The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
theatlantic.com
The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
1–10 of 172 posts
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#2Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#3The willingness of societies to sanitize the realities of war is easily understood in evolutionary terms: genes that build brains that are willing to suspend disbelief and engage in violence reproduce better than genes that build brains that are not willing to do so because the former can use a credible threat of violence to exploit the latter as resources. The sad fact of the matter is that the answer to Rodney King's famous rhetorical question is that no, we can't all just get along, because we live on a finite planet with finite resources, and at the end of the day it is Darwin who runs the show, not Jesus. (Which is, ironically, a big part of the reason that belief in Jesus is so persistent and pervasive.)
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#4I can strongly recommend Fussel's (the author of this essay) book "The Boys' Crusade", which provides a very eye opening account to WWII. It is most likely a longer version of this essay (I haven't read this essay).
I can also recommend his book Poetic Meter & Poetic Form, but for different reasons.
Other books in the same vein:
- The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle by J Glenn Gray (Gray was a philosophy PhD and a 2nd Lieutenant in the war)
- War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges (Hedges was a war correspondent during the balkans and numerous other conflicts, this is much more interested in the psychological build up to war in common society, and its effects on society)
These books make me very pessimistic about human nature, but Nicholas Wade's Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors provides a nice antidote: the total number of people killed by warfare in the 20th Century, if we followed similar patterns to our prehistoric ancestors, would have dwarfed what actually happened. We are becoming less warlike, even if its not cured.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#5I didn't fight in WW2 obviously, but I did fight in a war. For me, the reticence to describe every detail to people who weren't there boils down to this: I don't want my wife, my children, or my neighbors to be burdened with thinking of something so horrible. I want them to be happy and safe, that's why I went. No need to bring it to their doorstep if I don't have to.
I suspect many during and after WW2 felt this way.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#6I can strongly recommend Fussel's (the author of this essay) book "The Boys' Crusade", which provides a very eye opening account to WWII. It is most likely a longer version of this essay (I haven't read this essay). I can also recommend his book Poetic Meter & Poetic Form, but for different reasons. Other books in the same vein: - The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle by J Glenn Gray (Gray was a philosophy PhD a…
I read the Chris Hedges book when it came out and it's left a lasting impression on me. I think it got rid of any academic notions of war I may have had. One part that I'll always remember was him saying the war criminals were the pundits on TV leading up to and during the Bulkan war, they held much guilt in leading the masses to the terrible outcomes. The other counter intuitive insight it gives is how wars have this strange effect on some people where they can relinquish their day-to-day worries/anxiety/failings and instead can find some kind of strange peace or even thrive in a more black/white just-survive reset of society. I should probably read it again.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#7Old soldiers rarely want to talk about what they've experienced. My father was horrified by my proposal to interview him on video about his WWII career.
And when they ask us
And they're certainly going to ask us
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre
Oh we'll never tell them
No we'll never tell them.
There was a front, but damned if we knew where.
[WWI soldier's song, based on a popular song of the time]
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#8"They knew that in its representation to the laity, what was happening to them was systematically sanitized and Norman Rockwellized, not to mention Disneyfied."
The author seems to have little understanding of how much this was true of World War 1, or probably every large scale war ever. The home audiences for news reports in World War 1 (in pretty much every country) were not allowed to know how FUBB'd things were, and it was only after the war ended and troops went back home that the word partially got out. There were governments that did not let troops go on home leave for long periods because they didn't want them talking to the civilian population.
I don't think this was something unique about World War 2.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#9This meditation on World War II and memory is probably my favorite essay ever:
"Losing the War" by Lee Sandlin
https://www.leesandlin.com/articles/LosingTheWar.htm
Sandlin refers to Fussell's writings on the war too. It's long, but every time I look it up I end up re-reading all of it.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#10The author was a veteran of WW2.
In 1989 he was 65.
He died in 2012, aged 88.