User:RAT1981/The Butter Battle Book

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The Butter Battle Book is a rhyming story written by Dr. Seuss and published by Random House on January 12, 1984. It is an anti-war story; specifically, a parable of arms races, mutually assured destruction and nuclear weapons. The Butter Battle Book was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

This book was written during the Cold War and is reflects the concerns of that time as well as his own opinions of war. especially the perceived possibility that humanity could be destroyed in a nuclear war. It can also be seen as a satirical work, with its depiction of a deadly war based on a senseless conflict over something as trivial as a breakfast food.

Plot elements of the book were adapted for Warner Bros. Animation's Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Serving.

Analysis
The Butter Battle Book was removed from the shelves of some Canadian public libraries during the Cold War because of the book's controversial position regarding the arms race of the Cold War. The book was initially criticized over if its moral nature was too much for children. Dr. Seuss himself was unsure if The Butter Battle Book was for adults or children when he approached Random House to have it published.

An article in the July 27, 1984 issue of the conservative magazine National Review found it plausible that the book was not more popular because of Seuss' promotion of a theme of "moral equivalence", where the difference between the Soviet Union and the United States was equivalent to a disagreement over the proper side on which to butter bread. On the other hand, Roger S. Clark, a professor at Rutgers University School of Law, argued in an article in the New York Law School Law Review that The Butter Battle Book stood out to him when it first came out because its timing and context. Further stating that Dr. Seuss had portrayal the arms race during the time period the book was published made his intentions clear. 

Inspiration
Dr. Seuss wrote The Butter Battle Book while Ronald Reagan was in office, visioning the potential of nuclear war with Russia. Reflecting back on his time in Europe in 1926; he remembered the Ghibellines and Guelphs from northern Italy that fought over their differing opinions on the Pope. Dr. Seuss distinctly recalled one group cutting their apples horizontally while the other cut them vertically. This concept is similar to the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satire Gulliver's Travels, which was nominally based on an argument over the correct end to crack a soft-boiled egg.

About Dr. Seuss
(What was Dr. Suess doing when he was writing this book? What came before this book?)