Synopses & Reviews
In this powerful anthology, Sebastian Faulks, author of the international bestseller
Birdsong, and Jörg Hensgen have put together some of the finest fictional writing about war in the 20th century. Whether reporting with sober clarity or raw despair, the assembled novelists each found a way to transcend the facts of death and metal, tanks and blood.
Many of the writers are concerned with battle, but others dwell on moments of calm, love, and friendship. From revolutionary Russia to Republican Spain; from the trenches of the Western Front to the skies over Korea and the jungles of Vietnam, this is a book filled with heroism and horror, savagery and compassion, and lightning-flashes of anarchic humor.
About the Author
Sebastian Faulks worked as a journalist for fourteen years before taking up writing books full time in 1991. He is the author of
The Girl at the Lion d'Or, A Fool's Alphabet, The Fatal Englishman, Charlotte Gray, On Green Dolphin Street, and the internationally bestselling
Birdsong. He lives with his family in London.
Jörg Hensgen was born in Germany and studied at the universities of Wuppertal, Göttingen, and Hamburg. He now lives in London and works as an editor.
Table of Contents
Introduction BRUCE CHATWIN Volunteers
LOUIS-FERDINAND CÉLINE Could I Be the Last Coward on Earth?
DAVID MALOUF Invisible Enemies
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE How Long It Takes For a Man to Die!
A.D. GRISTWOOD The Wasteland
STRATIS MYRIVILIS The Beauty of the Battlefield
ERNEST HEMINGWAY Going Back
WILLIAM BOYD Narrow Escapes
SIEGFRIED SASSOON My Own Little Show
PAT BARKER Finished with the War
SEBASTIEN JAPRISOT The Woman on Loan
ISAAC BABEL Treason
LAURIE LEE Thank God for the War
ANDRÉ MALRAUX Crash
HEINRICH BÖLL The Postcard
KAY BOYLE Defeat
JEAN-LOUIS CURTIS The Forests of the Night
ELIZABETH BOWEN Everybody in London Was in Love
ALISTAIR MACLEAN Fire on the Water
ROBERT HARRIS Enigma
LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Send in the Clowns
JOHN FOWLES Freedom
NORMAN MAILER We You Coming-to-Get, Yank
JAMES JONES No Choice
SHUSAKU ENDO We Are About to Kill a Man
MARTIN BOOTH Hiroshima Joe
LOUIS BEGLEY Wartime Lies
ITALO CALVINO Why Are the Men Fighting?
JOSEPH HELLER They Were Trying to Kill Me
MICHAEL ONDAATJE The Last Medieval War
JOHN HORNE BURNS My Heart Finally Broke in Naples
WOLFGANG KOEPPEN A Servant of Death
KURT VONNEGUT A Nazi City Mourned at Some Profit
JAMES SALTER The Hunters
TIM OBRIEN How to Tell a True War Story
PHILIP CAPUTO Be Like the Forest
LARRY HEINEMANN Pacos Story
CHRISTOPHER J. KOCH Welcome to Saigon
BAO NINH The Jungle of Screaming Souls
CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY My Favourite War
Biographical Notes
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements