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A review by cassieyorke
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker
5.0
Immediately dark, ominous, and gripping from the very first line. Baker tells the story of World War II entirely through little anecdotes, most of which are left out of the more popular, widespread histories. Each blurb is shrouded in shadow, promising more darkness to come, hinting at something dreadful on the horizon. He details personalities and decisions that would turn out to be pivotal, and they all end like chapters in a thriller novel. I was a history major in college and I took at least eight credit hours (or more) just on World War II, and I've read more books on the subject than I can remember, and I've still never encountered a lot of the personality and little facts that Baker weaves into his chronicle, just minor details about people or events that turned out to shape things in a huge way. I guess what I'm trying to say is - Baker examines the calamity as more psychologist than historian, and the book is huge. And obviously I don't mean in physical size - I mean in scope and emotional impact.
So much of World War II is told from the perspective of strategy, of attack and defense, of espionage and covert operations, of logistics and economy. But this is the first time I've ever (personally) read the war told from a pacifist perspective. Baker examines Churchill and Roosevelt with the same critical eye he gives to Hitler and Goehring, and tells us uncomfortable things about our heroes that most of us never knew. To Baker, all belligerent powers are partly to blame - his heroes are the Quakers and other pacifists, entirely ignored by history, who came to the aid of the Jews long before war broke out in the West. He examines the correspondence from Eleanor Roosevelt, pleading for FDR to remember certain groups of people who needed help, pleas that Roosevelt would ignore. He explores Churchill's and FDR's obsession with grand navies and naval strategy. He even highlights the antisemitic ideas of the age - not an entirely German thing, but ideas shared by the leaders of most of the Western powers as well, and even a lot of average American citizens. I think most of all, he paints World War II not as something any one person "started", but as a monster inside all of us that had been growing for a long time - one that eventually devoured our humanity.
When someone tells me they wished they knew more about World War II, they almost always say "not about the armies and bombs and stuff - more like how it impacted us as human beings". And I always tell them to read this book. Because that human perspective is critical, and Human Smoke is a critically important book for that perspective.
So much of World War II is told from the perspective of strategy, of attack and defense, of espionage and covert operations, of logistics and economy. But this is the first time I've ever (personally) read the war told from a pacifist perspective. Baker examines Churchill and Roosevelt with the same critical eye he gives to Hitler and Goehring, and tells us uncomfortable things about our heroes that most of us never knew. To Baker, all belligerent powers are partly to blame - his heroes are the Quakers and other pacifists, entirely ignored by history, who came to the aid of the Jews long before war broke out in the West. He examines the correspondence from Eleanor Roosevelt, pleading for FDR to remember certain groups of people who needed help, pleas that Roosevelt would ignore. He explores Churchill's and FDR's obsession with grand navies and naval strategy. He even highlights the antisemitic ideas of the age - not an entirely German thing, but ideas shared by the leaders of most of the Western powers as well, and even a lot of average American citizens. I think most of all, he paints World War II not as something any one person "started", but as a monster inside all of us that had been growing for a long time - one that eventually devoured our humanity.
When someone tells me they wished they knew more about World War II, they almost always say "not about the armies and bombs and stuff - more like how it impacted us as human beings". And I always tell them to read this book. Because that human perspective is critical, and Human Smoke is a critically important book for that perspective.