All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Summary
Young German soldier Paul Baumer and his classmates enlist in the First World War full of patriotic enthusiasm, only to be broken in body and spirit by the trench warfare, mustard gas, and mass slaughter that follows. Remarque writes in blunt, unsentimental prose that refuses any glory in combat, focusing instead on the physical horror and the psychological gulf that separates soldiers from the civilians back home. The novel became one of the most influential antiwar books ever written and was publicly burned by the Nazis for its message.
Historical Context & Significance
No German literary prize of the era would have honored a book the Nazi party considered a betrayal of national pride, and it appeared before any major English language award might have recognized it in translation. The novel sold more than a million copies within eighteen months of its German publication despite the later Nazi ban.