That’s the question asked by Nicholson Baker in his book Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization. Anne Applebaum is not impressed and eviscerates Baker’s book over at The New Republic.
To understand Human Smoke properly, one needs to read Gawker, Wikipedia, and above all The Da Vinci Code.
Ouch.
The entire article is worth reading. Actually, as far as I can tell everything Applebaum has ever written is worth reading.
