The Outlaws

This autobiographical novel is the best German novel I’ve ever read. The first part is about the Freikorps wars against the Bolsheviks in the Baltic countries, the second part is about the author’s role as a founding member of an underground nationalist gang in early Weimar Germany, and the third part is about his time in prison as an accomplice to the assassination of a liberal foreign minister. It’s all based on the author’s life.Ernst von Salomon’s narrator, based on himself, changes the tone of his nationalism from conservative to revolutionary as he and his Freikorps comrades’ activities become more and more illegal. He argues that their war is not just a conservative backlash against communism, but a revolution in its own right. In many ways, Salomon is right about that. There is more than one kind of revolution. With the Freikorps wars, the Bismarckian marriage of nationalism with law and order conservatism gave way to a key feature of 1920s European nationalism: The attitude that a real nationalist is not afraid to break the law. In the second part of the book, Salomon takes this attitude to the extreme as he returns home. The third part is about the unpleasant consequences, and his being man enough to face them.Salomon was a man of his time, but he and his comrades were also ahead of their time. The future lies in war beyond the state and the law. This is shown by Carl Schmitt in his theory of the partisan, or by the Israeli theory of the "fourth generation" of modern warfare. The modern Hobbesian-Westphalian state that came out of the 17th century is dying, if not dead already. Armies, however, are not dead and can never die. For a future marked by the death of the state without the death of armies, Salomon's memoir of the Freikorps wars and his subsequent illegal activities is in many ways prophetic.

It was a rainy day and there is a small water stain on one corner. It is not large and does not interfere with the text, but a waterproof package would have solved the problem.

It took me a while to decide to buy this book because it is a bit pricey but it was so worth it. It’s quite possibly my new favorite book. Ernst von Salomon tells his life as a young patriot angry at the aftermath of the First World War and the great changes in political and cultural life that followed. Salomon tells vivid and enthralling tales of how he stood up against the spartacist recolutionaries, fought with the freikorps, organized right wing political movements, and pushed back against great change. You will laugh, at some parts you should probably cry, and you will certainly learn a lot about an often overlooked time in German history. Although it is listed as “historical fiction” it is actually all real, Ernst von Salomon simply presented it as fiction to save him from being put back in jail or prosecuted. You can verify this by researching the people, events, and details.

A curiosity about an esoteric spot in history led me to a book strangely relevant to the present. The author was a radicalized youth who joined the private armies of the power vacuum of 1920's Germany. Crossing borders, smuggling arms, and raising money for his terrorist group, this youth was a true believer in his cause and charismatic leader. His violent journey was halted by prison time, but not re-directed. The autobiography ends before what one senses the author felt ultimately redeemed by: the ascendance of the Nazi party. Chilling in light of today's struggle against a new anarchic, metastasized, philosophy of terror among German-born Moslems, this book offers unsettling insight into the minds of men at war with peace. For the student of history it is also an education on why a nation could crave security over liberty, and how Germany could see Hitler as the solution to 20 years of war and terrorism. The ultimate and unintended lesson of this fascinating story: there can be no accommodation with the inebriates of violence, for they despise the freedoms that enable them.

The history behind the rise of the Nazis that you did not learn about in school. Relevant today because around the globe there are unemployed armies of young men searching for a cause. Written as fiction but undoubtedly largely autobiographical. A page turner.

An almost unbelievable account of a young German soldier's return to the Germany that lost the First World War. In his and his comrades' hearts and minds, they have not lost. They are just facing new threats and enemies. Their holy mission is to fight and kill everything they feel threaten the ideals that have been inseminated in them by their commanders during the war. They see communists and social democrats and liberal politicians as deadly enemies and treat them as such. It is a true story. It helps explain how Adolf Hitler's perverted ideas could catch os a they did.

Bought for Husband and he said it was outstanding history enjoyed it very much.

Much better now

Whilst their leaders have sold out for pennies!A most fascinating book on the overall collapse of society and the effect it has on men returning from the war, resisting Bolshevik agitation in both Germany and the Baltics with an indifferent and degenerate political class. The Friekorps never gave up for the fatherland and in many ways kept the red threat in check.A Similar situation is arising today in the West and the parallels are present in our media, schools, politics etcFor some reason, the back cover relates to a different book!

Top notch book written by a Freikorps member during the end of the first World War and the chaos that followed into the twenties

another good book very in ineresting

At least in Canada, the price tag was hefty and I was hesitant to submit the order. I have not read through it yet but the quality of the pages, print and binding are excellent. I am happy with the production quality even for a paperback, excited to read it.