on our planet. It shows us that we must not look at nature in terms of good or bad, but in an unfiltered manner. It describes what we must do if we want to survive as a people and as a Race. We have to understand that Nature does not forgive weakness and that the truth and reality is what it is, no matter how bad it may seem or how hard it can portray itself. This book shows the foundations of White Resistance and White Nationalism. It is the foundation and seed for the preservation of our Race.

The product description also boasted about the book’s sales and the fact that the edition’s translation by James Murphy is the “official” translation of the Nazi party.

Link to the rest at HuffPost

7 thoughts on “These Major Booksellers’ Description of ‘Mein Kampf’ Sounds like It Was Written by a Nazi”

  1. While there is an edition of Mein Kampf available for $14.88 on the B&N website (along with several other editions at other price points) this particular one is not advertised as translated by James Murphy, and the description is not a panegyric for the book. Looks like someone at B&N did some scrambling, but missed out on the pricing detail.

    • There are a whole bunch of versions at B&N, only one of which bears the oh-so-offensive paperback price. They go as high as $29.

      Here is the blurb:

      —-

      Overview
      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. 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. . 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, 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. 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 . A compilation of Hitler’s most famous prison writings of 1923–the bible of National Socialism and the blueprint for the Third Reich.

      As for the translator, Manheim appears to be an industry pro with both THE TIN DRUM and THE NEVER-ENDING STORY among his credits.

      https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/“Ralph%20Manheim”?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall

      He seems to specialize in German translations (duh!) and doesn’t shy from historical nazi works. The latter might mark the end of his career as things are going.

    • Neither am I.
      Took a bit of research but it turns out if you resort to numerology and a few contortions you can find reason to be offended:

      https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/1488

      Oldsmobile is in serious trouble if they ever want to bring back the Olds Eighty-Eight especially if it has a Betsy Ross (or Obama inauguration) license plate.

      Because, of course, there is no such thing as a coincidence.

      • Thing is, the numerologists here are the white supremacists themselves. I have actually run into neo-Nazis on the interwebs who use that particular set of numbers as a sort of signature.

        • Yes.
          But correlation is not causation.

          To the sensitives there is no thing as coincidence. Everything is intentional, ill-meaning, and directed at them.

          Only their interpretation matters.

Comments are closed.