Posted on May 4, 2022

Wars have been the source some of the greatest literature of the last hundred years. Here are a few examples:

WWI: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

Spanish Civil War: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.

WWII: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Holocaust: The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant.

Korean War: MASH by Richard Hooker.

Cold War: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré, and The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer.

Vietnam: Paco’s Story by Larry Heinemann, and A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan.

This isn’t surprising, since war experiences (real or imagined) can heighten the agony, tension, fear, anxiety, suspense, anguish, and pain to a greater extent than almost any other catalyst.

Send us your list (info@FigTreeBooks.net) of outstanding books or short stories or essays that could be added to the categories above. And if you are so inclined, you can write a review for what you recommend. We’ll consider publishing your recommendations and reviews  in Fig Tree Lit.