The Vintage Book of War Fiction
War fiction isn't only storytelling with a degree of literary merit. It also offers important insights into the cultural, political, psychological, and socioeconomic conditions and nuances of the time and characters. This anthology of war fiction at its best features 40 short stories and novel excerpts by such noted writers as Ernest Hemingway, Heinrich Boll, Elizabeth Bowen, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, Joseph Heller, A.D. Gristwood, Tim O'Brien, and many more. Against the background of major conflicts of the 20th century, readers are taken on a journey to such places as the trenches of World War I, the jungles of Southeast Asia, the European theater during World War II, and the Arabian Desert while the Persian Gulf conflict was raging (the Korean War, "the forgotten war," merits only one excerpt). Editors Faulks (Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War) and Hensgen appropriately note that many of the writers they included in this anthology used the novel format as no more than a device for what are in reality documentary accounts of what happened to them personally. Indeed, these war stories of soldiers, pilots, sailors, combatants, and civilians of all ages and walks of life are often fictionalized autobiographies, conveying the immediate horrors of war, the emotional damage it causes, and the best and worst in humanity. As no other work is similar to this one in terms of scope or style, it is highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ. Lib, Ithaca, NYCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.