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Choices Under Fire by Michael Bess
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Choices Under Fire

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Choices Under Fire by Michael Bess
Paperback $18.00
Mar 11, 2008 | ISBN 9780307275806

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    Mar 11, 2008 | ISBN 9780307275806

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Praise

“Wise, judicious, eloquent.” —Geoffrey Ward“A stunning and brilliantly written case for using history as a filter to examine the great traumas of our more recent past, adding a moral compass to see the true roots of war and violence in our time.” —Rocky Mountain News“Meticulous, unsparing, and a brilliant case study in the complexity -but also the necessity–of coming to moral judgments even in a time of “total war.” —Sanford Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, San Diego“A tough-minded, courageous, ultimately optimistic book, sure to spark debate among readers interested in the history of warfare and the future of our planet.” —The Tennessean

Table Of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Evaluating the Second World War: Celebration, Doubt, and Complexity

PART ONE: Fomenting War

1. A Wide World of Racisms
2. Causes of the Pacific War: A Longer View on Pearl Harbor
3. Causes of the War in Europe: The Paradoxical Legacy of Munich

PART TWO: Making War

4. Bystanders: How Much Is Not Enough?
5. Bombing Civilian Populations: A Case of Moral Slippage
6. Deep Evil and Deep Good: The Concept of Human Nature Confronts the Holocaust
7. Decisions at Midway, 1942: Moral Character As a Factor in Battle
8. Tyranny Triumphant: The Moral Awkwardness of the Alliance with Stalin
9. Kamikaze: Wartime Suicide Attackss in Anthropological Perspective
10. The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Twelve Questions

PART THREE: Long Term Consequences of the War

11. Justice for the Unspeakable?: The Enduring Legacy of the War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo
12. Generations Under a Shadow: The Challenges of Peace Since Hiroshima
13. The Politics of Memory: Remembering and Unremembering Wartime

Conclusion: What Would Be the Opposite of Hitler’s World?

Notes
Bibliography
Index

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