to him what he said was very true, he really believed what he was saying. he was an intelligent and well respected bavarian soldier, who for some reason became infatuated with the "threats of Marxism" and the annihilation of all foreigners specifically the those of jewsih descent. he didnt make himself leader the people made him leader, so they agreed with him. he shouldnt bear 100 percent of the blame. its a very interesting read, one can follow the trasformation that transpires within hitler through the course of the book. when i was reading it, he was justifying everything he stated, i dont remember reading any statements he didnt back up with personal information.

Mein Kampf is a torturous, confused ramble filled with hate, lies and useless metaphors. Although we could equally lambast Stalin or Mao as some of the worst men ever to have lived, Hitler stands apart from all the other sadists of history. Perhaps it was because the man who wrote this book was democratically elected to govern the most civilised country in the world; a nation with a rich tradition of intellectualism and brilliance. After all, Germany produced Kant, Goethe, Nietzsche and Beethoven among others.

Hitler is an example of a human being without conscience or feeling, and Mein Kampf offers a dark insight into the depths of human depravity. Read about Gandhi or Mandela to be inspired, read Mein Kampf to be chilled to the core. I think this quote summarizes the man and the magnitude of his stupidity, intolerance and evil:

"I am freeing men from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge; from the dirty and degrading modifications of a chimera called conscience and morality" (p.219.)

I took this book just out of inquisitiveness and to gain an insight into the believes of a much talked about personality-Adolf Hitler.My aim was to find out the reason behind Hitler's extreme hatred for jews.After reading the book,I feel that Hitler,though a very intelligent person,lacked the ability to judge a situation in a balanced way.He always managed to see only one side of the coin.Though he was a man of strong views-yet his views were borne more out of sentiments rather than logical analysis.On one hand he was all gaga over the 'Aryan' race as if it was gods greatest gift to the earth,on the other hand he preached extreme hatred for jews,which was completely unjustified.The book has numerous examples which illustrate his extremist and biased thinking.

However,leaving apart the content,the book is a literary treat in itself.I had heard about hitler's capabilities as an orator,however this book proves him an equally effective writer as well.Some of his ideas,if implemented in a better way can go a long way in improving the prevailing political scenario.

My British girl-friend is presently taking a German course, as I am German. We are currently living in North America, where her German teacher uses the above book.

Being German and a German teacher and linguist for 13 years I was interested in the book my partner is learning the language with. So I went through the book and was appalled at the amount of grammatical mistakes and usage errors used in the book. The book was apparently not written by a German person, based on the type of errors I assume it was written and revised by a native English speaker.

Countless expressions and phrases are completely outdated, many have never been used and/or are simply wrong. Students learning German with this book will be ridiculed when speaking German in any German speaking country. I could not believe that a book like this does even exist for official language courses.

It has even been revised by a Mr. Robert D. Vanderslice and according to its cover "over 1/2 million copies" have been sold or issued.

To be very honest, apart from the wasted money and time people spend on a course and this book (I am sure a lot use it for self-instruction), I think it is even irresponsible to use, publish and sell this book. I will be more than happy to provide you with a list of examples of such linguistic errors and misuses of the German language.

I am presently working as a German language specialist with an international American company, and I am herewith offering you to completely revise this book for you to make it fit for the market. The way it is I can only advise you to please not distribute it any further.

I have not actually read this edition of the German Made Simple books, but I wore out my first book and bought a second one a few years later. It was identical. The last time I looked at these books the content hadn't changed noticeably. But I consider this to be a great book for getting started in German and progressing to an intermediate level. As for me, I have been studying German as a hobby for over 20 years and am in the process of working on my undergraduate degree in education for the purpose of teaching German. Considering the low price at which these books sell, most people could easily buy this book, a German-English/English-German dictionary, and a phrase book (if you plan to travel) or two and be well on their way to learning the language. My only complaint about the book I had was that the binding didn't hold up--pages started falling out after a couple of years of use.

I've searched for some time to find a quality self-teaching German language program. This is the first to make learning German fun and easy. Each skill is analyzed into small, manageable steps, followed by adequate application. I highly recommend the book.

*This* is the long-in-the-works magnum opus that Meyer fans have been awaiting for more than a decade?! Where are the hundred (or is it "thousands"?) of color photos Meyer has long claimed will justify the astronomical price-tag? Instead,readers are treated to dozens of stamp-sized sepia-toned photos and, for reasons that aren't immediately clear, cartoons of busty women. As for the text, well, anyone who'se ever read the "dot dot dot"-style plot synopises on the back of Meyer's video cassettes knows that a few long-winded sentence fragments go a long way. A weird curio for well-heeled Meyer completists, this one will be Double D-Cup Disappointment for all other Meyer enthusiasts.

