CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Aug 21, 2017 – History – 740 pages
A new English translation by Thomas Dalton, PhD. This is a full and complete version of Volume 1 & 2 of Mein Kampf, in modern and very readable English. Included are several new features, including a detailed introduction, section headings, helpful footnotes, bibliography, and a useful index. Far superior to all existing English translations, Dalton’s edition will become the standard reference for this famous work.
AUDIOBOOK – MURPHY/STALAG
Excerpt;
WHY A NEW TRANSLATION?
As it happens, every one of the previous translations has major problems and disadvantages, for a modem English reader.
The two primary versions–Murphy and Manheim–are written in the style of early 20th century British writers. They use a wide array of archaic ‘British-isms’ and British spellings that make reading awkward. Worse, they attempt to follow too literally Hitler’s original style. Like most Germans of the time, Hitler wrote long sentences, fashioned into long, complex paragraphs. Manheim follows this style religiously, to the detriment of the reader; Murphy at least occasionally breaks up long sentences into more readable segments.
Worst of all, both major translations are simply poor efforts. They do not read well. One repeatedly encounters passages that are awkward, incoherent, or incomprehensible. There is little of the fluidity and lyrical power of the German original. For his part, Murphy takes a considerable amount of ‘translator’s license,’ interjecting unwarranted terminology and wording, or simply leaving things out. Manheim is more literal, but in the end is scarcely more readable. The reader simply needs to scan a sampling of either text to understand the situation.
This is unfortunate, to say the least. It is almost as if the publishers intended, or at least preferred, that the translations be difficult to read. Certainly this limits the circulation of Hitler’s ideas, and makes it easier to dismiss them–a convenient situation, for the book’s many critics.
With the exception of Murphy, all of the standard editions betray their intentions with aggressive, hostile, and slanderous comments in their introductions. Consider this selection of remarks:
Johnson: Hitler is “no artist in literary expression,” and “often indifferent to grammar and syntax.” The book is “a propagandistic essay by a violent partisan” that ”warps historical truth” or “ignores it completely.” Hitler’s discussions on race can be safely dismissed, because “the greatest anthropologists of the 20th century are agreed that ‘race’ is a practically meaningless word.”
Lore: “I cannot conceive of any book of which I more positively disapprove.” The book has an “atrocious style” and “countless contradictions.” In essence, it is “an outpouring of willful perversion, clumsy forgery, vitriolic hatred, and violent denunciation.”
Manheim: Hitler is a “paranoiac” who offers us “disjointed facts” and “largely unintelligible flights of Wagnerian fantasy.” He creates “a dreamworld,” one “without color and movement.”
Heiden: Mein Kampf was written “in white-hot hatred.” It is “ill-founded, undocumented, and badly written.” “The book may well be called a kind of satanic Bible.”
Watt: The book is “lengthy, dull, bombastic, repetitious and extremely badly written.” “Most of its statements of fact…are demonstrably untrue.” It yields “an intolerably prolix German style and a total lack of any intellectual precision.” As a work of political philosophy, “it has no claims whatever to be taken seriously.” Hitler’s racial theory–a “mystical racist mumbo-jumbo of Aryanism”–is a “revolting mixture of pseudo-science and bogus historicism.” The work is self-consistent, but this only betrays “the terrible consistency of the insane.” In the end, Hitler is nothing more than a “master of the inept, the undigested, the half-baked and the untrue.”
Foxman: Hitler’s “theories have long since been discredited.” The book is “a work of ugliness and depravity.” It is “unreliable as a source of historical data,” full of “lies, omissions, and half-truths.” The book’s “atrocious style, puerile digressions, and narcissistic self-absorption” are obvious. Its theories are “extremist, immoral, and seem to promise war.” Hitler’s “lunatic plan” is “absurd” and even “comical.” All in all, “a ridiculous tract.”
Any translator, editor, or publisher who would include such words can hardly be trusted to do an honest job. The intent to bias the reader is plain. Certainly there is no concern here for the author to obtain a fair and objective reading. In fact, precisely the opposite.
The recent Ford translation, while not overtly hostile, has several other major flaws. Ford has no discernible credentials, no publishing record, nor any documented history with such academic works. His ‘in text’ notes are awkward and distracting. The book includes many amateurish and cartoonish ‘photos.’ There is no index. And his so-called publishing house, Elite Minds, appears to be some kind of environmental group that focuses on the ecology of sharks, of all things This is unfortunate; the last thing the public needs is another misleading, ill-conceived, and unqualified version of Mein Kampf.
The ‘Nazi’ or ‘Stalag’ edition of Murphy has its own problems. The version published by Elite Minds claims to be authentic, which means that they retained all the original flaws of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The result is nearly unreadable. The Ostara edition fixes many of these problems, but still reads poorly. It does break up the long paragraphs, but to an extreme degree; one typically finds single-sentence paragraphs, as in a newspaper. This move destroys all flow and connection of ideas. And neither version has an index or explanatory footnotes.
BENEFITS OF THE NEW TRANSLATION
The present work addresses and resolves many of these unfortunate drawbacks.
Section headings have been added, in text, in bold. The German original employed such headings, but only at the top of each page.
The reader thus never knew where a new section actually began. These headings have been translated and inserted at the appropriate points, directly in the text. This simple change greatly improves readability, by clearly organizing the narrative and breaking up long textual passages.
Much emphasis has been placed here on readability, without sacrificing accuracy. The English text reads smoothly and naturally. Also, numerous contractions have been employed: it’s, I’m, isn’t, and so on. This again improves readability, and more closely matches the first-person ‘dictation’ style of the original. Finally, the book has helpful and relevant footnotes and a bibliography of relevant secondary source material.
