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Quote by Nicholson Baker

“I am closer to the pacifist side, in that I think that the British response to German aggression, which was to try to starve the Continent into a state of revolt and to terrorize German civilians with bombing raids, was part of the total catastrophe.”

Quote by Nicholson Baker

Author

Nicholson Baker

Nicholson Baker is an American writer known for his profound insights into everyday life and his unique perspective on historical events. His works, which span across novels, non-fiction, and poetry, often depict characters' psychological states and social backgrounds with a delicate touch. more

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“In fact, you could make the argument that a historian like Shlomo Aronson does in passing in one of his books, that the bombing campaign united the German nation behind Hitler, and actually contributed to the sustaining of his power.”

Doe Book Facts Nations United Behinds Argument Campaigns Passing Passings Historian Bombing Sustaining

Author:Nicholson Baker

“I did not know that the planning for biological and chemical warfare was so widespread in England, and even in France before France fell. It was news to me that there had been talk, even in the First World War, of dropping Colorado beetles on German potato crops and that kind of thing.”

Knows World Firsts Kind War News England Planning France War Of The Worlds Chemicals Warfare Potatoes Dropping Crops Colorado First World War Beetles Chemical Warfare

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“It's troubling to see how often Winston Churchill is a proponent of massive programs that are really aimed at civilians - starvation blockades and chemical warfare stockpiles and so on.”

Program Massive Chemicals Warfare Civilians Starvation Blockades Chemical Warfare

Author:Nicholson Baker

“History isn't a seesaw. If you have a really bad regime on one side, the actions on the other side don't automatically become good. It doesn't work that way.”

Ifs Way Action Sides Regimes Seesaw

Author:Nicholson Baker

“What's somewhat puzzling is that Churchill himself knew what the reaction would be to any sort of aerial attack on cities, because in 1938 he said that in a future war British cities would be attacked by bombing, and that the response would be that all men would want to join the fight because they would be so incensed by this cowardly manner of attack. Which is a very natural response: when something drops on you from the air and blows up a bunch of buildings and kills people in their sleep, the reaction is going to be rage, confusion, and a search for something to destroy in retaliation.”

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Author:Nicholson Baker

“Of course, individuals are responsible for individual actions - the pilots who flew over Pearl Harbor and dropped bombs on those ships did a terrible thing as part of an attack on a military base.”

Action Courses Individual Military Terrible Responsible Ships Bombs Pilots Pearls Terrible Things Harbors Flew

Author:Nicholson Baker

“Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.”

Inspirational Sports Confidence Skills Army Self Confidence Have Confidence

Book:The works of George Herbert. containing Parentalia, the 2nd copy wanting the 1st sheet of vol.2].

Source: The works of George Herbert. containing Parentalia, the 2nd copy wanting the 1st sheet of vol.2].

“There was a lot of maneuvering on the part of the Roosevelt administration to get the stars aligned so that that attack would happen. There's just no question about that; you don't even have to look at the decoding of diplomatic cables or anything else. FDR's own admiral thought it was a bad idea to have the fleet confined in one place way out in the middle of the Pacific.”

Way Looks Ideas Happens Stars Middle Administration Confined Cables Pacific Bad Ideas Diplomatic Admiral

Author:Nicholson Baker

“The equivocations, the confusions, the contradictions. There's no way we can live through or comprehend something so big that happened so long ago. We've lost true history. But if we are willing to tolerate the contradictions, and if we suffer through events rather than ticking them off, we may at least get closer to understanding what happened than if we grip the handrail of a carefully polished and reassuringly heroic narrative.”

Ifs Way May Long Bigs Suffering Lost Understanding Happened Events Willing Confusion Narrative Contradiction Heroic Tolerate Long Ago Polished

Author:Nicholson Baker

“Churchill was a brilliant and inspiring rhetorician, but one of the first things he did as the head of the British nation was to put German Jews in jail. Tens of thousands of Jews - who had just been fortunate enough to get out from under Hitler only a few years before - spent the entire war in jail.”

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Author:Nicholson Baker