Mind of Adolf Hitler

Rating:
Summary: this is a very helpful book
Review: although i am no professor, i feel this book gave me a good insight and understanding of hitler, as well as life altering events that may have contributed to such monstrous actions.since i have read this book i am now able to give my own opinion on why he became such an evil and unhappy human being.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating snapshot of a monster; marred by psychobabble
Review: This is a real page turner. Langer was a psychologist commissioned by the U.S. government to write this report on Hitler while the War was being fought. It appeared in 1943. For this reason it is very interesting -- what did they know about Hitler then? This gives a wonderful snapshot.

Its also necessarily flawed -- we know MUCH more about this beast now than we did 60 yeasr ago. Most of Langer's insights have been incorportated, no doubt, into later works. Even the Afterword of this book lists dozens of significant factual errors. Fascinating nevertheless.

Its greatest flaws are the psychoanalytical presuppositions that are its foundation. Langer is a Freudian and he packs the book full of highly speculative, arbitrary psychobabble. Much of this now looks even more dated and silly than it must have at the time. (As so much of today's trendy pyschological subjectivism will look in 50 years). It is just so arbitrary. "Hitler is typical of so many children that were potty trained too early, thereby needing order and structure in their relationships...." Most of this stuff is about as credible as phrenology.

In any case, a VERY good read. Certainly not the place to go as a reference tool, or as the only book on Hitler. But as long as its taken with a truckload of salt, it is very insightful.