Disappointingly Aimless

This book was published posthumously.. and it shows. Journalist/author Peter Wyden was born in Germany and taken to the United States in 1937 - but writes with admirable passion about his homeland. He punctiliously compiles examples of various neo-nazi/"skinhead" organizations (and their crimes); the continued pervasive racist/antisemitic sentiments in modern European political movements (ones that characterized the National Socialist German Worker's Party); documents Nazi officials who escaped justice (at least for awhile) and continued to exert influence; and reveals post-war Germany's reliance on Nazi-infiltrated Government & Industry to deliver services (and their willingness to look the other way). The reasoning of Hitler apologists among our contemporaries and Holocaust Deniers is exposed unapologetically for it's nonsensicalness. Each chapter is written convincingly (if occasionally being a little dry +/- boring) - with clarity, conviction, and commendable vocabulary/prose.

Unfortunately, it's unclear how Wyden intended to bring these elements together into a unifying thesis (he died before the book was finished). Editors reviewing the manuscript clearly grasped his point - that the worst aspects of nazism didn't die with the Führer in 1945 - but fail to organize the collected arguments into a concise whole.
The book is hence readable.. but less convincing than it could be. A final summary chapter is badly needed (the "Publisher's Epilogue" is insufficient).

Audible Studios contribute to the errors in the piece with an unwise choice of reader: Robin Sachs is professional enough (exhibiting creditable diction and praiseworthy German accents, for example).. but he reads much too slowly, with a robotic - uninterested - tone, in a halting cadence, and with a strikingly flat timbre. Another reader could have done a much better job on the project.

In toto, 'The Hitler Virus: The Insidious Legacy of Adolf Hitler' is appropriately included in the 'Plus' catalogue. If you can get it for free, it provides some eye-opening information that's worth perusing.. but if they ask for a Credit.. you could definitely do better than this 5.5/10 star offering.

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