3 ms·

As I remember the book didn't start to sell very well until the Nazis took over in 1933, at which point it was a little too late to stop them. The book did (as

As I remember the book didn't start to sell very well until the Nazis took over in 1933, at which point it was a little too late to stop them. The book did (as I recall) describe Hitlers plans in some detail, so had more people read it, maybe they would have done something.

enkid 5y ago
I'm going to reply the exact same way I did to another comment: Mein Kampf sold 240,000 copies before he became chancellor, so it seems like it was already an important part of the conversation. I'm not advocating for censorship, but obviously the argument that Mein Kampf is available therefore we should stop trying to limit violent speech is not a good one.
- tomjen3 5y ago
  Without context, sellling a 1/4 million books to a population of some 62 million is not impressive. I couldn't find out how many books were sold in the late 20s in Germany, but it is hardly a bestseller if less than 1/2 of a percent have read the book. Anyway my argument was sorta the opposite: the book did manifestly not sell well enough that it became how most people got converted to Nazism, and if more people had read the book they might have realized that Hitler was doing exactly what he wrote in his book and stopped him at an earlier point.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    The New York Times Bestseller list covers a population much larger than that. Yet: """To make the list, it is estimated that novels sell from 1,000 to 10,000 copies per week, depending on competition. Median sales fluctuate between 4,000 and 8,000 in fiction, and 2,000–6,000 in nonfiction. The majority of New York Times bestselling books sell from 10,000 to 100,000 copies in their first year.""" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller_list#Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller...

3 ms·

As I remember the book didn't start to sell very well until the Nazis took over in 1933, at which point it was a little too late to stop them. The book did (as

by tomjen3 5y ago

enkid 5y ago
I'm going to reply the exact same way I did to another comment: Mein Kampf sold 240,000 copies before he became chancellor, so it seems like it was already an important part of the conversation. I'm not advocating for censorship, but obviously the argument that Mein Kampf is available therefore we should stop trying to limit violent speech is not a good one.
- tomjen3 5y ago
  Without context, sellling a 1/4 million books to a population of some 62 million is not impressive. I couldn't find out how many books were sold in the late 20s in Germany, but it is hardly a bestseller if less than 1/2 of a percent have read the book. Anyway my argument was sorta the opposite: the book did manifestly not sell well enough that it became how most people got converted to Nazism, and if more people had read the book they might have realized that Hitler was doing exactly what he wrote in his book and stopped him at an earlier point.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    The New York Times Bestseller list covers a population much larger than that. Yet: """To make the list, it is estimated that novels sell from 1,000 to 10,000 copies per week, depending on competition. Median sales fluctuate between 4,000 and 8,000 in fiction, and 2,000–6,000 in nonfiction. The majority of New York Times bestselling books sell from 10,000 to 100,000 copies in their first year.""" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller_list#Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Best_Seller...