In 1914, a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the 'glorious war'. With the fire and patriotism of youth, they sign up. What follows is the story of a young 'unknown soldier' experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.
Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they become soldiers. But despite what they have learned, they break into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches. And as horrible war plods on year after year, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principles of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against each other--if only he can come out of the war alive.
"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first trank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Reviews
Remarque's evocation of the horrors of modern warfare has lost none of its force * The Times * Remarque is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank * New York Times Book Review * There are some books that should be read by every generation... Remarque's story of German trench soldiers of the 1914-18 war gains even more authority in the context of the loss of life in wars that still rage Brian Murdoch's new English translation shows that Remarque's evocation of the horrors of modern warfare has lost none of its force * The Times * The book conquers without persuading, it shakes you without exaggerating, a perfect work of art and at the same time truth that cannot by doubted This harrowing narrative is unexpectedly beautiful, more pensive than angry * Irish Times * Its extraordinary appeal may stem from Remarques success in universalising the soldiers experience that the war was the same for all who fought * Daily Telegraph * The power to move people by words, to arouse their sensibilities as well as their minds, was Erich Maria Remarque's to an extraordinary degree * New York Times * [ A] masterpiece For the first time a writer gave a raw, pitiless account of men killing each other, by any means possible its unrelenting honesty makes it hard to read it as anything else * Economist *
More info
All Quiet on the Western Front is the most famous anti-war novel ever written.
Erich Maria Remarque (Author) Erich Maria Remarque was a German author and veteran of the First World War. He was born 1898 in Osnabrück, Germany. At the age of 18 he was conscripted into the German army. During his service he was wounded by shrapnel in the left leg, right arm and neck. Following the war he worked as a primary school teacher, and later as a librarian, a journalist and a technical writer. Among Remarque's published novels were All Quiet on the Western Front, The Road Back, Three Comrades and Arch of Triumph. His works were publicly burned by the Nazi German government, and in 1947 he and his first wife became naturalised citizens of the United States. Four years earlier, his sister had been executed at the behest of Hitler's 'People's Court'.
Remarque adapted the book Ten Days to Die, about Hitler's final days, as a screenplay, and he also wrote for the stage. His last novel was The Night in Lisbon, published in 1962. During his lifetime Remarque married twice and had love affairs with the actresses Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo.
More information about ebooks