Fear
Gabriel Chevallier
New York Review Books
<p>An NYRB Classics Original <br><br>Winner of the Scott Moncrieff Prize for Translation<br><br>1915:  Jean Dartemont heads off to the Great War, an eager conscript. The only  thing he fears is missing the action. Soon, however, the vaunted "war  to end all wars" seems like a war that will never end: whether mired in  the trenches or going over the top, Jean finds himself caught in the  midst of an unimaginable, unceasing slaughter. After he is wounded, he  returns from the front to discover a world where no one knows or wants  to know any of this. Both the public and the authorities go on talking  about heroes--and sending more men to their graves. But Jean refuses to  keep silent. He will speak the forbidden word. He will tell them about  fear. <br><br>John Berger has called <i>Fear</i> "a book of the utmost  urgency and relevance." A literary masterpiece, it is also an essential  and unforgettable reckoning with the terrible war that gave birth to a  century of war.</br></br></br></br></br></br></p>