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A review by sarahjsnider
Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker
5.0
One of the author's goals was to determine if World War II was a "good war" or not. It seems clear to me that it was not, based on his testimony, most of it taken from primary accounts. But did WWII help the people it was attempting to help? That is a bit less clear. Clearly, there is a lot more that could have been done.
For the most part, this book is useful for dispelling myths and humanizing heroes. Churchill seems erratic, Roosevelt is openly anti-Semitic and a bit cavalier. And we can let go of the notion that the Pearl Harbor attack was unprovoked, or the theory that nobody in the US knew about the atrocities against Jews, the mentally ill, etc. in Nazi Germany until later. Just as we know about the atrocities taking place in modern-day US. A child could draw comparisons between those times and our own. That was the hardest part about reading this.
For the most part, this book is useful for dispelling myths and humanizing heroes. Churchill seems erratic, Roosevelt is openly anti-Semitic and a bit cavalier. And we can let go of the notion that the Pearl Harbor attack was unprovoked, or the theory that nobody in the US knew about the atrocities against Jews, the mentally ill, etc. in Nazi Germany until later. Just as we know about the atrocities taking place in modern-day US. A child could draw comparisons between those times and our own. That was the hardest part about reading this.