R.F. Patterson

I keep telling myself that, with all the Holocaust reading I do, I really ought to bite the bullet and read Mein Kampf. But I never have. I've tried, but it's really badly written and impossible for me to tolerate for more than a chapter or two.

Which is why I'm all the more impressed that R.F. Patterson was able to read the whole thing and then agonize over the rhymes to summarize it in amusing verse! With lines like:

And I decided that at least
I'd be an abbot or a priest.
But my respected parent said,
"You're far too big a dunderhead."

and:

By nature a determined Stoic
I panted after deeds heroic;
When Archduke Francis Ferdinand
Was liquidated, it was grand.

and:

Though half-a-dozen crazy schemers
May pose as Germany's redeemers,
One man alone as gold is rated,
The others are electroplated.

It is thus easy to read and at the same time you understand what the Fuhrer was trying to say. Perhaps I will just give up my attempts to read the real thing, since this version does quite nicely.

I would recommend this to people interested in World War II or the Holocaust, and also to those who like limericks and humor in the style of Will Cuppy and Richard Armour.

A matter of interest: this book was originally published in 1940, when Germany was really pounding hard on the UK. Had the Nazis invaded and conquered Britain -- something that was a distinct possibility at the time of writing -- Mr. Patterson might have found himself in a concentration camp or worse. He was really quite brave in publishing it.… (more)