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Hemingway on War
Hemingway on War
Apr 3, 2026 11:03 AM

Author:Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway on War

‘The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one.’ – Ernest Hemingway

A unique and captivating collection of Hemingway's writings on war, including extracts from his unparalleled war novels, some classic short stories, an extract from his only full-length play and a range of his war journalism

Ernest Hemingway witnessed many of the seminal conflicts of the twentieth century, as a Red Cross ambulance driver during the First World War and during his twenty-five years as a war correspondent. This edition offers an unparalleled portrayal of the physical and psychological impact of war and its aftermath. It contains extracts from A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, some of Hemingway’s very best short stories, his only full-length play, The Fifth Column as well as selections from his wartime journalism. Hemingway on War represents the author's penetrating chronicles of perseverance and defeat, courage and fear, and love and loss in the midst of modern warfare.

‘This collection illuminates many sides of Hemingway's thoughts on conflict’ Publishers Weekly

‘Out of his somber materials - fear, confusion, death - he made great beauty’ New York Times

Reviews

Out of his somber materials - fear, confusion, death - he made great beauty. His short story 'In Another Country' begins with a paragraph exquisite in its spare lyricism and resignation

—— New York Times

Flawless...such mastery of narrative, imagery and feeling, the prerequisites for great prose

—— Edna O'Brien on A Farewell to Arms , Guardian

A sparse, masculine, world-weary meditation on death, ideology and the savagery of war in general, and the Spanish civil war in particular

—— About For Whom the Bell Tolls , Sunday Telegraph

An excellent story-teller, intense and skilful

—— Daily Telegraph

This noteworthy anthology presents some of Hemingway's most powerful writings on war... Hemingway's grandson has made a fine selection

—— Tampa Tribune

A harrowing collection of Papa's battlefield writing, both truth and fiction

—— Men's Health

Hemingway's take on the most tragic of human undertakings, and some of his best writing

—— Denver Post

One of the most-celebrated writers of the twentieth century

—— Independent

Contemporary lyric poetry is seldom better.

—— Totally Dublin

A story which becomes steadily more gripping

—— WI Magazine

A brilliantly uncomfortable read about the art of forgetfulness

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent

Brilliant... You won't put this book down until its emotional end

—— Siraj Patel , Daily Express

Zusak doesn't sugarcoat anything, but he makes his ostensibly gloomy subject bearable the same way Kurt Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse-Five: with grim, darkly consoling humor

—— Time Magazine

. . . deeply engaging novel . . .

—— Nicholas Tucker , TES

A magical tale

—— Elle

A tonic much needed amid the ominous menace of an era of such calamity

—— Alexandra Hamlyn , FT magazine

. . . breathtakingly good

—— Becky Stradwick , The Bookseller

The 584 pages of this extraordinary novel are centered on the lives of families and indivduals in a town in Nazi Germany

—— Books for Keeps

Raw, deeply moving, immeasurably sad, this book is a must-read

—— Carousel

It wouldn't surprise us if this became a great classic in years to come

—— Flipside

Death turns out to be a tender narrator in Zusak's 'The Book Thief' [ . . . ] This novel movingly depicts the Himmel Street community, and its orphaned book thief, Liesel Meminger

—— Books Quarterly (Waterstones)

. . . the much talked about The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak . . . should soon have the UK under its spell

—— Sam Burson , Western Mail

It is already a bestseller in Europe, and should soon have the UK under its spell

—— Maggie Hartford , Oxford Times

A magnificent book that deals with so many issues with great tenderness. It's faultless

—— Suffolk Free Press

This is a memorable piece of work - beautifully written, rich and poetic in language and peopled with wonderful characters

—— INIS

Truly memorable

—— School Librarian

Zusak's writing is hugely imaginative, genuinely beautiful.

—— The Scotsman

This is a stunning work of life and death on a simple street in Nazi Germany...Very impressed

—— The Bookseller

Liesel steals books; her story steals your heart

—— Tesco Magazine

This is a beautifully written book. It illustrates again the best of teen fiction in telling a tale from another angle, which gives a great deal of food for thought

—— Essex Chronicle Series

Zusak combines his descriptions of the terrible events of 1939 Nazi Germany with such believable characters that it will appeal to adult readers and children alike

—— Independent

Bulawayo, whose prose is warm and clear and unfussy, maintains Darling's singular voice throughout, even as her heroine struggles to find her footing. Her hard, funny first novel is a triumph.

—— Entertainment Weekly

Wonderfully, this is a novel whipped with the complexities of African identities in a post-colonial and globalised world and its most compelling theme is that of contemporary displacement, a theme that will resonate with many readers

—— We Sat Down Blog

This is a young author to watch

—— Suzi Feay , Financial Times

This is a very readable tale, thanks to some excellent writing and its central character: a likeable heroine in a difficult world

—— Sarah Warwick , UK Regional Press Syndication

We Need New Names is a distinct and hyper-contemporary treatment of the old You Can’t Go Home Again mould, and the book has more than enough going for it to easily graduate from the Booker longlist to the final six

—— Richard Woolley , Upcoming

deeply felt and fiercely written first novel

—— Scotsman

Bulawayo's novel may scream Africa, but her deft and often comic prose captures memories and tastes, among them the bitterness of disappointment, that transcend borders

—— Jake Flanagin , Atlantic

Bulawayo excels... there is an inevitable nod to Achebe and the verbal delights and child's-eye view of the world is redolent of The God of Small Things. Otherwise, the magic is all Bulawayo's own

—— Literary Review

Proof again that the Caine prize for African writers really knows how to pick a winner… [It’s] a tour de force. Ten-year-old Darling is an unforgettable and necessary new voice: add her to the literary cannon

—— Jackie Kay , Observer

This brilliant novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize

—— Marie Claire UK

An exceptionally fine novel, as powerful and memorable as Coetzee's magnificent Disgrace... We need new novels like this – authentic, original and cathartic

—— Judy Moir , Herald

There is no doubt that a new star of African female writing is truly born. The one-to-watch

—— New African

Follow ten-year-old Darling from the Paradise shantytown to America in this searing indictment of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe

—— Patricia Nicol , Metro

Shocking, often heartbreaking – but also pulsing with energy

—— The Times

A poignant, witty, original and lyrical coming of age story

—— Caroline Jowett , Daily Express

Talented and ambitious

—— Helon Habila , Guardian

A powerful fictional condemnation of global inequality

—— Sunday Telegraph

From the opening chapter…the first-person narrative achieves a breathtaking vibrancy, ambition and pathos

—— Irish Examiner

Deserved all the publicity it got

—— Michela Wrong , Spectator
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