Russ Meyer's long-awaited autobiography (written by the apocryphal "Adolph Schwartz" and published by a company named for Meyer's late, beloved mother) shipped in August 2000 to pre-purchasers. I gasped when I saw that the book had arrived at my home, for I had sent Russ a check in July of 1990. Ten years is a long time, you bet, but I never doubted that Meyer would finish his book. He's a doer and a perfectionist, and this immense, 18-pound, 3-volume set is nearly as stupendous as the magnificently endowed actresses who have helped make Meyer's films legendary. Strap THIS on, you groovy boys: cloth-covered hardbacks; luxurious 100-lb paper stock; sewn signatures; thousands of photos. This is a set for the ages (apt pun intended). Volumes 1 and 2 provide the core of Meyer's autobiography, beginning with his childhood and progressing to lengthy and fascinating recollections of his time during World War II as a combat cameraman who risked his keister and made lifelong friends as his unit traveled across Europe. And then came his failed postwar attempt to break into Hollywood's tightly closed cinematographers' union, and his subsequent career as a magazine pin-up photographer who was easily the equal of his legendary contemporaries, Peter Gowland and Bunny Yeager. In the late fifties, an association with a west coast theater owner nudged Meyer into filmmaking. The minor, documentary-style short that resulted was followed by Meyer's breakthrough feature, The Immoral Mr. Teas, a charming, funny, and lusciously lit & shot color "nudie" that revolutionized skin films. A paean to male voyeurism, the picture was the first to put naked gals into a story context, rather than utilize them, as had been typical in the pre-Meyer era, as sexless habitues of weedy volleyball courts. For the next twenty years, Meyer financed, wrote & co-wrote, shot, edited, and promoted film after film, establishing himself as the ne plus ultra of chest men, as well as a filmmaker of uncommon gifts. Today, his reputation as a highly talented, idiosyncratic creative force is unshakable. Humorless bluenoses object to his vision, but no one can deny that Meyer has presented that vision with unquestionable conviction, satiric laffs, and a unique visual style. Some of his efforts, such as Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Vixen, are among the best and most entertaining films of their era. In the late 1960s the Hollywood establishment was finally forced to notice him; Meyer's first big-studio picture (of two), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, co-written with Roger Ebert, became one of the biggest box-office successes in the history of 20th Century-Fox. Meyer's book revels in this and other triumphs, and you're likely to cheer along with him. A particularly satisfying sidelight is Meyer's running blood fued with Charles Keating, Jr., an attorney and self-appointed moral policeman who eventually was convicted for his mastermind's role in a savings & loan scandal that took billions from grannies and other hapless and deceived investors. Ah, payback! And yet for all of Meyer's quite justified self-satisfaction and occasional gloating, he also reveals himself as a man who is fiercely loyal to old friends (his WW II buddies are invoked over and over again) and to dependable collaborators. The cutthroat nature of independent filmmaking could have turned him into a dour cynic; instead, he's a sentimental guy with a white-hot love of life, women, and sex. The autobiography's Volume 3 is comprised mainly of detailed retellings of Meyer's films, richly illustrated with countless sequential images presented a la film frames. This volume also brings us up to date on Meyer's latter-day video (and other) activities with the unambiguously named Pandora Peaks, Melissa Mounds, and others. That the book has no color images is disappointing--at least initially. Then I looked closely at the thousands of rich, beautifully reproduced duotones, and I felt good again. These images, most of which have never before seen print, come mostly from Meyer's own archives. They are stunning for reasons of libido, and as models of superior photo reproduction. The World War II shots of Russ and his companions in action are particularly interesting to this WW II buff, but let's face it: the real attraction here is the allure of the "buxotic" Meyer women. Eve Meyer, Uschi Digard, Kitten Natividad, Lorna Maitland, Erica Gavin, Raven de la Croix, Tura Satana, Haji, Edy Williams, Renate Horton--lordy, how the list--and bosoms--do go on! Meyer's detailed text comes from the gut. His accounts of his failings as husband to his second wife and first photographic model, the perfectly magnificent Eve Turner Meyer, are at once amusing, harshly self-critical, and poignant. His free-verse tribute to Eve late in the autobigraphy is heartbreaking. As readers progress through the volumes, they will enjoy a full course in the difficulties of independent filmmaking (raising money, scouting locations, casting actors, raising more money, the shoot, slogging through post-production, etc.). And Meyer's cheeky, rapid-fire prose captures the sexy humor and rat-a-tat rhythm that make his film work instantly identifiable The fabulous Vixen is the picture that made Meyer a multimillionaire, but rather than kick back afterward and say "th' hell with it," he produced and directed theatrical films for another ten years, until the late 1970s, by which time plotless, amateurishly executed hardcore, a genre in which Meyer has no creative interest, had superseded his hyperstylized bosomfests. But even as he voluntarily bowed out of theatrical filmmaking, he made prints of his works available for screenings, and issued his films on video and (in Europe only, at this writing) DVD. He's also occupied himself with what he promises will be an immensely detailed film documentary of his life and career. Two final notes: My wife and I were guests not long ago at Chicago's Academy of Science, where the speaker was primate researcher Jane Goodall. As I listened to her low-key but quite passionate remarks, it occurred to me that some fortunate and innately tough people end up doing as their life's work precisely what they were born to do. Russ Meyer is of that group. Lastly, when we attended a theatrical double-bill re-release of Meyer's Faster Pussycat! and Cherry, Harry & Raquel a few years ago, the audience--young, old, in between; equally split between men and women--laughed and cried out with delight. The bam!bam! editing style, the startling camera setups, the stupendous women, the action and satire--the totality of the Russ Meyer experience washed over every one of us in that theater. It was, as the alliterative Meyer might express it, a pulse-poundingly pulchritudinous evening awash with wicked wantons, actionful adventure, and Meyer-style mirth. It's an evening I will not forget. I daresay you won't forget this astonishing book, either.

