Storm of Steel

Ernst Junger served in the German front line, fighting both the British and the French for most of World War I. Young, tough, patriotic but also disturbingly self-aware, he exulted in the war, which he saw not just as a great national struggle but – more importantly – as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Junger kept testing himself, braced for the death that would mark his failure. Published shortly after the war’s end, “Storm of Steel” was a worldwide bestseller and can now be rediscovered through Michael Hofmann’s translation.