Alamein to Zem Zem

'This is the only book from the Second World War comparable with the first-war narratives of Sassoon, Blunden or Graves . . . When the battle of El Alamein began, the poet Keith Douglas was in Cairo with Divisional HQ. Eager not to miss the action, he took a truck and, against orders, drove to re-join his regiment. He served as a tank commander throughout the whole of the allied advance across North Africa, and Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) is his story. Boyishness and inexperience give it flash-bulb immediacy . . . Scenes of unforgettable pity and terror unfold . . . Everything, from flowers carpeting the desert in winter to vanquished enemies, is seen with a poet's eye and the generosity of youth.' John Carey, Guardian This Faber Finds edition of Keith Douglas's classic work - originally published two years after his death in Normandy in 1944 - includes a new preface by the novelist Richard Skinner.

Product details

• Authors: Keith Douglas, Douglas Keith
• Assisted by: Richard Skinner (Introduction), Skinner Richard (Introduction)
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 17.04.2014
• EAN: 9780571315369
• ISBN: 978-0-571-31536-9
• No. of pages: 172
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 216 mm x 12 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Main work before 1945; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Biographies, autobiographies; Biography: general, HISTORY / Military / General, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, Second World War, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Modern warfare, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Faber Finds; Military; War; WWII, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs