Hitler And Abductive Logic

Was Hitler rational? This question has spawned vociferous debates among historians, and has fascinated every layman who has ever dipped into a biography of Hitler. In Hitler and Abductive Logic, Ben Novak argues that Hitler was rational-one of the most logical political leaders of modern times-but not according to ordinary inductive or deductive logic.

Instead, Hitler used a new form of logic called abductive logic, which he used as a trick to seduce crowds and rise to power. Now, for the first time, the method that Hitler employed is revealed so that it can be recognized and combated. Review: Hitler and Abductive Logic: The Strategy of a Tyrant is thought-provoking and extremely creative, exploring aspects and influences of Hitler's formative years that other biographers and historians have not examined to the same degree of detail.

The application of the logic of abduction to Hitler's mental development is fascinating, and clearly no other author has tried to apply Peirce's description to Hitler in such a way. -- Beth A. Griech-Polelle, Bowling Green State University The amount of literature on Adolf Hitler is astounding. And yet, as Ben Novak demonstrates, historians still have not fully explained how this ill-educated and irrational provincial Austrian actually rose to power in Germany.

This work uses the concept of abductive logic both as a means of investigating the mystery of Hitler's rise to power and as a way to understand the mind and character of Hitler. Novak's book, written in an engaging narrative style, offers a compelling argument for a new approach to the mystery of Hitler's rise to power. -- Jackson Spielvogel, Pennsylvania State University