Unconditional Surrender - by Evelyn Waugh (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in the United States by Little, Brown and Company, December 1961 with title The end of the battle.

Book Synopsis

By 1941, after serving in North Africa and Crete, Guy Crouchback has lost his Halberdier idealism. A desk job in London gives him the chance of reconciliation with his former wife. Then, in Yugoslavia, as a liaison officer with the partisans, Crouch becomes finally and fully aware of the futility of a war he once saw in terms of honor.

Unconditional Surrender is the third novel in Waugh's brilliant Sword of Honor trilogy recording the tumultuous wartime adventures of Guy Crouchback ("the finest work of fiction in English to emerge from World War II"-Atlantic Monthly), which also comprises Men at Arms and Officers and Gentlemen.

Review Quotes

"The importance of Unconditional Surrender lies not so much in itself (beautifully organized and written and hypnotically readable as it is) as in its contribution to the pattern of the trilogy....The complete work now clearly emerges as Mr. Waugh's main achievement to date, and the one piece of English fiction about the 1939-45 War which is certain to survive."--Times Literary Supplement

"The quality of the writing is, throughout, superb, and confirms my belief that Mr. Waugh is the best living writer of English prose."--Bernard Bergonzi, Guardian

"The wit endures; at full strength, wit is rage made bearable, and useful....Waugh's military trilogy has much to recommend it."--Gore Vidal, New York Times Book Review

"What Parade's End, Ford Madox Ford's great work, was to World War I, Evelyn Waugh's 'Sword of Honour' trilogy is to World War II."--Herbert A. Kenny, Boston Globe

About the Author

Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), whom Time called "one of the century's great masters of English prose," wrote several widely acclaimed novels as well as volumes of biography, memoir, travel writing, and journalism. Three of his novels, A Handful of Dust, Scoop, and Brideshead Revisited, were selected by the Modern Library as among the 100 best novels of the twentieth century.