Gordon L. Heath
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • War: Now and the Future
  • Serendipity
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Contact
  • MIsc
  • MIsc 2
  • MIsc 3
  • MIsc 4
​My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian: the intersection of history and contemporary church life, the intersection of history and contemporary politics, serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips, publications and research projects, upcoming conferences, and speaking engagements.

I sometimes blog for two other organizations, the Canadian Baptist Historical Society and the Centre for Post-Christendom Studies.

The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated.

Serendipity: Mein Kampf Book Review

12/10/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
This semester I am writing a book chapter on the Canadian churches and the Second World War. As I recently scrolled through the United Church’s bi-weekly periodical entitled the Observer I found a book review for Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”). ​
Picture
Picture
The context for the review was the opening months of the war, with Canadians adjusting to a conflict that they had hoped to avoid. The paper’s aim was to educate its readers on current issues, and so the editor thought it important to provide a review of the book in the January 1940 issue.
 
On the one hand, I was not surprised with the book review being in the paper. The churches at that time had a robust vision for social and political engagement, and to carry out their mission there was a need for a well-informed membership. And to be well informed in that day meant reading Hitler’s ideology and intentions as described so vividly in Mein Kampf.
 
On the other hand, I was surprised to see it because we live in a cancel culture today that seeks to block people from reading anything distasteful, offensive, or dastardly. And to promote a knowledge of such works seems foreign to many.
 
For the record, I agree with the paper’s editor on the issue of "knowing your enemies." As a general principle, I prefer knowing to not knowing, even if it means being informed about something as deeply offensive as Hitler’s racist tropes and hateful plans.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Blog
  • War: Now and the Future
  • Serendipity
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Contact
  • MIsc
  • MIsc 2
  • MIsc 3
  • MIsc 4