An excellent choice for any reader. I have had the pleasure to see some of Mr. Meyer's breast (including his own by accident) photographs in person and can say he has an eye for true beauty (actually two eyes).

A hearty hand clasp for one of my mentors.

God Bless Russ Meyer!

James A Beck

This complication of songs from Bells Are Ringing is truely a gem for those who enjoy Jule Styne's lyrics. Unfortunely, everything but right is mashed into this vocal book, which features mostly forgettable songs, which weren't the ones known to even the deepest fans. Only "Is It A Crime" and "Just In Time" were the favorable ones chosen in this one, and with all of the notes jammed all over the place, it's sometimes quite hard to conentrate on where you left off last.

This book outlined the magic that Adolph Rupp brought to the University of Kentucky and all of college basketball. A harsh man by nature, Rupp turned his players into men and taught them the lessons of life along the way. It was briliantly written and comes highly recommended to any University of Kentucky fan.

This book really helps children understand what divorce is and why their parents are getting a divorec. It goes through the process of the parents leaving home, choosing who to live with, the parents starting to date again, and so on. Great gift for anyone you know with children that are going through a divorce.

This is an extraordinary book. Heavy duty to take years of abuse. Ample room for daily boiler room entries. The only draw back is out dated technology described in the book. The information written is thorough and understandable, however it is based on 1970's technology. Theories still apply but a newer version would give this book a five star rating.

The poor quality of the original newsprint makes it a chore to read the fine print. The photos are not very good either. Still an interesting book-covers a lot of the pre-war period before WWII. As always, with a book of this type, you do not read the whole story, but it sure makes you wish you could.

Printer's Devil to Publisher is a nice little book, easy to read, interesting primarily to those with Chattanooga connections (Ochs' adopted home city) or who are interested in the history of the NY Times. In the age of Hearst and Pulitzer, Ochs was a totally different kind of publisher, concerned with presenting the news accurately and fairly. He was also a civic legend, and did much for two very different cities. I recommend it for an evening's read.

"Where Duty Calls: The Story of Sarah Emma Edmonds" is a recently published, fictionalized account of the life of Union spy Sarah Edmonds. The plot of the story itself is quite interesting, chronicling the adventures of a female who poses as a male spy during the Civil War. The book, although not noted as relevant to a certain age category, is more suitable for younger children. Although it includes excerpts from Edmond's autobiography, and does well in sticking to the facts, it reads like a young adventure novel. It is definitely a more fictionalized account of Edmonds life, and doesn't go into the more intellectual and historical issues of gender roles and Union spies. If you would like a well-written, simplistic overview of Edmonds' life; or if you know a young child who likes to read about real life spies, then "Where Duty Calls" is the book for you.