num_pages: 263
description: Herbert Curzon is a former cavalry officer who earned fortuitous distinction in the Boer War. He knew little then; he learned nothing since. But the army desperate for officers in the opening months of WW I hands Curzon a new division to train. A few months later his formations dissolve at the Somme hosed down by German machine guns. Uninstructed Curzon still thinks himself a leader. When a German offensive threatens his remaining troops he gallops suicidally into the fighting. He prefers death to self-knowledge. THE GENERAL is a superb novel. It blends Forester's preference for military subjects and solid unreflective characters his irony his grasp of history and his gift for lean hypnotic narrative. (The New York Times)
language: English
title: The General
publisher: Nautical & Aviation Pub Co of Amer