Kirkus Discoveries

Review

“…the author’s depiction of flying those flak-filled skies above Germany during the Battle of the Bulge is clarity itself. His writing is simple and direct, and readers will empathize as desperate fear is coped with and courage summoned from heaven knows where. These were 20-somethings, barely out of boyhood, and Smith makes their stories compellingly real—fitting, since the 416th was an actual bomb group. The author’s characters, his father among them, are all drawn from life. Their conversations here are, of course, fictionalized, but readers will sense that very little else is.

Vivid, suspenseful battle scenes are this work’s strongest moments.”

                                                                        Kirkus Discoveries

Dr Smith has written an incredible testament to human faith, while interweaving a provocative message about the impact on society of the eugenics movement, its origins, and what it has morphed into. Even without the eugenics component, this book would have been a compelling read about airmen who went to war and sacrificed greatly.

Because Dr. Smith instilled such a strong sense of character and personality into this work, I have no doubt that this book holds great personal meaning for him. Readers are bound to recognize this as they immerse themselves in the stories about these WWII airmen and their families. They are so engaging. I especially appreciated learning what happened to some of the men who endured so much in service to their country.

Though I am on the young end of the baby boom generation, I have an 80-something friend who landed on Normandy Beach and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He frequently shares stories from those days, and I look forward to giving him a copy of your book when it is published. Another friend, an elderly French Jew who made it into his eighties, died just last month. Over the years he also shared stories of his experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz, where he was taken at the age of thirteen. The tattooed number on his arm may have faded some over the years, but it was unmistakable on the day he died.

Your book resonated with me in part because of those two friendships, but also because of the timeliness of your message about eugenics. Those who preach about the “unfit” and “undesirables” are not to be underestimated; unchecked, they could gain fearsome support and momentum.

I am greatly impressed with your ability to move seamlessly from scenes of battlefield horrors to historical accounts of the development of public policies that brought us to war and continue to keep us embattled socially and politically. You make excellent transitions with scenarios that are colorful and dramatic. The only problem readers will have is that they won’t be able to put your book down; they will want to try to read it beginning to end in one sitting.

Darwin’s War

Science, Politics, Warfare, Faith, and Sacrifice

The 416th Bomb Group’s Sacrifices to Defeat Eugenics

Review of Darwin’s War

Dr. Larry Smith has written a compelling testament to human faith in his WWII historical novel Darwin’s War. He writes about the airmen of the US Army Air Force’s 416th Bombardment Group, his father Jack Smith among them. This book is a celebration of those brave aviators who daily faced life-and-death encounters. They stayed motivated and focused by believing in themselves, each other, and a higher power.

So true-to-life is Smith’s narrative, the reader will feel transported back in time to that fiery shooting gallery that was the European Theater of Operations. Smith’s words paint gripping pictures of battle-ready aviators, armed and airborne. Inside the cramped cockpit of their aluminum and Plexiglas A-20 Havoc bombers, the pilots manipulate a bank of controls. Behind him, in the turret, perches the turret gunner at the ready. Lying prone beneath the turret gunner inside the bottom of the plane is the belly gunner armed with a machine gun and camera. The Navigator Bombardier guides the formation to the target from his isolated Plexiglas compartment in the front of aircraft

Enriching the frontline bombs-away context, Smith interweaves provocative details about Adolph Hitler’s death dance with eugenicists. Together, they justified—scientifically, philosophically, and patriotically—the führer’s Final Solution. Hitler and the eugenicists would rid the fatherland of those unfit to breathe Deutschland’s air. Ultimately, their plan expanded to include all of Europe.

The Nazis were on a mission. By war’s end, they had systematically killed nine to eleven million people, including Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other social and political “undesirables.”

Darwin’s War shifts into cautionary tale mode with the author’s insightful observations about eugenics. Smith cautions us not to underestimate those who preach about the “unfit”; left unchecked, eugenicists could gain fearsome support and momentum. Based on his meticulous research, Smith explains the origins of the eugenics movement, its influence on public policy, and what it has morphed into.

Darwin’s War will resonate with military veterans, their loved ones, and people who simply enjoy a masterfully told story about actual Americans in wartime. The ninety accompanying photographs will enhance the reader’s frontline experience.

Gail Chadwick,
BookSurge Editor