I like to claim that my thesis found in "Weft Over Warp" takes a very different and controversial take on WWII.
(But of course, authors - and above all, historians - are expected to claim their work says something totally new and totally provocative.)
So here it goes : I think you will agree that our conventional view of WWII focuses on its act of evil - as if to say it was six years of unrelenting evil sandwiched between two longer periods of peace and good will.
My take is that before, during and after WWII , the modern world was so dominated by selfishness and self-centredness that it was the unnoticed norm and that what now really stands out about WWII, 75 years after the event, were the rare -bright/shining/unexpected - examples of noble selflessness.
My obvious focus is on Dawson's selfless penicillin , the best thing to come out of that awful war in about 51% of the world's eyes.
(I am only counting all the women - no doubt a few men also thought penicillin was better than the boy-toys of jets and radar and rockets. )
Selfless penicillin is the real star of "The Third Man" and the hope that fuelled the Baby Boom.
Consider that in mid 1943 , penicillin was as expensive as today's costly cancer drugs and was expected to soon be patented profitably, and in any case was to be deliberately produced in limited quantities, to keep its perceived value (and price) up.
Dawson's efforts blew all that wide open and penicillin remains the world's best loved, most effective life-saver - and all at a price too cheap to meter : life at a price cheaper than bottled water....
(But of course, authors - and above all, historians - are expected to claim their work says something totally new and totally provocative.)
So here it goes : I think you will agree that our conventional view of WWII focuses on its act of evil - as if to say it was six years of unrelenting evil sandwiched between two longer periods of peace and good will.
My take is that before, during and after WWII , the modern world was so dominated by selfishness and self-centredness that it was the unnoticed norm and that what now really stands out about WWII, 75 years after the event, were the rare -bright/shining/unexpected - examples of noble selflessness.
My obvious focus is on Dawson's selfless penicillin , the best thing to come out of that awful war in about 51% of the world's eyes.
(I am only counting all the women - no doubt a few men also thought penicillin was better than the boy-toys of jets and radar and rockets. )
Selfless penicillin is the real star of "The Third Man" and the hope that fuelled the Baby Boom.
Consider that in mid 1943 , penicillin was as expensive as today's costly cancer drugs and was expected to soon be patented profitably, and in any case was to be deliberately produced in limited quantities, to keep its perceived value (and price) up.
Dawson's efforts blew all that wide open and penicillin remains the world's best loved, most effective life-saver - and all at a price too cheap to meter : life at a price cheaper than bottled water....
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