War and/or Historical Fiction

These stories all deal with themes of war, and/or other Historical significance.

+ All Quiet on the Western Front*, Erich Maria Remarque
Paul and his friends have unwittingly entered a hellish war in which hope for survival is sullied by the knowledge that they have already been mentally scarred beyond recovery.

+ Beloved, Toni Morrison
Having survived a traumatic escape from slavery, Sethe has killed her older daughter in a mad attempt to keep her from being taken back to the South by her old master. A mysterious figure now appears at Sethe’s home, calling herself by the name on the dead daughter’s tombstone.

+ Catch 22, Joseph Heller
Yossarian struggles to stay alive, despite the many parties who seem to want him dead.

+ Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
Tells the story of Russian people forced to live through the many tragedies of the first half of the twentieth century, and it tells of the emotional trials of love in its most complicated forms. Yury Zhivago is a classic tragic hero, flawed in his inability to control his life and his loyalties but defined by a strong moral character and the desire to do right.

+ A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
While there is no single, clear-cut conflict, friction does arise when Henry’s love for Catherine cannot quell his innate restlessness.

+ The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
The Good Soldier is narrated by the character John Dowell, half of one of the couples whose dissolving relationships form the subject of the novel. Dowell tells the stories of those dissolutions as well as the deaths of three characters and the madness of a fourth, in a rambling, non-chronological fashion that leaves gaps for the reader to fill.

+ The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
The story of a boy gone to war and his struggle to grasp honor through his humanly instincts of cowardice.

+ The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
A story about sexual tensions, pride, sin and shame about a fateful act and a woman's cross to bear.

+ Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Billy struggles to make sense out of a life forever marked by the firsthand experience of war’s tragedy.

+ A Tale of Two Cities*, Charles Dickens
Madame Defarge seeks revenge against Darnay for his relation to the odious Marquis Evrémonde; Carton, Manette, Lucie, and Jarvis Lorry strive to protect Darnay from the bloodthirsty revolutionaries’ guillotine.

+ For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemmingway
As Robert Jordan and a small band of guerrilla fighters prepare to blow up a bridge with their limited resources and manpower, Robert Jordan and Pablo struggle for authority over the small band of guerrillas. Meanwhile, Robert Jordan and Maria cope with the pitfalls of falling in love during wartime.

+ The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers is not merely a Romance; it is also a great historical novel, and Dumas's interesting approach to history also contributes to the success of his book. While he keeps his characters away from being major players in national events, he is not afraid of brazenly attributing human motives to history. In Dumas's version, France and England very nearly fight a war simply because the Duke of Buckingham loves Anne of Austria: John Fenton assassinates Buckingham because of personal reasons provided by Milady, and so on. Part of the entertainment of The Three Musketeers is that, in seeming to avoid the great events and focus on petty affairs, Dumas explains the great events more satisfyingly and entertainingly than any direct explanation of affairs of state could hope to do. History does not have a face.

+ Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
Valjean struggles to transform himself from a thief into an honest man; over the years he struggles to stay a step ahead of the zealous police officer Javert and tries to raise his adopted daughter, Cosette.

+ Gone With the Wind*, Margaret Mitchell
Bonnie dies while horseback riding, breaking the tie that binds the two main characters.

- The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
A powerful and enduring fiction about men and war, focusing on a platoon in vietnam.

+ Snow Falling on Cedars, David Peterson
Kabuo Miyamoto stands trial for the murder of Carl Heine, while Ishmael Chambers struggles to overcome his emotionally and physically shattered past.