What is the greatest misconception that people have about the 20th century?
That a kind of “long peace” set in after 1953 because there was no direct conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In reality, what happened was that war was relocated to new theaters: Central America, South-East Asia. The Cold War was anything but cold. Q: What backlash have you gotten from your view that the war was a “tainted victory” from those who see it in terms of black and white, or good vs. evil? A: I think it’s very hard for those who have imbibed the idea of a “great generation” that what the Allies did to defeat the Axis was in some measure to adopt totalitarian tactics. Make no mistake: It took huge courage to fly bombers over Germany. It was one of the most dangerous occupations in World War II. But the aim of strategic bombing was, as I show, in large measure to kill German civilians by destroying the most densely populated parts of the country. And it only really worked when the level of destruction reached apocalyptic levels. It behooves us all to stare this rea
