War clouds

Author: Herman Wouk
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1995-08-01
Features: The War Years is a novel, and the characters and events of the Henry family are entirely fictional. However, the historical facts about the war in the novel are accurate; the statistics are reliable; the actions of the great figures are either based on historical facts or on reliable records. Work of this scope cannot be without errors, but the author hopes readers can see that he is making great efforts to depict a realistic and grand picture of a large-scale world war. The military works of Armin von Loen's The Lost World Empire, of course, are entirely fictional from start to finish. However, General von Loen's book provides an insider's perspective of the Germans as an opposing viewpoint. As a self-justified piece of military literature, it has its reliability within its specific scope. Mechanized armed forces were like a blooming flower during World War II, but today they have become a curse threatening human survival. To break this curse, we must first understand how it fell upon us and how good people paid for it with their lives—and are still paying that price today. The theme and purpose of The War Years can be found in the words of the French Jewish writer Julian Benda①: If peace truly exists in the world, it is not based on fear of war, but on love of peace. It is not a limitation on action, but a maturity of thought. In this sense, a small writer can contribute to peace, while a powerful court is powerless.