Rating: 
Summary: Interesting perspective on a fascinating man
Review: "Table Talk" is by far one of the more intriguing titles I've purchased on Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Often long but never tedious to read - the style of prose will have you running from one sentence to the next. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Absorbing & entertaining
Review: A fascinating window into Hitler's feverishly powerful,original , jaundiced mind and the two obsessions which consumed him:1.mythic glorification of the Germanic race and 2. "lebensraum" in the vast Russian steppes.One is struck by his cold,steely intelligence but repelled by its rigidity as well as lack of grace & warmth.There is a lot of repetition.He has dogmatic views on almost every subject under the sun, no matter how trivial (eccentric but interesting!).A striking feature of Hitler's thinking is his megalomaniacal fixation on sheer scale and size___he is always planning in terms of CENTURIES,BILLIONS,THOUSANDS (of miles and tonnage) etc etc.Furthermore the quality of these monologues tend to deteriorate,gradually but perceptibly, as we move from '41 to '44.You cannot understand Hitler without reading these table talks.An entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Yawning With Hitler.
Review: Adolf Hitler would never have won a literary award. Inspired orator he may have been, but his writings are very dull. We now know that Mein Kampf was not widely read from cover to cover in nazi Germany. His private dinner time conversations, the subject of this book, are in the same mould. The English translation of table talk has been around since 1953, but Hugh Trevor Roper has written a new and incisive preface to the latest edition. The historical interest of Hitler's lectures to his intimate companions such as Bormann (who had them taken down in dictation) and Himmler - they were hardly conversations - is the light shed on Hitler himself. He rambles on about every subject under the sun, even leather shorts and "common sense", on one occasion even arguing that Jesus was obviously not a Jew since other Jews would never have handed him over to the Romans if he had been. Here and there he says something interesting, on Petain and Laval for example, but it's mostly mundane stuff. The table talk is mostly from 1941 and 1942. Very little has survived here from the later stages of the war. A useful consequence of this book is that you finally lay it down knowing the truth about why this egotistical and condescending dictator lost a world war. He spent too much time at dinner parties. And that's why this reviewer gave Hitler a generous four stars out of five.
Rating:
Summary: A Proven Jackass
Review: An important work for students of history to read. In Hitler's own words he comminicates what a jackASS he was.
Rating:
Summary: Thank God, I have always avoided persecuting my enemies
Review: Great first source on Hitler
A few random thoughts have come to mind as I read the book.
Hitler is a bore, full of himself and I have some sympathy for the poor people who were invited to eat with him.
Perhaps it would have been more economical to round up all enemies of the state and force them to listen to Hitler talk until they were bored to death rather then spending all that time and money on concentration camps.
The little corporal certainly has a huge inferiority complex. He always seems to be animating his rare humbleness and constantly pointing out what he believes makes him great.
The dichotomy and evil of Hitler summed up in one quote from P. 157
"Thank God, I have always avoided persecuting my enemies"
Rating:
Summary: Essential and informative
Review: Henry Picker was a young German officer who knew stenography and took down Hitler's Table Talk for a period of four years during World War II. This book was first published in 1951 and has enjoyed many reprints in the intervening years. This edition is expertly translated and has some revealing footnotes which leads the reader to other sources. Though Hitler is invariably portrayed as a raving madman in American "docudramas," he could also be a thoroughly charming and intensely charismatic private companion in his off hours. A man capable of seducing 65 million Germans and of his monumental crimes, had to possess an elemental force both inexplicable and fascinating. This book provides some clues to Hitler's personality, though in fairness, his mesmerizing mystique had been dulled by drugs and megalomania by 1941. He was surrounded by sycophants, but there were some perceptive and intelligent people in his milieu, most notably Joseph Goebbels. Hitler's secretaries were also articulate and intelligent ladies. However, his chauffeurs and other aides, such as Linge and Schaub, were hardly junior Einstein's. Hitler's monologues are faithfully presented here and he emerges as a genius in certain areas (his knowledge of architecture and art was encyclopedic), and as a sexist boor in other realms. His believed himself to be omniscient and believed further that he was a messiah selected by Providence to save the German nation. Anyone harboring such delusions is bound to sound arrogant and insufferable on occasion. This is a must have book for anyone interested in Hitler, his entourage, or his paralyzing effect upon other people. It's chilling that Hitler casually discussed trivialities while Europe was being torn asunder because of one man's twsited ideology.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for any college-level student of Nazi history
Review: Hitler's 'secret conversations' form 1941-44 receives a new preface by Trevor-Roper as it presents the private, informal conversations of the Nazi dictator as recorded by Martin Bormann, who planned with Hitler on using these conversations as the source for books about the glory of his Reich. The first-person conversations provide much depth and insight into the personality and thoughts of Hitler and will prove essential for any college-level student of Nazi history.
