Another Book Review

It has been quite a while since I commented on a book, but I just finished one that needs to be talked about. Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, by Nicholson Baker was written in 2008. I am not a big fan of war stories, except for the Civil War, and really did not want to read this book when I saw what it was about. But since the book was recommended to me by someone I respect, I decided to read it.

Everyone should read this book. It has no chapters, and no continuing war stories;  just 470 pages of disparate paragraphs, each drawing us closer and closer to the war. As we get farther in time away from the horror of WWII, it is important that we not forget what happened during that awful period.

There was very little regard for human life by the leaders of some of the greatest countries of the world. To read about the killing of children locked in a room is horribly revolting, and completely unbelievable, except that it really happened. It seemed as though everyone hated everyone else.

I don't believe we were any more civil before the war. Mr. Baker calls WWII the end of civilization, but I believe we humans have always hated and killed each other, probably going all the way back to the beginning of man. It's just that now we are so advanced that we can kill each other on a huge, world-wide scale, even more so than in WWII.  There are more people, a better means of communicating the atrocities committed, and better technology/weapons to commit these atrocities. We could be on the way to eliminating the human race from the earth if we do not learn that hatred and wars only hurt mankind, and no one is ever better off afterwards.

Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  This book will help us to remember. Maybe it will help to prevent an apocalypse.