Friday, 15 March 2013

Verdun - Jules Romains



If we don’t keep the Warrior in the mix, we become glorified social workers with guns.  
A Police Officer

Title: Verdun
Author: Jules Romains
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf 1939
Pages: 500

Content: The Battle of Verdun took place over a period of months in 1916 and cost 980,000 casualties to the French and German armies. This book is a work of historical fiction covering a period a few months prior to the Battle and the fight itself. Focussing on the French forces, it touches upon characters from General Officers to Rankers. Its strength is in the authors description of  the motivations, strengths and flaws of all of these personae. Drawing upon a keen insight into the human character and psyche, Romains paints a canvas of human frailty and strength with no-one individual being free of either. There are no hero’s or villains; merely people caught up in an Armageddon that surpasses the experience levels of even the veterans of the story.

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