An annotated edition of "Mein Kampf," Adolf Hitler's notorious manifesto, has become a non-fiction best-seller in Germany. The publisher said Tuesday that a sixth print run will go on sale later this month. http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/n04/annotated-version-of-hitlers-mein-kampf-a-hit-in-germany.html Saw this in the paper the other day. Found it interesting.
Corrected Link: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/04/annotated-version-of-hitlers-mein-kampf-a-hit-in-germany.html I was unaware that they were selling that again in Germany. I would be interested in the annotated version, if the original was not such a darn chore to read...I never have finished it.
I was unaware that the link didn't work. I was working on my phone. Most difficult. I read "Mein Kampf" years ago. I have no interest in reading that turgid book again. I too was unaware it was available in Germany. The annotated version might be more palatable, but I'm unwilling to try it.
It's a nonfiction best-seller because those people don't' read much. Only one in every thousand Germans bought that book. And anyway many of those buyers were probably tourists.
I remember trying in my teens to read that. I only got halfway through. He may have been a spellbinding orator, but he was a lousy writer.
Suspect the scarcity/forbidden factor is playing a role here, a chance to read what all the hubbub is about by a generation prevented before.
I've got a copy of the first 'Unexpurgated Edition' English translation dated November 1939 and, it would appear, from the '73rd thousand' printed which makes it quite early having been published only in March 1939. Published by Hurst and Blackett. Showing almost no wear from its previous owners......doubt whether even the original owner bothered to read it and I've only ever managed to have the occasional dip into random pages. Very heavy reading and 'one to read tomorrow' which, bearing in mind tomorrow never comes, speaks for itself.
I tried to read it many years ago in my local library and couldn't do it. It was just to boring. I wonder what percentage of people have ever just managed to read it straight through. I'm betting less than ten percent.