Wartime

`Paul Fussell has written the best book I know of about World War I. Now he has written the best book I know of about the Second World War. No novel I've read surpasses its depiction of the awful human cost to all sides of modern warfare. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it's unforgettable.' Joseph Heller
`Professor Fussell has written a riveting book. Many have recently appeared to cash in on the half-century of Chamberlain's reluctant declaration, but I would say that, to all who lived through that war, and to those generations who wonder what the fuss was about, this one is close to obligatory reading.' Anthony Burgess, Observer
'memorable portrait of the last war' Independent
'just as clever, witty, painful, disturbing ... as the first' John Grigg, The Times
'Fussell's book is wide-ranging in its concerns and thoroughly researched.' Sunday Correspondent
'memorable and distinctive ... Wartimeis no friendly journey down memory lane. It forces you to think, and at the end forces you to feel.' Asa Briggs, Sunday Times
'characteristically wide-ranging ... Fussell's point is that war is barbaric, and no amount of high ideals and fustian rhetoric can disguise that central fact ... a lively, shocking and grimly funny book.' The Listener
'Fussell's book is wide-ranging in its concerns and thoroughly researched. There is much that is vivid and to the point' Alan Ross, Sunday Correspondent
'Professor Fussell has written a riveting book ... I would say that, to all who lived through that war, and to those generations who wonder what all the fuss was about, this one is close to obligatory reading.' Anthony Burgess, Observer
'unlike most military histories and documentaries, it does not glorify generals and, unlike flag-waving propaganda works about war, it leaves an anti-war aftertaste' Herbert Mitgang, International Herald Tribune
'as shocking an account of disaster and human error as one could find anywhere - and the pity of it is that it is all true' Geoffrey Moore, Financial Times
'A memorable portrait of the last war, constructed from personal anecdotes.' Tim Blanning, Independent
'His technique is simple but effective; he looks at the war "from the bottom up".' Tim Blanning, Independent
'Fussell is a wonderful writer - at once elegant and earthy. He gives us much to ponder in this volume, and, despite the grimness of the subject, considerable pleasure.' Nina King, Washington Post
'Wartime is an important and indispensible book' Library Journal
'brilliant, engaging cultural history' Publishers Weekly
'Funny, upsetting, at times brilliantly illuminating' Kirkus Reviews
'It is the work of a notably honest man ... his portrait of a conflict which was unwanted, total and interminable is superb' Philip Oakes, New Statesman & Society
'constructs a memorable portrait of the last war' The Independent
'surgically removes yet more illusions about our supposedly 'clean' World War II' Richard Eyre, Observer
'Professor Fussell has assembled a great deal of arresting material ... though cruder and less tidy than the argument of his Great War book, may in fact come closer to the truth' John Keegan, Sunday Telegraph
'constantly absorbing' Sunday Times
'This is a book that ought to become a bible for the peace movement.' Paul Pickering, Sanity
'If only there were more literary critics like Paul Fussell. Wartime, finally, is a book that is movingly expressive of the extremes of sadness and humor that mark the period. It is also the work of great scholarship. Fussell's creative engagement with his material, his rigor and his adventurous but clear style make him a model for contemporary cultural commentators.' Robin Gerster, The Herald, Melbourne
'This is a book that ought to become a bible for the peace movement. I have never seen such a concentrated and stylish debunking of war. Fussell has produced a masterpiece.' Paul Pickering, Sanity
'Wartime is a brave attempt to take the Second World War by the scruff of the neck and shake out a few of its secrets. Paul Fussell is refreshingly unafraid of voicing his opinions. As at the end of every war, the soldiers are grimly certain that 'the real war will never get into the books'. Wartime is an honourable attempt to see that it does.' Toby Banks, Living Marxism
'Truth was a major casualty; the realities of the war were sanitised to protect the decent innocent. Here Fussell gives us his scorching correction.' Observer
'Paul Fussell's Wartime deserves to become a classic' Sunday Times
'Wartime is a brave attempt to take the Second World War by the scruff of the neck and shake out a few of its secrets. Paul Fussell is refreshingly unafraid of voicing his opinions.' Living Marxism