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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
medium-paced
Absolutely insane insight. I had no idea that basically the entire German army was absolutely drugged out of their minds for basically all off WW2????
Ich bin zwiegespalten. Sehr interessantes, spannendes Thema und offensichtlich sehr aufwändig recherchiert. Für ein Sachbuch fand ich es streckenweise aber zu dramatisch und szenisch geschrieben. Das hat zwar dabei geholfen, sich beispielsweise Örtlichkeiten vorzustellen, überwiegend - insbesondere bei der Beschreibung von Personen und deren inneren Zuständen und Stimmungen - gingen mir die Spekulationen aber zu weit. Das erschien mir insgesamt unseriös.
Die Aussagen zu Hitlers Zurechnungsfähigkeit angesichts seines Drogenkonsums waren mir außerdem zu widersprüchlich und oberflächlich. Wenn man das Nachwort liest und sich mit der Figur der actio libera in causa auskennt, kommt es am Ende hin. Wer unbedarft, unkritisch oder einfach ein bisschen unkonzentriert liest, könnte aber auch zu dem Schluss kommen, dass Hitler spätestens ab 1943/44 so zugedröhnt war, dass er völlig aus der Realität gefallen war und nicht mehr wusste, was er tat. Und das wäre m.E. ein fataler Schluss.
Es ließ sich gut lesen, war hochinteressant, trotzdem würde ich es eher nicht oder nur sehr eingeschränkt empfehlen.
Die Aussagen zu Hitlers Zurechnungsfähigkeit angesichts seines Drogenkonsums waren mir außerdem zu widersprüchlich und oberflächlich. Wenn man das Nachwort liest und sich mit der Figur der actio libera in causa auskennt, kommt es am Ende hin. Wer unbedarft, unkritisch oder einfach ein bisschen unkonzentriert liest, könnte aber auch zu dem Schluss kommen, dass Hitler spätestens ab 1943/44 so zugedröhnt war, dass er völlig aus der Realität gefallen war und nicht mehr wusste, was er tat. Und das wäre m.E. ein fataler Schluss.
Es ließ sich gut lesen, war hochinteressant, trotzdem würde ich es eher nicht oder nur sehr eingeschränkt empfehlen.
informative
fast-paced
dark
informative
fast-paced
dark
informative
slow-paced
So, all Nazis were just on an absurd cocktail of pharmaceuticals (cough meth, hydrocodone, cocaine cough), and apparently none of them ever slept? That’s just the baseline. But this book? It zooms in on Hitler’s personal physician, a man who turned the entire German population (and a lot of animal parts) into his personal pharmaceutical Monopoly. He also turned all his patients into guinea pigs too. All while pretending to adhere Hitler’s supposed “ban on drugs.” Fuck, even his vegetarian diet. The amount of animal parts that went into his “innovative work” made me feel like I truly needed to vomit.
Let’s be real though. Drugs have always been legal for the people who can rebrand them. Slap on a prescription label, toss them into a sterile bottle, and suddenly it’s medicine, not meth. This book doesn’t just peel back the layers of Nazi drug dependency, it also exposes the ongoing nightmare that is Big Pharma, the war on drugs, and how governments create the crisis and then punish the fallout.
Because it’s not just about drug dealers, it’s about who’s funding, producing, and profiting from the whole system. Then and now. We just keep dressing the problem up in new names and pretending it’s not the same old rot. We keep blaming the people with the disease that THEY CREATED.
And don’t even get me started on the Hitler/Orange Man parallels. The praise for brutality (he was methed out), the cultish admiration (meth, again), the nonstop performance of power (a cocktail of meth and opioids)… none of it new, all of it deeply unsettling and repeating itself. This book felt eerily timely. Leaders shouldn’t be idolized. Ever. No matter what political party you fall in. They should be questioned relentlessly, held accountable, and torn down when they abuse that power.
Reading this right now, in the current mess of our own making (especially after this current week in the U.S.) Uncomfortable at best and fucking disgusting at the worst. Definitely a read I would recommend.
Let’s be real though. Drugs have always been legal for the people who can rebrand them. Slap on a prescription label, toss them into a sterile bottle, and suddenly it’s medicine, not meth. This book doesn’t just peel back the layers of Nazi drug dependency, it also exposes the ongoing nightmare that is Big Pharma, the war on drugs, and how governments create the crisis and then punish the fallout.
Because it’s not just about drug dealers, it’s about who’s funding, producing, and profiting from the whole system. Then and now. We just keep dressing the problem up in new names and pretending it’s not the same old rot. We keep blaming the people with the disease that THEY CREATED.
And don’t even get me started on the Hitler/Orange Man parallels. The praise for brutality (he was methed out), the cultish admiration (meth, again), the nonstop performance of power (a cocktail of meth and opioids)… none of it new, all of it deeply unsettling and repeating itself. This book felt eerily timely. Leaders shouldn’t be idolized. Ever. No matter what political party you fall in. They should be questioned relentlessly, held accountable, and torn down when they abuse that power.
Reading this right now, in the current mess of our own making (especially after this current week in the U.S.) Uncomfortable at best and fucking disgusting at the worst. Definitely a read I would recommend.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
I'm a history and science nerd so this is exactly my kind of book. I never realized how prevalent pharmaceuticals were during the time period. The author did a great job explaining the physical and psychological ramifications for the widespread drug use on not just the individuals of the party leadership but how it affected soldiers and the victims in the concentration camps. I appreciate he did not shy away from the cruelties and further acknowledged that the drugs themselves were not the reason for the atrocities. He was very clear that the drugs only augmented/enhanced the evil these people perpetuated on the population of Europe.
4.5/10
This book was really interesting. Apparently almost the entire Nazi leadership was doing meth.
The first third of the book was really interesting about the French blitzkrieg. After that, it seemed like it became on xxx day Hitler got an injection, etc etc.
It's mostly about Hitler's doctor (Morell) and how he made Hitler a junkie. It talked a lot about how Hitler became more and more of an addict, but it never really correlated this to the defeat of the Nazis. Maybe there wasn't much of a correlation since Hitler locked himself away and was pretty insulated from the war? I had expected more cause and effect, but it's mostly just about his drug problem
This book was really interesting. Apparently almost the entire Nazi leadership was doing meth.
The first third of the book was really interesting about the French blitzkrieg. After that, it seemed like it became on xxx day Hitler got an injection, etc etc.
It's mostly about Hitler's doctor (Morell) and how he made Hitler a junkie. It talked a lot about how Hitler became more and more of an addict, but it never really correlated this to the defeat of the Nazis. Maybe there wasn't much of a correlation since Hitler locked himself away and was pretty insulated from the war? I had expected more cause and effect, but it's mostly just about his drug problem