When Adolf Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ (My Struggle) in a prison cell in 1923 after he was jailed for a failed coup, it is quite certain that he had little or no inkling that people would be reading it over 90 years later.

And not just some people. A lot of people. The anti-semitic manifesto has just burst into the top 20 on the iTunes Politics & Events chart, alongside Sarah Palin’s books.

But why?

Boston-based journalist Chris Faraone has written a fascinating essay which argues that ebooks provide the perfect format for reading controversial material.

He argues that ‘Mein Kampf’ could follow a similar trend to that of smutty romance novels. Basically, customers wouldn’t want ‘Mein Kampf’ to be seen on their shelves – and they wouldn’t want to be seen reading them.

Digital versions, however, avoid this problem. Faraone says this is the case because digital copies “can be quietly perused then dropped into a folder or deleted.”

Seems legit.

[Source : Time]