If you want happy stories you shouldn't study history.
The stats are tossed out so casually. 20 million dead here, another 100 thousand there, yet another 250 thousand in that, then another 28 million. I can't even visualize how many people 100 thousand is! And it doesn't end there.
I wonder how long it would take if you had to write a biography for each casualty of every 20th century war.
Doesn't anyone think these figures are staggering anymore?
I find it difficult to read history books on war because it's almost impossible for me to just read through without being floored by what I see as so many immense tragedies, tragedies beyond imagining, shoved into the confines of a tiny matter-of-fact book.
How can people just browse through these books without registering a thing?
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