Human Smoke

If I could propose an alternative title for this book it'd have to be DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. Human Smoke is a masterpiece of presenting facts in a way that makes it almost inevitable for you to agree with the author (and he states his intention quite clearly in the afterword).

The whole book is a collection of factual snippets — letters, speeches, recorded conversations, missives, but mostly news — arranged in a hugely meaningful way. One might call it manipulative but honestly, if you have ever read an editorial or watched a particularly hard-hitting interview, you know when you're being led. This book will not brainwash anyone into pacifism. Though the author pushes the antiwar/quaker movement super-hard in the Human Smoke, it's in no way a foolproof argument, and I still have questions like: what exactly would've been the pacifists' solution to the Shoah and the annexation of Eastern Europe? Their actions seemed to consist of praying, signing petitions and refusing draft. Gandhi is extensively quoted, only his thoughts and speeches on non-violence are presented side by side with the Allies' politicians delighting in air raids on civilians (which makes him sound very reasonable), when they should've been presented against descriptions of the Warsaw ghetto and the first mass murders of Jews (try being a cheerleader for Gandhi and his talk on leaning into your oppression when your oppressor is calmly project-managing your annihilation).

There's plenty here on the horrors of war of attrition and the blood-chillingly asinine warmongering on all sides (Churchill was such a dick!) but I for one came out of this book unconvinced by the pacifist argument (then again I'm Polish, so good luck trying to convince me that a truce with Hitler would've been just fine because hey, cathedrals!) if not even more any-means-necessary minded than I already was.

But even though I might disagree with the central thesis of the Human Smoke, I found it incredibly moving. Would never have expected to find this method of writing about war to be more emotionally affecting than the usual human-interest-story but to me at least it was. There's a real feeling of witnessing the buildup of events and the chaos that ensued in a very unfiltered way — it's like watching a feed that shows you all the missed chances for peace. Heartbreaking stuff.

There is a widely accepted philosophy that says history is written by the victor. I've always believed this to be true; naturally this has made me curious about some of the more time-honored events of the past. Specifically, I was quite curious about World War II: a world of liberation and salvation? a war of just causes? a war of good versus evil? Nicholson Baker addresses the war in Human Smoke and provides his reader with answers to some of these questions.

From the onset of this work, it is clear Baker's concern is presenting the facts in the simplest, most consolidated fashion possible: there's the fact, the basic details of the fact, followed by the date. It's rather monotonous and, at nearly 500 pages, a chore for those less than interested. My initial reaction was that Baker should've taken this material and made it into a very readable story. I assumed the reason he didn't elect to utilize the narrative was simply because he didn't know how to. We can't all craft entertaining stories. Except I then found out that Baker is a storyteller, a writer with seven highly regarded novels behind him. Change of theory: either Baker lost interest in the project, decided it best to just compile all his notes and print them as they were; or the stripped-down style was intentional.

Largely, Human Smoke focuses on 1940 and 1941. In fact, the book ends in ‘41, years before the Battle of the Bulge, the firebombing of Tokyo, the fall of Germany, and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Baker crams quite a few facts into the years between WWI and 1941, but a few stood out to me. Here I list them as I interpreted them:

-Churchill was power hungry and a warmonger. His aim from the beginning was total victory and he was willing to win a war by any means necessary. Before becoming an all-out war, the conflict might have been resolved, but Churchill was unwilling to even consider such avenues. He was often quoted saying, in regards to wiping out Germany's civilian population, “duty must come before pleasure.”

-England made many attacks on German civilian populations before Germany finally retaliated with its pounding of London and other British cities.

-British forces attacked French ships, killing many, upon refusal to join the British fleet. Although there was a fear the ships would fall under the control of the invading Germans, ultimatums and alternatives were not properly presented to the French during the tensions to allow a different course.

-Early in the war, England, France, and the US denied humanitarian services to Jews and other victims of the war. This continued throughout the war. In fact, no nation, with the exception of the Dominican Republic, was willing to take the influx of Jewish refugees; no nation willing to assist politically with humanitarian efforts. The few humanitarians efforts made were done so by private groups working around government censure of such actions.

-The US had been planning war with Japan years before Pearl Harbor. Not only had they been instigating the Japanese, but they'd been spying on Japanese cities, planning aerial attacks, and building up forces in anticipation of an eventual attack. Ally leaders in both the United States and Europe celebrated the attack of Pearl Harbor as it meant the States' hands were no longer tied, and they could enter the war with the blessing of the people.

Human Smoke

Incredible, moving book that expands the story of WWII to include those who tried to prevent the war. Should be required reading for any course on WWII.

A brief take from my blog Near Earth Object:

I've just read Nicholson Baker's take on the first years of World War II, Human Smoke, and it is certainly unsettling. But I have come across a couple of reactions to the book of late that complain that Baker is trying to convince the reader that WWII was a bad war that should never have been fought, and that Churchill and Roosevelt were as bad as Hitler. This leads to a pretty much categorical dismissal of the entire work. Here's a bit from the New York Times review:

Muddled and often infuriating, “Human Smoke” sounds its single, solemn note incessantly, like a mallet striking a kettle drum over and over. War is bad. Churchill was bad. Roosevelt was bad. Hitler was bad too, but maybe, in the end, no worse than Roosevelt and Churchill. Jeannette Rankin, a Republican congresswoman from Montana, was good, because she cast the lone vote opposing a declaration of war against Japan. It was Dec. 8, 1941.

[ . . . :]

Almost unbelievably, Baker includes multiple instances in which Churchill and Roosevelt rejected the idea of negotiating with Hitler. Although he offers no commentary on the matter, the reader is forced to draw the conclusion that negotiation was a sensible idea cavalierly tossed aside by leaders who preferred war to peace.