Paul Fussell

Paul FussellWinner of both the National Book Award for Arts and Letters and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, Paul Fussell's classic The Great War and Modern Memory remains one of the most original and gripping volumes ever written about the First World War. In its panoramic scope and poetic intensity, it illuminated a war that changed a generation and revolutionized the way we see the world. Now, in Wartime, Paul Fussell turns to the Second World War, the conflict in which he himself fought, to weave a more intensely personal and wide-ranging narrative. Whereas his former book focused primarily on literary figures, here Fussell examines the immediate impact of the war on soldiers and civilians. He compellingly depicts the psychological and emotional atmosphere of World War II by analyzing the wishful thinking and the euphemisms people needed to deal with unacceptable reality; by describing the abnormally intense frustration of desire and some of the means by which desire was satisfied; and, most importantly, by emphasizing the damage the war did to intellect, discrimination, honesty, individuality, complexity, ambiguity, and wit. Of course, no book of Fussell's would be complete without serious attention to the literature of the time. He offers astute commentary on Edmund Wilson's argument with Archibald MacLeish, Cyril Connolly's Horizon magazine, the war poetry of Randall Jarrell and Louis Simpson, and many other aspects of the wartime literary world. In this stunning volume, Fussell conveys the essence of that war as no other writer before him has. Paul Fussell examines the immediate impact of World War II on soldiers and civilians. He depicts the psychological and emotional atmosphere of World War II by, most importantly, emphasizing the damage the war did to intellect, discrimination, honesty, individuality, complexity, ambiguity, and wit..

Elegido uno de los 100 mejores ensayos del siglo XX por la Modern Library. Ganador del National Book Award del círculo de críticos en el año de su publicación. Un emocionante análisis de la literatura escrita por los militares que participaron en la Primera Guerra Mundial: el primer ensayo que narro esa guerra desde el punto de vista de los combatientes. La Primera Guerra Mundial marco el nacimiento de una nueva conciencia en Europa, patente en la literatura y en la vida y definida por la desconfianza, la ironia y el pesimismo existencial. La Gran Guerra y la memoria moderna rastrea los origenes de aquel cambio historico a traves de la obra de los escritores ingleses que lo vivieron en primera persona.

Un emocionante análisis de la literatura escrita por los militares que participaron en la Primera Guerra Mundial: el primer ensayo que narró esa guerra desde el punto de vista de los combatientes. La Primera Guerra Mundial marco el nacimiento de una nueva conciencia en Europa, patente en la literatura y en la vida y definida por la desconfianza, la ironia y el pesimismo existencial.

The Boys Crusade is the great historian Paul Fussells unflinching and unforgettable account of the American infantrymans experiences in Europe during World War II. Based in part on the authors own experiences, it provides a stirring narrative of what the war was actually like, from the point of view of the childrenfor children they werewho fought it. While dealing definitively with issues of strategy, leadership, context, and tactics, Fussell has an additional purpose: to tear away the veil of feel-good mythology that so often obscures and sanitizes wars brutal essence. A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth, Fussell writes in his Preface. Accord-ingly, he eschews every kind of sentimentalism, focusing instead on the raw action and human emotion triggered by the intimacy, horror, and intense sorrows of war, and honestly addressing the errors, waste, fear, misery, and resentments that plagued both sides. In the vast literature on World War II, The Boys Crusade stands wholly apart. Fussells profoundly honest portrayal of these boy soldiers underscores their bravery even as it deepens our awareness of their experiences. This book is both a tribute to their noble service and a valuable lesson for future generations.