Sword of Honour av Evelyn Waugh

<p><b>Evelyn Waugh''s masterful depiction of World War II, with an introduction by Martin Stannard</b><br><br>Waugh''s own unhappy experience of being a soldier is superbly re-enacted in this story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commissioned into the Royal Corps of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-45. High comedy - in the company of Brigadier Ritchie-Hook or the denizens of Bellamy''s Club - is only part of the shambles of Crouchback''s war. When action comes in Crete and in Yugoslavia, he discovers not heroism, but humanity. <i>Sword of Honour</i> combines three volumes: <i>Officers and Gentlemen</i>, <i>Men at Arms</i> and <i>Unconditional Surrender</i>, which were originally published separately. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one-volume <i>Sword of Honour</i> in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read.<br><br>''Marvellous ... one of the masterpieces of the century''<br>John Banville, <i>Irish Times</i></p>