Sven Lindqvist (1932–2019)

Having previously read Swedish author Sven Lindqvist's excellent and haunting travel/history book Exterminate All the Brutes, I have been eager to read this for a while now. My enthusiasm was only slightly dented by my brother's annoyance with the structure of the book. Lindqvist has divided the book into 399 sections - most only a couple of paragraphs long. The sections are arranged chronologically from the invention of gunpowder to 1999 when the Swedish edition of the book was published. show more There are 22 narrative strands, or arguments and it is possible to read the book jumping from one section to the next connected section (for example section 3 to 200 to 216), following an assigned path, or its possible to read the whole thing chronologically. Its an interesting attempt to do something a little different, and from time to time it was diverting to take a break from following a particular line of argument to see what else was happening around the time period of a particular section, but overall the traditionalist in me would have been probably been happier with a straightforward 22 chapters.

The content itself is far more than just a history. Lindqvist mixes in his own memories of childhood during ww2, his student days and thoughts and feelings about different episodes in history. We get an interesting examination of how the idea of bombing developed in fiction from the late 19th century onwards (and disturbingly enough how often it is mixed with dreams of genocide). We see the development and arguments in international law surrounding the use of aerial and then nuclear bombs. The development of different types of bombs and different ideas about how to use them is here. There is a incisive evaluation of 'strategic' bombing of civilians in WW2 including the terrible firestorms in Hamburg, Dresden and Tokyo, as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is not a clear cut military or technological history, but also social, cultural and legal history. There are also some powerful ruminations on violence and war and its relationship with human nature and human history. By the end, one understands that this is also, above all an implicit plea for sanity in a world that seems obsessed with possessing the ability to commit mass extinction events. show less

Sven Lindqvist, Swedish writer, delivers here an original and remarkable little book putting into a new perspective the idea of genocide.

Half travel account and half historical essay, he journeys through the Sahara by bus, accompanied only by his laptop and 'exterminate all the brutes!', the infamous sentence taken from 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. This 'exterminate all the brutes!' is for him far more than a blunt summary of colonial policies. It's the foundation of a whole mindset show more that will, ultimately, render possible the genocides of the 20th century - including the Shoah.

Without denying the unique character of the Shoah (an extermination perpetrated industrially) he focuses here indeed in demonstrating that such a massacre of a whole people would have never been conceivable had it not been for colonialism, which prepared the mentalities for such endeavour and so facilitated its application. To illustrate his point, travelling across the north African desert he refers to African examples. He retells the abject behaviours of the Europeans (eg from the Ashanti king Prempeh forced to kiss the feet of British officers to the sacking and burning of entire villages across the continent). He shows, above all, that when such attitude was coupled with the racial theories then in full bloom (from the seriously distorted work of Darwin to the work of a Robert Knox) the idea of extermination in the name of a selection (that is, genocide) became pervasive. It's then that Imperialism started to be seen as a necessary biological process, according to which 'inferior races' could only be eliminated. The fate of the Herero in South Africa, or, again, the atrocities perpetrated in the Congo under Leopold II are witnesses to such banalisation of mass murders.

The Shoah, then, shouldn't surprise us. It sure was unique by the way it was accomplished, but, the mindset that had led to it had been fermenting from long before. The destruction of people deemed 'inferior' had indeed been accepted as normal by many long before the 1940s. 'Genocide' didn't appear out of the blue under the Nazis: it came straight out of the racist and violent colonial era. The author, brilliantly and shockingly, here shows such historical continuity. A short read, but how compelling! show less

Damning counterargument first to those who suggest that the Holocaust was unique. In fact, all the European imperial powers had a long and well-developed pattern of exterminating the "lower" races that stood in their way of appropriating new lands and resources. What was new in WWII was "that what had been done in the heart of darkness was repeated in the heart of Europe." Despite being closer to home, the Germans were able to invoke the same reasons that had been used to justify without show more serious objection the extermination of the native Americans, innumerable African societies, and indigenous peoples throughout the globe.

Today, the lesson has new importance because it possibly suggests a lens through which we should understand the rise of a militant Islamic extremism from just those societies that have experienced the brunt of European and American imperialist adventuring. In the previous century it was argued that extinction or at least subjugation of lesser peoples was inevitable, indeed, "it was a philanthropic principle to kill natives; there was," [Captain Gordon Pim] said, "mercy in a massacre." Now, though, the intended victims are able to fight back in order to defend their ways of living. If they fight us here, now, it is only because we attacked them there, first, both militarily and then culturally. One can argue that such reaction is unwise, unproductive, and doomed to failure, but we should not pretend to be puzzled by why it is happening. show less

A curious title, you might think but this book is essential if you want to understand war and the governments who wage it. This is no ordinary history book but a uniquely fascinating read from start to finish. Chopped into numbered segments, which have to be read in sequence, the book is an intelligent exposé of bombing warfare consisting of everything from childhood memories to secret exchanges in the White House. Sven Lindqvist has also highlighted some of the history of war in fiction, show more an added bonus to what is a stimulating, albeit terrifying, read. Once you get used to following the numbered paragraphs (which admittedly is puzzling at first), you will find unfolding a gripping and compelling narrative of death which arrives from the sky.
This is not a comfortable read – it needs an adventurous reader who is open to the discovery of a new perspective on life and death on this planet. show less