Hitler's Mentor: Dietrich Eckart, His Life, Times, & Milieu

The only book I have ever found focusing primarily on Eckart, who had only a four year relationship with Hitler but, yet, was a major influence on him.The most thoroughly researched book I have ever read. Some of the detail is astounding. While only about 1/5 of the narrative is about Eckart himself, the remainder is indeed about the "milieu" in which he found himself. Fascinating book. The book's last chapter on Franz Kafka illuminates a connection in author Joseph Howard Tyson's mind between Kafka's (died 1924) writings and the coming Nazi period.

Do not buy this book. The writing style is elementary at best. Contains many minor factual errors and the author cites Wikipedia in several places in the book. This book is self-published, not peer reviewed and anything but scholarly. I plan on returning the book immediately. Buying this book taught me a lesson on why you should research the author before buying any book.

Excellent. Know that the biographical style of this book is not traditional. Mr. Tyson goes the extra miles to give us histories of the German, Austrian and Russian settings as well as personality antecedents to help us better envision what was in the air prior to and during the Eckert - early Hitler period, especially as related to the Zeitgeist literature: occultist, cheap but eventually large circulation anti-Bolshevik newspapers in Germany and some in Austria, the Nationalist press addressing the "Volk" and the readiness for a pan-German approach to nation building.... some of the names and publications I had not heard of before by way of the contemporary published literature covering the time period of pre- and proto-Nazi historical accounts. Yes, there are type-o's, the portrait-building form is different, but I read the book in just over 2 days. I'm glad I bought it, glad I read it and enthused about the increased "search-list"/"wish-list" for printed period-generated literature thanks to Mr. Tyson's honorable and most readable effort.

This book is not so much a biography of Dietrich Eckart as it is a history during Eckart's lifetime, and at times it seems more like a biography of Hitler, until the time of Eckart's death at the end of 1924. The writing is terse, and frequently includes negative adjectives and negative descriptions of Eckart and Hitler and other National Socialists, but occasionally with positive comments about Eckart as being more moderate in his anti-Semitism as compared to Hitler and other National Socialists. After an opening chapter about Eckart, there are several chapters of background history of Germany and Russia, including Heinrich Heine, Kaiser Wilhelm, World War I, the Thule Society, Karl Marx, Tsar Nicholas, Alfred Rosenberg, Rudolf Steiner; and Helena Blavatsky, Guido von List, Adolf Lanz; and some chapters of biography about Adolf Hitler, and Hitler's relationship with Eckart. There are many chapter endnotes with book references to several different source books, but also many other statements without any reference endnote. Some of the reference source books are dubious, containing controversial and unproven negative comments and descriptions about Hitler and unproven assertions and psychological nonsense, which the author nevertheless quotes or references, and the author adds his own psychological interpretation nonsense. Very rarely does the author quote or translate from German language sources, as if original research, but mainly quotes or references English language sources. Very little of Eckart's writings are quoted, and the biography is mostly quotes from people who knew Eckart and Hitler. In general attitude, the book is a criticism against anti-Semitism. The book ends with a chapter about Franz Kafka. The book includes an Index.

Awful book I felt I learned more about the author than Eckhart.