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About All Quiet on the Western Front

In 1928—only 10 years after the end of World War I—Erich Maria Remarque’s classic war novel was published in Germany. It was an immediate hit: in its first 18 months in print, 2.5 million copies were sold, translated into 22 languages. The title of the novel in German —Im Westen nichts neues— was rendered by its first English translator, A.W. Wheen (whose version is presented in this edition), as All Quiet on the Western Front. The English title has stuck, but the German literally means “nothing new in the West.” It is taken from the very end of the novel. It points to the book’s central theme, which centers on the experience of young Paul Baümer, who is coaxed to join the German army at the beginning of the war. This gripping tale follows Paul and his mates as they navigate the horror, boredom, and stupidity of the First World War. We see the pain of one comrade, who loses a leg, while his friends covet the pair of boots he can no longer wear. We follow Paul’s company as it is whittled down in combat from 150 men to 32. Paul, wounded, goes home on leave, but he feels alienated from his family, who do not understand what he has gone through and to whom he cannot explain it. Throughout this grim drama, the meaning of the original German title pokes through. The war, the greatest and bloodiest in history up to that point, is also drearily routine—perhaps its greatest horror. All Quiet on the Western Front has caused controversy even since it appeared. It has been taken as a manifesto of pacifism and as such has been banned in countless contexts (including Nazi Germany). But at the outset, Remarque says that the book “will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.” Remarque’s stark account speaks to the horror of war far more deeply than any manifesto could. It must be read by anyone who wants to understand war—that horrible yet constantly recurring part of the human condition.