was no audio version, I wound up reading several versions, researching the history, talking to historians, and ultimately editing my own translation. Sometimes I had to spend a full day iguring out as little as 2 or 3 pages at a time, hours tracking down what s ome obscure reference meant, and then having it veriied by a native German speaker to make sure I had not misinterpreted anything. I wanted a simple audio program to save myself time and trouble and ended up on a two year long journey to produce the inal Ford translation. Well, it was worth it in the end because this translation is without a doubt t he best ever produced and will inally allow people to read and understand Mein Kampf . One of the many advantages the Ford translation had was time. Past transla tions were rushed to press but we wanted to produce the best, most accurate, and the most true to the original work that could possibly exist, and we were able to do it even though it took almost two years and a large staff. Hitler said that ultimately one person is responsible and that is the leader; this proved true because in the end, after the staff members had completed their translations, their edits, their fact checks, ultimately it was me, the leader, who had to go through every line, every word, and verify it was as accurate in both translation and overall meaning. This version takes into account the many updates and changes and corrections made throughout the printing history of the original German version. There were passages which were made clearer, some were omitted for various reasons (if they were import ant then they are preserved in this edition, if they were unnecessary restatements the y were omitted to match the oficial version). The line by line mechanical translations of the past lack the original pa ssion that drove Hitler and swayed the emotions of the German people. The older translations, w hich were translated in a mechanical way, clearly missed the point of many passa ges in Mein Kampf . They mistranslated references, and even edited out jokes because they failed to realize Hitler was making a joke. MEIN KAMPF MEIN KAMPF 33 We had to make some decisions to generate the inal edit. One decision w as to omit the italicizing of words from the original. The italics often made no sense in re gard to the meaning. It did not always highlight important points, and was often used to highlight certain words, that when re-arranged into English, no longer should have been italicize d because they did not carry the weight of the sentence once it was translat ed. Ultimately, italicizing words created only a distraction so we did not mimic the origi nal italicizing from the German edition. Many sentences were corrected to make them understandable. A number of original sentences were in a shorthand form that is common in speaking but confusing in writ ing. When we speak, we often make assumptions about the subject of the sentence or even the verb which is perfectly clear with inlection or hand gestures or based on the si tuation. However, in writing some of these sentences, which were dictated by Hitl er, seem to make no sense. Only after careful analysis can their meaning be determined. These are some of the sentences that older translations, even the so-called unexpurgated ones, omi tted. They simply could not understand what was being said so they left it out. The older versions also included obscure historical references which are explaine d now in the Ford translation. For example when Hitler says “We will inish wha t was started 600 years ago!” what does that mean? The old translations do not say and the rea der is left confused. The Ford translation includes notes which explain such references. W ithout this clariication, modern readers would be unable to understand most of the referenc es to people and places, and many other seemingly obscure sayings which had meaning to the people of the time but are not as common today. Here is the passage from the Ford