Wartime: understanding and behavior in the Second World War

As a 20-year-old Lieutenant, Paul Fussell led a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division on the Western Front of World War II and Wartime is his intensely personal yet wide-ranging and informative exploration of the psychological and emotional impact of the war on common soldiers and civilians. Central among these impacts, Fussell emphasises the damage wrought by war on intellect, honest, complexity, individuality and wit, exposing how conflict serves to homogenise and dehumanise. Described by readers as ‘brilliant’, ‘cynical’, and ‘angry,’ Wartime unashamedly exposes the horrors of World War II, providing a compelling account of the war experienced by everyday people, and the conditions they strove to survive.