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	• The Portable Nietzsche (Viking Portable Library) Friedrich Nietzsche Penguin Books, 1977 - 704 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Another reviewer ... found it necessary to fault Kaufmann for overemphasizing "those bits which show Nietz. At his most un-Nazi-ish." It's true that Kaufmann takes this approach, however it's not really a fault considering the circumstances of the book's first appearance. This collection was introduced within a decade of the end of World War II. At that time, Nietzsche's reputation in America was badly in need of rehabilitation, having suffered from the taint of Nazi appropriation. In fact, because of the paucity of good translations and informed commentary prior to Kaufmann, Nietzsche was never really habilitated in the first place in the English speaking world. From this perspective, Wilson's criticism appears to be misplaced.

My second point is directed at Nietzsche neophytes. Just about everyone is familiar with the handful of pithy Nietzsche quotes that have found their way into the popular consciousness: "God is dead," and "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" come to mind. I even saw an anarchist website one time that exhorted viewers to mine Nietzsche's books for "cool quotes"! (N. must be rolling in his grave ? again!). The point to be made here is that, like the Bible, Nietzsche's work can be quoted to support just about any point of view on any topic ? such is the breadth of his thought. But very few of these snippets carry their intended meaning unless they are read in context ? not just the context of an individual work, but the context of Nietzsche's oeuvre. Nietzsche took on the tough issues and came at them from all angles; and yes, sometimes he radically changed his mind. Thus, it's easy to accuse him of contradicting himself until one realizes the method to the madness ? namely, Nietzsche leaves no stone unturned in his quest for truth. This volume is particularly good at making all of this clear.

A final note: Nietzsche will uproot your most cherished prejudices, throw them on a vivisection table and tear into them without anesthesia. Small minds beware!

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Great work tainted by biased editing

This is a great compendium of Nietzsche's thoughts arranged chronologically by date written. I would have rather of had more Beyond Good and Evil and less Contra Wagner but that's my own preference. Those who admire Nietzsche find themselves in a bit of a quandry these days and this leads to the reason why I only gave the book three stars. The PC crowds will wail and moan that Nietzsche is fascist and a proto-Nazi. Of course he is not (his Overman was not a product of genetic breeding but of intellectual enlightenment), but those who admire Nietzsche still feel the need to defend him to the masses. A survey of Nietz. should be just that, a survey of his thoughts and writings. However what Kaufmann has done, in many of the excerpted works and in Nietz's letters, is to select those bits which show Nietz. at his most un-Nazi-ish (cursing and berating anti-Semites, etc.). That's fine for a work designed to show that he was not a proto-Hitler, but the Portable Niezsche is not that work and should not be edited to prove a point. Nietzsche did criticize the Jews in ways that would brand him an anti-Semite today even though he also says that anti-Semites should be shot. However when he says anti-Semites, he means Christians who hate Jews because of Scripture and not those who, like him (he deems their faith megalomaniacal in The AntiChrist), would otherwise criticize them for whatever reasons. I would agree with Kaufmann that Nietzsche is not a proto-Nazi but neither is he a good egalitarian and the only times he ever speaks of equality is to scorn it as a false and dangerous notion. Nietzsche is not so easily defined and I would wish him better left to the thoughtful reader rather than the hopeful editor to discover.

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Not Too Bad........

I am not a Nietzsche fan, but this was required for my philosophy class (which, in turn, was a graduation requirement). This book is really good because it presents a wide selection of Nietzsche's works from "The Antichrist", "Ecce Homo", "Twilight of the Idols", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" as well as various notes and letters that he wrote. I took one star away from my rating simply because this is Nietzsche and he can be somewhat difficult to understand. All that aside, even though I am not crazy about Nietzsche, this is really interesting reading (if you can understand it) and worth an effort if the subject content of philosophy interests you.

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