Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Nonfiction
  3. History

Read and listen for free for 42 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
0.0(0)

Human Smoke : The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization

At a time when the West seems ever more eager to call on military aggression as a means of securing international peace, Nicholson Baker's provocative narrative exploring the political misjudgements and personal biases that gave birth to the terrifying consequences of the Second World War could not be more pertinent.

With original and controversial insights brought about by meticulous research, Human Smokere-evaluates the political turning points that led up to war and in so doing challenges some of the treasured myths we hold about how war came about and how atrocities like the Holocaust were able to happen. Baker reminds us, for instance, not to forget that it was thanks in great part to Churchill and England that Mussolini ascended to power so quickly, and that, before leading the United States against Nazi Germany, a young FDR spent much of his time lobbying for a restriction in the number of Jews admitted to Harvard. Conversely, Human Smokealsoreminds us of those who had the foresight to anticipate the coming bloodshed and the courage to oppose the tide of history, as Gandhi demonstrated when he made his symbolic walk to the ocean -- for which he was immediately imprisoned by the British.

Praised by critics and readers alike for his gifted writing and exquisitely observant eye, Baker offers a combination of sweeping narrative history and a series of finely delineated vignettes of the individuals and moments that shaped history that is guaranteed to spark new dialogue on the subject.


Author:

  • Nicholson Baker

Format:

  • E-book

Duration:

  • 460 pages

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Nonfiction
  • History

More by Nicholson Baker

Skip the list
  1. House of Holes

    Nicholson Baker

    book
  2. La entreplanta

    Nicholson Baker

    book
  3. The Anthologist: A Novel

    Nicholson Baker

    book
  4. Substitute

    Nicholson Baker

    audiobook
  5. Traveling Sprinkler

    Nicholson Baker

    audiobook
  6. The Way the World Works : Essays

    Nicholson Baker

    book
  7. Human Smoke

    Nicholson Baker

    audiobook

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. The Missing : The True Story of My Family in World War II

    Michael Rosen

    audiobook
  2. The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

    Denise Kiernan

    book
  3. Jambusters : The remarkable story which has inspired the ITV drama Home Fires

    Julie Summers

    book
  4. The Diary Keepers: World War II in the Netherlands, as Written by the People Who Lived Through It

    audiobook
  5. Two Americans

    William Lee Miller

    audiobook
  6. The Princess Spy : The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones

    Larry Loftis

    audiobookbook
  7. Evidence Not Seen : A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II

    Darlene Deibler Rose

    audiobook
  8. Valiant Women : The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II

    Lena S. Andrews

    audiobook
  9. The Last Goodnight : A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal

    Howard Blum

    audiobook
  10. The Red Line : The Gripping Story of the RAF’s Bloodiest Raid on Hitler’s Germany

    John Nichol

    audiobook
  11. The Lives of Lee Miller : Now a Major Motion Picture starring Kate Winslet

    Antony Penrose

    audiobook
  12. Hitler's Children

    Gerald Posner

    audiobook

  • 8 books

    Nicholson Baker

    Nicholson Baker is the author of nine novels and four works of nonfiction, including Double Fold, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award, and House of Holes, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, and The New York Review of Books. He lives in Maine with his family.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5