A new edition of the classic novel about the frontlines of World War I.
Unique among the novels of its day, it has stood the test of time.
-Author and historian Pierre Berton
All war is hell -- but for troops serving in World War I, it was the
bloodiest trench warfare ever known. Generals Die in Bed is a first-hand
account of one young man catapulted from new recruit to walking wounded
on the Western Front.
From day one, he is surrounded by mud and fear. Artillery whistles down
without warning. Boys, barely men, cry out for their mothers. Close
combat is worse: sudden frenzied scrambles with German soldiers, and
bayonets that don't come out smoothly from their victims.
Regular rotation takes them away from the front, and the weary
combatants scramble for wine, women or whatever else will help them
forget they'll have to go back. This harrowing spiral continues until an
ill-fated hill charge leads to a gushing leg wound and release papers
home.
A new introduction to this edition places Harrison's novel alongside its
literary contemporaries -- All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell
to Arms. Originally published in 1930 and acclaimed as the best of the
war books by the New York Evening Standard, Generals Die in Bed remains
an unforgettable book.