On Hitler's Mein Kampf: The Poetics of National Socialism (Untimely Meditations)

Except for the first section of "On Hitler's Mein Kampf", which I found difficult reading due to its academic jargon (pages 3-21) the remainder of the book (pages 25 - 78) is well worth the price of Koschorke's book. Many connections to this book to today's populist climate: how is propaganda shaped to draw in its audience? how and why does the propagandist fabricate truth? what role does violence play in propaganda? what is the nature of fanaticization? how and why does "the other" enter into propaganda? when do "alternative facts" become truth? This book should be read alongside with Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny". Both books remind us of the fragility of democracy and what can happen when we, as citizens, become complacent.

This exceptional short book could be subtitled "A Field Guide to Demagogues" as it expands from an analysis of Hitler's methods into a succinct and complete description of the conditions under which a demagogue can come to power. Unlike another reviewer, I found the first chapter particularly enlightening in its explanation of how a class of what might be called pseudo-intellectuals lays the ground work for demagogic development. The identifying characteristics enumerated in Koschorke's book are as applicable today as they were in the days of Fascism and Stalinism, and just as much of a warning.