War fiction

The horrors, causes and emotions of conflicts through history are myriad, and the best war books is one way in which we can try and understand these. Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Alice Winn’s In Memoriam and Pat Barker’s The Regeneration Trilogy are First World War-set books that capture the terrifying nature of the front. Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate and Markus Zuzak’s The Book Thief are Second World War-set books that capture how the conflict affected soldiers and civilians, and illuminate the horrors of the Holocaust. And if you want to learn more about other world conflicts, Joseph Heller’s satirical Catch-22 is about the US’ involvement in Korea, while Ernest Hemingway’s classic For Whom the Bell Tolls is about the Spanish Civil War.