Maybe not a comfortable read for the holidays, but this is a poignant reminder about the human consequences of aerial bombing. The authors in this collection of essays demonstrate that such bombing does not win wars but does devastate, and it is civilians who suffer disproportionately. It appears that the lessons of the 20th century adduced here merit closer scrutiny by those currently waging war.

BURNT SHADOWS, by Kamila Shamsie. Picador, 384 pp., $14.95 (paper)

Shamsie explores the scars that the larger sweep of history leaves on people caught up in the maelstrom. It is an ambitious epic, delving into personal tragedies set against the backdrop of tragic histories spanning six decades, three generations and five countries. The book opens with the 1945 atomic bombing in Nagasaki, veers through the 1947 partition in India and arcs forward to 9/11 and its aftermath. It is a novel that laments what happens in a world run by whites in self-interest despite fitful good intentions. In beautiful prose, Shamsie conveys the intimate and personal consequences of war and racism, adding a human dimension to the calculus of geopolitics.