Tl;dr; This book is much more informative and honest than Mein Kampf.



Finally we get to see Hitler for who he really was.



It is NOT required to read Mein Kampf/My Struggle first. In fact, having read this book as well, I believe it’s a serious waste of your time. But it can be useful to understand the differences between these two books.



Mein Kampf



Mein Kampf is foremost a lengthy utterance of anger and frustration, like a child who doesn’t get his candy.

Hitler talks about the past and current pro

Tl;dr; This book is much more informative and honest than Mein Kampf.



Finally we get to see Hitler for who he really was.



It is NOT required to read Mein Kampf/My Struggle first. In fact, having read this book as well, I believe it’s a serious waste of your time. But it can be useful to understand the differences between these two books.



Mein Kampf



Mein Kampf is foremost a lengthy utterance of anger and frustration, like a child who doesn’t get his candy.

Hitler talks about the past and current problems (at the time of writing) in regard to race/folk impurity, politics, culture, ethics and other things.

He’s generally regarded as a tyrant, but in its essence every rational person can bring some “understanding” to his points.

Fundamentally.

He was obviously an intelligent man, and if you didn’t know any better you would think he would have had a bright future.

The problem is that his understanding of the world is so distorted, and there are so many holes in his reasoning.

It’s obvious that his failed childhood had an effect on his mental health, so you can ask yourself whether he held such strong opinions from an early age, or if he developed them throughout his life, strengthened by wisely selected literature and friends.

He’s a nationalist and social darwinist for whom the survival and honour of the German people means everything (“German” people? What does that even mean?). Any means necessary justify this.

The crux of the entire book is, the Great War has been lost (surrendered) and the Treaty of Versailles has been the biggest dishonor of the twentieth century.



Secondly, the book serves as propaganda. He says so himself. The German people need to be convinced that there’s a serious problem, and he will be the people’s savior. If you ask me, he did not do a very good job at this. The book is longwinded and hard to read.



I am no specialist, so I have no idea what was being said and done in the NSDAP party.

The point here is that he NEVER explitly declared his intentions for the upcoming years in this book. It’s just an autobiographical rant, without any propsals. The end. Which brings us to this book.



Zweites Buch



You know what this is, so it doesn’t need an introduction.

Here Hitler has calmed down. He has controlled his emotions (sort of).

No more need for a 900 page book that nobody will read anyway. He supposes the reader knows him and understands him.



The first 100-ish pages summarize the situation, as outlined in Mein Kampf.

Then, it’s time for a plan. The party needs new policies, both domestic and foreign.

So, lebensraum is key here. How does he go about it?

He declares war (in the book). First on Russia, then on France.

But he can’t do it alone. He needs a partner.

Italy is the most logical candidate. They are in the same boat, but fascism has finally broken through there. He thinks it’s amazing.

But what about England? Militarily, they could be very useful.

Every single potential policy is backed up by, and every single opponent is fought with a pile of carefully picked arguments. Again he likes to show the reader he knows history.

Some people say this shows his military genius.

I really don’t think so. I think his mental health began to seriously detoriate here. It shows he clearly had a vision long before the war. A vision which few people knew about.



In short, this book is amazing in the sense that

1. It’s to the point.

2. It shows his real intentions.



I seriously ask myself how the public would have reacted if it were published...



Edit: a sidenote on the publishing of the book. This did not affect my overall rating.

I read the hardcover, published by Black Kite Publishing and translated by Salvator Attanasio.

For an important work such as this one it’s a serious disgrace that while this was published about 90 years after its first appearance, it’s still so horrible to read. This is not a matter of authenticity. There are no noticeable translation errors, but it’s full of typing errors and inconsistent font sizes and alignments. Also, putting the chapter title on top of each page would have been useful.

It was still enjoyable to read, but these things are easy to fix, so it’s just a sign of laziness.