Sword Of Honour, The (Penguin Modern Classics)

Description:
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. 'Sword of Honour' combines three volumes: 'Officers and Gentlemen', 'Men at Arms' and 'Unconditional Surrender', which were originally published separately. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one-volume 'Sword of Honour' in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read.

Author Biography:
Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) was born in London and educated at Oxford. He quickly established a reputation with such social satirical novels as DECLINE AND FALL, VILE BODIES and SCOOP. Waugh became a Catholic in 1930, and his later books display a more serious attitude, as seen in the religious theme of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, a nostalgic evocation of student days at Oxford. His diaries were published in 1976, and his letters in 1980.