As a history major, I love finding stories that show me just how ignorant I am of significant historical events. This book explains an interesting and important experiment conducted during WWII.
For some men, fighting was just not an option (some for religious or political reasons). These conscientious objectors were asked to participate in a study, overseen by the doctor who invented the "K-ration", that would focus on starvation. The government was looking for a credible solution in case we had to deal with widespread starvation as a result of war. These men volunteered to enter a regimen that would slowly starve them, in order to try to find ways to bring them back to health.
The book was fascinating in terms of the medical results (that are still utilized today); even more intriguing was the ways in which these men dealt with the war on their own terms.