Choices Under Fire: Moral Dimensions of World War II

In Choices Under Fire, Bess pens essays about the moral issues faced in World War II. You can read these essays independently from each other. Bess discusses racism, the kamikazes, the atomic bomb, bombing civilian populations, the battle of Midway, cooperating with Stalin, the holocaust, and the war crimes trials. None of this material is new; in fact, a lot of the material is familiar to most readers interested in World War II history. What is unique about this book is that Bass explores the moral dimensions of personal, collective and national choices. Each essay starts with a view that is presented in most American World War II textbooks. Bess adds additional historical information, most of which is known but "forgotten" or rarely associated with the events being discussed. He then links this material to the moral choices made by the main actors in this situation and presents a more nuanced version of that event (for example, Japanese expansion is examined within the context of European imperialism, or the rational to bomb civilian centers, our alliance with Stalin to defeat a dictator like Hitler, and other such decisions). One may not agree with some of the perspectives presented in this book, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor grew out of Japan's searing experience of helplessness before European and American domination, or that the judgments handed down to the Nazis at Nuremberg represented rough victors' justice, rather than morally clean verdicts. However, one needs to acknowledge that there could be divergent perspectives on the same set of events. Armchair Interviews says: Very interesting perspective on WWII.

Moral issues of race, air bombings of civilians, and kamikazes are only part of the story. It's also a detailed general history of the causes and turning points of WWII. And also an exciting tale of bravery. In the Battle of Midway, I didn't know specifically about the bravery of the torpedo bomb plane pilots who chose to attack without fighter support. Because they had to go in low and slow, they were almost all wiped out and not one torpedo hit. But because the enemy Zero planes were all down low fighting the torpedo bombers, when the American dive bombers arrived at 10,000 feet, with no Zeros to stop them, they were able to sink the enemy carriers in the turning point of the Pacific. The author even quotes a novel by Herman Wouk to make it exciting. He also makes exciting the story of Taffy 3. A small U.S. sea battle group that charged the much greater enemy and protected the American retaking of the Phillipines. As for any second guessing of morality decades later, there is no easy answer. But the author gives you plenty of facts. I imagine both liberals and conservatives would find much to help their arguments. To either, I can't recommend this enough.

Reading this book forced me to fundamentally assess the choices I make in my own life. I know that the purpose of the book is to reflect on the choices of others during WWII, but I could not, as I read the stories of the polish soldiers who volunteered to kill Jews, or the french citizens who risked their lives to save them, or the discussions that lead to the very deceptive term "collateral damage", separate my own questions about what I would choose. As we face the on-going war in Iraq, these questions take on even deeper meaning. One cannot walk away from this book without an understanding that everyday we make moral choices that shape the way we will interact with the world, when the chips are down. We must confront our own humanity, our own flaws even during "righteous wars" and realize that each of us define the image of oour society and that the choices we make really do matter. Most importantly, the author makes the most compelling argument for peace and cooperation that I have ever read. This book will leave you deep in though about yourself and your country and the choices we make for some time. I think it is one of the best books I have ever read.

Understanding history allows to explain the present A candidate in the French presidential elections(Mr. Le Pen) recently compared the 9/11 attacks on the United States to the carpet bombing of Dresden and Marseille by the Anglo-American air forces during the WW II . It is not an isolated case of an abusive employment of historical facts for political manipulation. There is no other defense against such manipulation than knowing and understanding history. Michael Bess' book is a milestone in our knowledge of the WW II which, despite its ambiguities, was a just war fought against an evil tyranny. Approaching the history of that war from an unfrequented avenue, the author brilliantly defends upholding of moral principles and imperatives in the course of war, irrespectively of how evil and monstrous our enemy is. He exposes a tremendous impact of the choices made under fire, be it by the Commander in Chief or by a foot soldier on the results of the struggle and on its perception decades after. Ultimately, keeping our hands clean is not only a moral but also a political imperative. On the background of an impressive and vast panorama of WW II Bess exposes diverging perceptions between and within the major participating countries of the legacy of that war and asks Did we learn anything?" Certainly he is among those who did. Making a strong case for a need to follow the internationalist impulse in relations between countries and for the reconciliation between former enemies he articulates lessons which are far from a universal recognition but absorbed by many already. I read the book from a multiple perspective of a veteran of WW II (fighting the Germans in Warsaw,Poland), a prisoner in a German P.O.W. camp, a former UN staff member and peacekeeper, and a resident of Germany now. In a rewarding experience I found myself in a full accord with the author's incisive insight into the neglected aspects of that titanic struggle and with his conclusions. It is definitely the most important book about the WW II I ever read and I recommend it to everyone interested in explaining our present by understanding the past. It reads well and leaves you with a rich plate of food for thought.

The subtitle "Moral Dimensions of World War II" almost says it all about this unique moral analysis of the conduct of both the Axis and Allies in World War two. What the subtitle does not say is how fair and even handed this book is. The author Michael Bess can rightfully praise American airmen in Midway as an example of how moral character effects the course of a battle. He writes: "We rightly cherish the memory of their deed, not just because it resulted in a pivotal victory, but because of what is says, more broadly, about the society that produces such men as these." Make no mistake, however, this is no flag waiving book claiming America and her allies were God's chosen instrument -- far from it. Indeed, the author concludes quite strongly in his treatment of allied bombing of civilians that it was (as McNamara admitted in "The Fog of War") a war atrocity and "the single greatest moral failure of the Anglo-American war effort." Without in anyway lessening the evil of Germany or Japan in WW II or claiming any moral equivalence between the opposing sides, the author points out that American and British hands were not clean in WW II -- even if they were not as filthy as our opponents. That is what is so enjoyable about this thought provoking book: it can praise what we did right (such as the courage of D-Day in Europe and TAFFY 3 during the return to the Philippines) and objectively identify what we did wrong(fire bombing civilians and internment of Japanese Americans), while at the same time helping us understand that the horrific brutality of our enemies was not the result of flaws only they somehow had -- all without excusing either us or them. A wonderful mix of history, sociology and moral philosophy. I've never read anything like it.