When studying the modern history of our world, it is impossible to exclude war from the curriculum. Stemming from religious and political divisions to run-of-the-mill selfishness, war has been a driving force behind almost every land and nation. Military veteran Will knows this firsthand. A Marine who served in Vietnam, Will struggles to accept the things he’s seen and done in the name of service to his country. A personal project researching the branches of his family tree leads Will to Johann, a 91-year-old veteran who devoted some of his best years to World War II. On paper, it seems like these two seasoned men share more than just lineage, including common experiences and consequences that only a soldier could understand. But Johann fought for Germany under Hitler as a proud member of the SS. Instead of dismissing this elderly man as an enemy, though, Will takes time to hear history he is already well versed in, but from a remarkably different frame of reference. The discussions at Johann’s assisted care facility are tense at first, with each man fully invested in his own perspective. But honest conversations give way to genuine empathy and enlightenment. Will often has the thought, “I never heard it put that way before.” Both men reluctantly reckon with their pasts as they look ahead to the future.
There are at least two sides to every conflict, though this reality is often forgotten with the passage of time and the influence of genetics, geography, or politics. In Curt A. Canfield’s The Errors of Mankind: Mistaking the True Conditions for our Well-Being, a fresh perspective is presented on communal ideologies, potent biases, and the shared human experience. With a rewarding lesson on how to overcome inclinations that threaten unity, Will and Johann prove that age, ethnicity, and our pasts don’t have to divide us. Copious amounts of dry history fill in the gaps between visits with Johann, sometimes slowing the pace of the narrative to a labored crawl. But the novel really shines in its elevated conversations, offering a chance to see what reasonableness looks like when emotion and expectations are pushed aside. It is especially enlightening to consider the mood behind the scenes of each military conflict, one side joining with the promise of being able to see the world or learn responsibility, the other serving to save culture and community. When read with an open mind and a receptive heart, The Errors of Mankind can expand our viewpoint and lead us to examine the way we empathize with others.
