Is Adolf Hitler a Maniac? (1939)

First Edition of Is Adolf Hitler a Maniac?: The Truth About the Terror of Hitlerism, 1939

Haldeman-Julius, E. Is Adolf Hitler a Maniac? The Truth About the Terror of Hitlerism. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1939.

16mo. Softcover. 1st Edition.

First edition of this pocket-size essay structured as a Q&A about Hitler, in original printed wrappers. Philadelphia-born socialist Emanuel Julius moved to Kansas as an adult and committed himself to the cause. With experience at a number of newspapers, Julius was well situated to begin his own publishing empire. He achieved his goal with the collaboration of his wife, Marcet Haldeman (Julius, much ahead of his time, hyphenated his surname upon marriage). Beginning in 1919, the Haldeman-Juliuses began publishing pocket pamphlets at affordable prices. While they originally began with literature, they soon moved on to more politically driven titles like this one. Though Is Adolf Hitler a Maniac? contains occasional sarcasm and humor (a question about Hitler's mustache color), it shares, largely accurately, the state of Germany in 1939 and the threat of totalitarian rule to Jews, workers, women of all backgrounds, and other oppressed Germans. Haldeman-Julius mentions the concentration camps a number of times as well as the types of fates that were routinely befalling communists in Nazi Germany. While a slim pamphlet, this Little Blue Book--like the entire Little Blue Book series--would have had extensive reach throughout the Midwest, where Blue Books were popular with travelers and salesmen. Only slightest toning to spine and a few pinpoint spots of soiling to rear wrapper. A rare and beautiful copy in near-fine condition.