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Rating: Summary: One of many alcohol or other drug addicted despots Review: Adolf Hitler was variously diagnosed as bipolar, schizophrenic and paranoid schizophrenic. He was also diagnosed as having had Parkinson's disease. Yet Hitler had none of these disorders: he was an amphetamine and barbiturate addict.
This marvelous little book, which reads like a medical mystery novel, slowly dismantles every other explanation for Hitler's increasingly reckless behavior. We can conjecture that he may have triggered barbiturate addiction long before amphetamine addiction. However, the reader is left with no doubt that injections given to him by the doctor without whom he "could not live," Dr. Morell, included large quantities of amphetamine, beginning by 1937. (Because Hitler can be seen moving his hands back and forth on his upper legs in a way consistent with amphetamine use, called "stereotypical behavior," in 1936 Olympic Games videos, use likely began a bit earlier.)
The authors offer numerous clues to addiction. When injections, widely believed to be multi-vitamins "specially compounded for the Fuhrer," ceased on occasion, Hitler experienced severe depression, a common symptom among newly abstinent amphetamine or cocaine addicts. He engaged in all-night monologues with an endless repetition of stories, along with increasingly disorganized thinking and confused syntax. As the authors point out, the latter would not be expected of someone considered to have been a supreme orator. His mood swings became more volatile, paranoia increased (a common side effect of amphetamine addiction) and, while early on he accepted blame for tactical errors, he developed a tendency to project blame onto others, a classic indication of addiction to psychotropic drugs (those capable of causing distortions of perception and memory).
Intravenous injections of the "special compound" increased from one to as many as five daily. While intravenous amphetamine use has the same effect as injecting cocaine, it is much longer lasting: the half-life of amphetamines is twelve times longer. He took barbiturates every night during WW2, no doubt needed to offset the effect of amphetamines to allow for sleep. Hitler also used narcotics from 1938 onward, in particular, Eukodal, an early version of Percodan. A potent mix of drugs such as this has adverse effects on a person's personality, thinking, perceptions and, consequently, behaviors (which I describe in my book, "Hidden Alcoholics").
Over-confidence and intoxication with his early successes, common to early-stage addiction, fuelled a propensity to risk-taking and impulsive behaviors. As his use progressed during WW2 he experienced tremors, often attributed to Parkinson's disease. However, heavy amphetamine use mimics Parkinson's, probably because the neurotransmitter dopamine is affected by both.(Interestingly, Yasir Arafat was also diagnosed by some to have this disease; if we look at Arafat's pupils, however, in almost every photograph they are big as the moon--a classic physical indication of amphetamine addiction.) A stereotypical behavior very common to amphetamine addicts, an incessant scratching (the description offered by amphetamine addicts is "bugs are crawling under their skin"), began by 1943.
The fact that no one figured this out until the first hardback printing of this book in 1979, 34 years after Hitler's death, provides some of the most damning evidence ever of how completely unaware biographers and historians are of the role of addiction in determining the course of events. They don't look for it because they don't know it's relevant. In my first book, "Drunks, Drugs & Debits," I wrote that someday historians and biographers would view their subjects in a new light when looking through the lens of alcohol or other drug addiction. Judging from the treatment of Yasir Arafat even after death, there is still a long way to go.
The only flaw in The Medical Casebook is that barbiturates are only mentioned in passing, explaining that Hitler didn't take them in large enough pharmacologic doses for addiction to have occurred. However, the mix of drugs, the fact that drugs potentiate each other in remarkably potent ways (two plus two equals ten) and continuous use strongly suggests that this addiction intertwined with amphetamine use to create the most reviled monster in history. It is an irony of history that Hitler chose never to drink because of the vile effects that alcoholism had on others, in particular his violent alcoholic step-father.
Rating: Summary: Great book.. Review: Although I have little interest in or understanding of this particular subject (medicine, health & illness, etc.) it is quite interesting for me inasmuch as it pertains to the Fuehrer. I was struck by the way the authors treated "Patient Hitler", presenting the facts in a clear and unbiased way. The book is brief and offers the reader clear-cut medical data and explanations, sans negative commentary and personal prejudices, which I found pleasantly refreshing. It was particularly insightful reading which drugs Hitler was given and how he reacted to each one. I also found their remarks about Hitler's mental state--especially throughout the last year of his life--of great value historically. All in all it was really a quite fascinating read.
Rating: Summary: Very dry reading, but interesting nonetheless Review: Heston doesn't write especially well, so expect no fireworks among the pages. However, he has presented an accurate and clinical history of Hitler's health. The most interesting portions relate to Dr. Theo Morell, who became Hitler's personal physician in 1935. Morell was a hygenically-challenged mess whom all in the Hitler inner circle despised. Eva Braun said she would not allow "that pig" to get near her. Still, Morell exerted considerable influence over Hitler, who became physically dependent on the array of drugs Morell injected into him. By 1942, Hitler's physical decline was alarming, and Morell was dousing him with uppers to get up in the morning and downers to allow him sleep. The "raving lunatic" side of Hitler, always depicted in motion pictures, is a myth. He was nothing like the movie Hitlers, as this book eloquently shows. He was, however, hopelessly addicted to amphetimines and barbituates for many years prior to his 1945 death. Though dry reading, it still will hold your interest.
Rating: Summary: An Enthralling Glimpse Inside the Mind and Body of Evil Review: It is really a testament to the flinty conservatism of most historians that the Oprahfication of American culture has not yet been made retroactive in its history texts. While we have seen disturbing trends in the inroads tweed-jacketed neo-Marxists have made in driving political correctness into the heads of the foolish and ignorant, we have yet to hit rock bottom as evidenced by major efforts to understand the childhood traumas of Josef Stalin, or the various indignities which no doubt turned Vlad Tepes into Vlad the Impaler. Whereas the prophets of psychobabble dominate the present, the past is still replete with good, old-fashioned monsters, unredeemable through modern psychiatric understanding. Even if one day this last rampart of sanity falls to the Prozac-entranced hordes, I suspect that one figure will remain too horrible to define by any therapeutic term: Adolf Hitler. This is not to say that investigating the hideous mental character of the archfiend is not worthwhile; just that comprehending pure evil may be as beyond our ken as understanding the nature of God. Besides, Leonard L. and Renate Heston (M.D. and R.N. respectively) have already conducted a dispassionate study of Hitler which has been available for the past twenty years. "The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler" takes a novel approach to its subject: it merely treats Hitler as a patient and constructs a complete medical workup based on accounts accumulated from various high-ranking Nazis. This historical approach is fascinating in its simplicity; after all, it is easier (and far less perilous) to be objective about whether someone complained of sinus headaches than to report when exactly you learned about Treblinka. Their findings are shocking and (to a layman such as myself) eminently credible. Historians tend to view Hitler as a lucky lunatic, viewing the mental decline of his latter years as the true Hitler, whereas the brilliant politician of the war's early years was merely a cunning disguise. This "rabid dog" view of Hitler always struck me as ringing hollow, as I could not imagine the likes of Erwin Rommel or Heinz Guderian eagerly embracing a madman. The authors blame the Fuhrer's very own Dr. Feelgood for pumping him full of methamphetamine and cocaine, an assertion which they support with a substantial amount of evidence. If you're an avid student of World War II, Hitler, or merely one of the growing number of history fans who enjoy playing "What If?", you'll thoroughly enjoy this book on a much-neglected topic.
Rating: Summary: An Enthralling Glimpse Inside the Mind and Body of Evil Review: It is really a testament to the flinty conservatism of most historians that the Oprahfication of American culture has not yet been made retroactive in its history texts. While we have seen disturbing trends in the inroads tweed-jacketed neo-Marxists have made in driving political correctness into the heads of the foolish and ignorant, we have yet to hit rock bottom as evidenced by major efforts to understand the childhood traumas of Josef Stalin, or the various indignities which no doubt turned Vlad Tepes into Vlad the Impaler. Whereas the prophets of psychobabble dominate the present, the past is still replete with good, old-fashioned monsters, unredeemable through modern psychiatric understanding. Even if one day this last rampart of sanity falls to the Prozac-entranced hordes, I suspect that one figure will remain too horrible to define by any therapeutic term: Adolf Hitler. This is not to say that investigating the hideous mental character of the archfiend is not worthwhile; just that comprehending pure evil may be as beyond our ken as understanding the nature of God. Besides, Leonard L. and Renate Heston (M.D. and R.N. respectively) have already conducted a dispassionate study of Hitler which has been available for the past twenty years. "The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler" takes a novel approach to its subject: it merely treats Hitler as a patient and constructs a complete medical workup based on accounts accumulated from various high-ranking Nazis. This historical approach is fascinating in its simplicity; after all, it is easier (and far less perilous) to be objective about whether someone complained of sinus headaches than to report when exactly you learned about Treblinka. Their findings are shocking and (to a layman such as myself) eminently credible. Historians tend to view Hitler as a lucky lunatic, viewing the mental decline of his latter years as the true Hitler, whereas the brilliant politician of the war's early years was merely a cunning disguise. This "rabid dog" view of Hitler always struck me as ringing hollow, as I could not imagine the likes of Erwin Rommel or Heinz Guderian eagerly embracing a madman. The authors blame the Fuhrer's very own Dr. Feelgood for pumping him full of methamphetamine and cocaine, an assertion which they support with a substantial amount of evidence. If you're an avid student of World War II, Hitler, or merely one of the growing number of history fans who enjoy playing "What If?", you'll thoroughly enjoy this book on a much-neglected topic.
Rating: Summary: Most believable presentation of Hiter's psychopathology. Review: There are many theories as to what made Hitler the way he was, especially the apparent personality changes after about 1942. These include psychoanalytic theories, Adlerian theories, as well as theories of diseases including encephalitis and Parkinson's disease, etc. The Hestons discuss the pros and cons of all of these theories, and then offer one of their own. They are very thorough in their reasearch and presentation and give a very compelling case for their theory. Albert Speer, in introducing the book states that, after comparing their study with his own notes on Hitler, he believes their theory to be accurate.
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