Saw this book on amazon...coming in 2016. A biography of Ludendorff dealing with his time in the NSDAP.
William Brownell "The First Nazi: The Man Who Made Hitler Possible". Could be crap / pulp, but will have to look again in March 2016.
http://www.amazon.com/First-Nazi-Ludend ... Ludendorff
Another (but older) good biography of Ludendorff is D J Goodspeed's "Ludendorff: Genius of WWI". Goodspeed only has 1 or 2 chapters on his Nazi days and life with Mathilde Kemnitz.
Forthcoming Ludendorff Biography
Re: Forthcoming Ludendorff Biography
Quite the History Channel "omg nazis" title....
"Merken Sie sich eins; bei uns zu Haus' sind nur die Mannschaften Ostmärker.
Die Herren Offiziere sind Österreicher! Servus Doktorchen!"
Die Herren Offiziere sind Österreicher! Servus Doktorchen!"
Re: Forthcoming Ludendorff Biography
I have to agree with you. So much of this stuff is amateurish crap but I'll have a better idea of content once amazon has a "look inside" on the book....you can usually tell by the chapter headings, first pages, index etc. if a book is any good or not.
Another decent older book on Ludendorff is "Tormented Warrior: Ludendorff and the Supreme Command" by Roger Parkinson.
There is also a dual bio. by Martin Kitchen titled "The Silent Dictatorship: Hindenburg and Ludendorff in WWI".
Much of the material written about Ludendorff is about his WWI years and not his time as NSDAP leader and 1925 Presidential candidate. I'd like to see a detailed scholastic book chronicle his life from 1918 until his death.
His time of exile in Sweden, the Putsch and trial, his Presidential run, and his eventual break with Hitler would be interesting. He wrote a scathing letter to Hindenburg warning him about Hitler. In his retreat into private life he and his wife Mathilde got into all sorts of neurotic obsessions: Jesus and Christianity, the Jews, Freemasonry, and the Dalai Lama came under their attacks. In their view, Jesus was an alcoholic snake-oil salesman. They wrote books on these subjects and also on a form of neo-paganistic religion they wanted to spread through Germany. (see Karla Poewe "The New Religions and the Nazis") The last of these Ludendorff groups died out in the 1950's after they were outlawed by the state and long after the old man was dead. (see Kurt Tauber "Beyond Eagle and Swastika: German Nationalism After 1945" 2 vols.)
Ludendorff was a pivotal figure in getting Hitler started, helping to create the "stab in the back" legend and lending his famous name to the cause. What is known but not really discussed much is his role in getting Lenin to Russia. In this sense, Ludendorff became the man who brought Bolshevism to Russia which he acknowledges in his own memoirs. I think it was quite ingenious that he, Hoffmann, and others had the foresight to recognize that in Lenin there was man who could knock Russia out of the war but none of them knew what suffering would ensue nor what a greater threat this man would become once he was in power.
Ironically, both he and Hindenburg were instrumental in changing European history through helping dictators to power in states that would later try to annihilate one another.
Another decent older book on Ludendorff is "Tormented Warrior: Ludendorff and the Supreme Command" by Roger Parkinson.
There is also a dual bio. by Martin Kitchen titled "The Silent Dictatorship: Hindenburg and Ludendorff in WWI".
Much of the material written about Ludendorff is about his WWI years and not his time as NSDAP leader and 1925 Presidential candidate. I'd like to see a detailed scholastic book chronicle his life from 1918 until his death.
His time of exile in Sweden, the Putsch and trial, his Presidential run, and his eventual break with Hitler would be interesting. He wrote a scathing letter to Hindenburg warning him about Hitler. In his retreat into private life he and his wife Mathilde got into all sorts of neurotic obsessions: Jesus and Christianity, the Jews, Freemasonry, and the Dalai Lama came under their attacks. In their view, Jesus was an alcoholic snake-oil salesman. They wrote books on these subjects and also on a form of neo-paganistic religion they wanted to spread through Germany. (see Karla Poewe "The New Religions and the Nazis") The last of these Ludendorff groups died out in the 1950's after they were outlawed by the state and long after the old man was dead. (see Kurt Tauber "Beyond Eagle and Swastika: German Nationalism After 1945" 2 vols.)
Ludendorff was a pivotal figure in getting Hitler started, helping to create the "stab in the back" legend and lending his famous name to the cause. What is known but not really discussed much is his role in getting Lenin to Russia. In this sense, Ludendorff became the man who brought Bolshevism to Russia which he acknowledges in his own memoirs. I think it was quite ingenious that he, Hoffmann, and others had the foresight to recognize that in Lenin there was man who could knock Russia out of the war but none of them knew what suffering would ensue nor what a greater threat this man would become once he was in power.
Ironically, both he and Hindenburg were instrumental in changing European history through helping dictators to power in states that would later try to annihilate one another.