Rating:
Summary: A Little Knowledge Can Be a Dangerous Thing
Review: I decided to buy this book after reading industry and reader commentary on it. The first thing that struck me was that these are not monologues as some have supposed, they are merely the record of what only Hitler said. The original purpose of their transcription was to save for posterity the words of the Fuehrer in order that they might see how wise he was. Far from being the vulgar parvenu that he is often portrayed, Hitler was a widely read self-educated man with an amazing grasp of many subjects. If this book were to be published without any reference to Jews, the war, the Nazi Party or to Hitler himself, most reasonable people of all political persuasions would find something in his words with which to heartily agree. Look at his pronouncements on economics, on the environment (he was an ecologist before most knew the term), on modernization, on culture, on being a vegetarian, on alcohol and even on smoking and you'll see that in today's America he would be seen as slightly center-left in most areas. Its the other things he said and did that left the world with the image of him as a monster. Despite his knowledge and insight, we all know that he did not use them to best advantage thus dragging his country and much of Europe into a shambles from which some parts have yet to recover. Read this book and you'll see that much of what he foresaw eventually came to pass: The dissolution of Jugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, the dismemberment of the British Empire, the push for a united Europe and even the loss of the war by the side that did not have access to adequate raw materials for its successful prosecution. Yes, Hitler tended to pontificate but as you read keep in mind that only his part of most conversations were being taken down. Read this book and you will also see the truth to the old adage that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
Rating:
Summary: This Shocks Us By Showing Just How Boring Hitler Could Be.
Review: I do not own "Mein Kampf." It will probably find its way into my collection of history books eventually, but in the meantime, this book will have to suffice. "Hitler's Table Talk" is the results of transcribed "conversations" Hitler had at various dinners, lunches, and other social gatherings. He talks about the war, his loves, his hatreds, and even his rationale for having a mistress. (He thought that it would have been cruel to any woman who would marry him since he was travelling constantly and would have little time for attending to a spouse.) What struck me most about this book were two things: First, Hitler dwells so much on WWI that one gets the impression that it not only shaped his worldview, but he was never able to free himself completely from that war. As if WWI were a great tumor on his body that he acknowledged, yet refused to have removed. Hitler seems mired in the past during these daily discussions rather than focused on the war effort in Germany. The second aspect that I found odd was Hitler's fondness for exclaiming, in very profound terms, his opinions on the most insignificant and minute topics ranging from German life (one in which he felt destined to shape,) and women in politics, (which he thoroughly detested.) He was mind-mumbingly boring at times, and the only way most people could stand him is the threat of execution if any hint of disloyalty was noticed. I give this book 4 stars because it is still a very important document. Here, we can learn about this Austrian madman's plans for Germany in a more conversational style than can be found in "Mein Kampf." But I take away a star since Hitler is far less captivating than one would expect from a man who fought his way from beer hall riots to become the leader of Germany. It is a great resource for the diehard historian, but it is not a page-turner in the least. It is exasperating, unintentionally hilarious, and infuriating all at once.
Rating:
Summary: What's BORING?!
Review: I will tell you What is boring... Reading all this Anti-Hitler
drivel... Any[body] can write something negative, like all the
propaganda spewed out years ago; "if you repeat something often
the dumb masses with believe it!" Where have I heard this before?
Try writing something fresh and original and Objective, maybe
attempt to be Historical. If you aren't interested in Hitler,
don't like Hitler, Why the hell would you buy this book??!
If you are or do, don't listen to these Armchair Historians who
know as much about Hitler as the physics inside a black hole!
Karl
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