Synopses & Reviews
One of the great World War I antiwar novels—honest, chilling, and brilliantly satirical Based on the author's experiences on the Western Front, Richard Aldington's first novel,
Death of a Hero, finally joins the ranks of Penguin Classics. Our hero is George Winterbourne, who enlists in the British Expeditionary Army during the Great War and gets sent to France. After a rash of casualties leads to his promotion through the ranks, he grows increasingly cynical about the war and disillusioned by the hypocrisies of British society. Aldington's writing about Britain's ignorance of the tribulations of its soldiers is among the most biting ever published.
Death of a Hero vividly evokes the morally degrading nature of combat as it rushes toward its astounding finish.
Review
"[Death of a Hero] takes its place among the half dozen superb stories of the war that will not let men forget.”
Review
“Death of a Hero is a book impossible to ignore.”
Review
“This novel is an undervalued war novel treasure by a pioneering 20th-century literary figure. The quality of writing about the war should rank this novel among the classics about World War I warfare and even for all time.”
Synopsis
A magnificent volume of short novels and an essential World War II report from one of America?s great twentieth-century writersOn the heels of the enormous success of his masterwork The Grapes of Wrath?and at the height of the American war effort?John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific and influential literary figures of his generation, wrote Bombs Away, a nonfiction account of his experiences with U.S. Army Air Force bomber crews during World War II. Now, for the first time since its original publication in 1942, Penguin Classics presents this exclusive edition of Steinbeck?s introduction to the then-nascent U.S. Army Air Force and its bomber crew?the essential core unit behind American air power that Steinbeck described as ?the greatest team in the world.?
About the Author
Richard Aldington (1892–1962) was known as a translator, critic, biographer, and poet of distinction. He joined the British Army in 1916 and was wounded in 1918.
James H. Meredith, a retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel, is the introducer of the Penguin Classics editions of
Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb and
Bombs Away by John Steinbeck.