Some people complain that the Second World War still exerts a dominating influence nearly seven decades after its end, as the disproportionate number of books, plays and films shows, while museums continue to spawn a remembrance industry. This phenomenon should hardly be surprising, if only because the nature of evil seems to provide an endless fascination. Moral choice is the fundamental element in human drama, because it lies in the very heart of humanity itself.

No other period in history offers so rich a source for the study of dilemmas, individual and mass tragedy, the corruption of power politics, ideological hypocrisy, the egomania of commanders, betrayal, perversity, self-sacrifice, unbelievable sadism and unpredictable compassion.

--Antony Beevor, The Second World War (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), page 782 [my emphasis]

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • History • * Theology • Anthropology • Theodicy

1. Ad Orientem wrote: World War II is more interesting. But the First World War is by far the more important conflict. It fundamentally shaped the course of world history as no event has since the Protestant Reformation.. June 5, 6:24 pm | [comment link]

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