A review by shnuggs
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker

4.0

This is not light reading. Nicholson Baker immersed himself in the current media leading up to World War II and presents a book that reminds us that the here and now is so different from the history that is written after the fact. Baker provides little snippets from newspaper articles, journal entries, radio programs, and other ephemera from 1939-1941, providing a different perspective on how Germany, England and the US entered into war. Certainly the main tenet of the book is there is no "good war". Everyone comes off looking like a warmonger, particularly Winston Churchill. (He essentially starved Western Europe - no humanitarian aid was allowed past his naval blockades.) Despite the mythology of the US not looking to engage in war until Pearl Harbor happened, it was clear that Roosevelt was preparing for it for many years in advance of that event. Baker shines a bright light on pacifist efforts, stuff that generally gets swept under the rug in narratives about WWII. I felt I learned a lot from this book and it definitely gives me a new perspective on current events - sigh.