Synopsis
When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, to reclaim the land they 'lost' after World War One, many feared that Britain would not honour her many pledges of support to Poland. Britain stood alone. France feared a major war, and would not help. The USA were not prepared to get involved. Suddenly Adolf Hitler, with whom Prime Minister Chamberlain had negotiated 'peace in our time', and whom the Defence Secretary had called 'most sincere', was revealed for what he was. Within six months of declaring war, Britain faced massive loss and possible surrender. By May 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was being asked to approve plans to evacuate the Government, Royal Family and the Bank of England's gold to Canada. Some 200,000 British troops stood on the beaches of Dunkirk, unable to get home, while Churchill bartered with the Americans to send destroyers to help rescue them. In the previous six months, children had been evacuated from London and cities; men had been called up and mobilised; and women had gone to work in munitions factory to do men's jobs for the ? rst time. People knew their lives would never be the same again.Amidst all this, propaganda was rife. Propaganda works best when the enemy is diminished and portrayed as a manageable entity, certain to be defeated. Much of the German propaganda was sinister, especially its portrayal of its Jewish citizens. American propaganda was cautionary and dark. British propaganda, on the other hand, was based on the premise that the righteous should prevail and that those in the wrong be they errant schoolboys, bullies, or robbers, or even wartime leaders should always fail. Rubbishing the enemy, assassinating nasty characters with humorous methods, these were techniques people learned from comics and Britain was expert in this area.Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf ('My Struggle'), was written while Hitler was in Landsberg Prison and published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926. R F Patterson said of it: Mein Kampf had neither rhyme nor reason, while my abridgement undoubtedly has rhyme. So enter R F Paterson and Heath Robinson's Mein Rant which we reproduce in this book with a new introduction by leading comic archivist, Morris Heggie.This clever and funny satire of Hitler's Mein Kampf is illustrated by Heath Robinson. Today, and since World War One, Heath Robinson's name has been used to describe absurdly complicated inventions that achieved very simple results. Here his work is used to great impact.'A conversion of Hitler's Mein Kampf to a delightful and pungent verse-satire. The result is an absolute triumph of the Comic Muse over intractable, almost hopeless material.'
About the Author
R F Paterson was born in Glasgow and worked as an editor. Heath Robinson illustrated many children's books in the 1930s and became famous for his absurdly complex illustrations of machines and inventions that performed simple tasks.
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