$440.00 USD
This particular edition of Mein Kampf is especially historically important. When Hitler came into power, many Americans were unaware of just how delusional and dangerous this new leaders ideals were. It is also important to note that Hitler did not want this book, in it’s entirety to be published anywhere outside of Germany, and especially not to the West. Therefor, a number of people of influence from a variety of backgrounds came together to release the first unexpurgated and annotated american edition of Hitler’s autobiography.
Description
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Complete and Unabridged
Fully Annotated
Published 1939 by Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 1003
This particular edition of Mein Kampf is especially historically important. When Hitler came into power, many Americans were unaware of just how delusional and dangerous this new leaders ideals were. It is also important to note that Hitler did not want this book, in it’s entirety to be published anywhere outside of Germany, and especially not to the West. Therefor, a number of people of influence from a variety of backgrounds came together to release the first unexpurgated and annotated american edition of Hitler’s autobiography.
There is a pamphlet in the front of this book explaining why it is so important that Americans read and familiarize themselves with the thought patterns and visions of Adolf Hitler. There is a scathing review, originally published in the New York Herald Tribune, from prominent American journalist Dorothy Thompson (who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as being equal in influence to Eleanor Roosevelt). She is unrelenting in her obvious disdain for Hitler’s writing in general, let alone the content. Mrs. Thompson says , in one of my personal favorite insults from the review, “Let it be said that if the world is overthrown by this document and the man behind it, it is overthrown without benefit of grammar or literary style.” She delves into the childhood of Adolf Hitler and that of his parents as well, trying to make sense of the madness and distorted view of reality Hitler puts forth in Mein Kampf. Dorothy Thompson’s review is quite an interesting read in and of itself.
(An interesting read on Dorothy Thompson’s interview with Hitler: https://www.historynet.com/encounter-dorothy-thompson-underestimates-hitler.htm )
The committee that sponsored the publication of this American edition is probably the most fascinating aspect of this book. Noteworthy individuals include: Albert Einstein, Pearl S. Buck, Thomas Mann, and Theodore Roosevelt Jr among many others. Below I will list all of the sponsors and brief sentence about them. It is astonishing to see so many people come forth to bring this controversial book into the hands of American readers. They include a note to this special edition, which I will include an excerpt of here: “It is a demonstration, by quiet deed, of the truest spirit of democracy, to combat this new form of evil among men by first dragging it forth to the full light where it can be cooly appraised. This, it seems, is the clear significance of the publication in this country of an unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf; it may be too easy for all of us to overlook this; perhaps, because it it seems so natural that it should be done in our country”.
From the Introduction:
“This is an accurate translation of a book which is likely to remain the most important political tract of our time, and which is now for the first time available in complete form to the American reader. Until now the only version of Mein Kampf in English has been a condensation of the complete book, published in 1933, containing less than half of the total text.”
List of Sponsors:
Pearl Buck, Dorothy Canfield (Eleanor Roosevelt named her one of the ten most influential women in the United States), Edna St. Vincent Millay (She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism. ), Ida Tarbell (She was one of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and pioneered investigative journalism), Cyrus Adler (Jewish religious leader and scholar.), Charles A. Beard (one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century.), Nicholas Murray Butler (Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.), Theodore Dreiser (American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school.), Albert Einstein, Morris Ernst (American lawyer and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union), Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick (Fosdick became a central figure in the “Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy” within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th century.), Rev. John Haynes Holmes (prominent Unitarian minister, pacifist, and co-founder of the NAACP and the ACLU.), James M. Landis (American academic, government official and legal adviser. He served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1934 to 1937), Thomas Mann ( German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.) , Bishop William T. Manning (U.S. Episcopal bishop of New York City.), Eugene O’Neil (American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature), Theodore Roosevelt Jr (He was the eldest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Roosevelt), Monsignor John A. Ryan (a leading Catholic priest who was a noted moral theologian, professor, author and advocate of social justice. ), Norman Thomas (an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America), Walter White ( an American civil rights activist who led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for almost a quarter of a century, 1931–1955), William Allen White (an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.) , Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (early 20th-century American, Progressive Era, Reform rabbi, and Zionist leader.)
CONDITION OF BOOK:
The dust jacket is not present and the red hardcover has some wear and discoloration, particularly on the spine. There is an inscription from one “Louis A. Smith 1709 East Boulevard, Charlotte, NC”. Interestingly, the residence still stands in the historic area of Charlotte and can be seen on Google Street View. The pages and text are clear with little to no foxing. The is some slight tanning. Please see photos for more accurate representation of the condition.
Please do not hesitate to message me regarding more information or photos of this book.
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