Notes from a Defeatist

The centerpieces in `Notes from a Defeatist’ are a triptych of war stories: “When Good Bombs Happen to Bad People,” a history of aerial bombing that specifically targets civilian populations; “More Women, More Children, More Quickly,” in which Sacco relates his mother’s harrowing experiences during World War II in Malta; and, most personally (and closest to Sacco’s later work), “How I Loved the War,” Sacco’s impassioned but sardonic reflection on the Gulf war, the surrounding propaganda and media circus, and his own ambivalent feelings as both a spectator and commentator: The book derives its title from this sequence, which has acquired a painful new relevance in the past half-year. Notes from a Defeatist also includes a roadie’s-eye view of an American punk band’s eventful European tour, a reminiscence of an awful season spent in his native Malta, and much more.