Paul Fussell served in the US Army infantry in Europe during World War Two. It was the defining event of his life. His war-related writings unrelentingly attempt to de-romanticize warfare in general and infantry service in particular by bluntly portraying the horrors of modern battle.

The Boys' Crusade is a thin volume of short chapters covering familiar ground. There's not much new here. The discussion of the COBRA affair highlights the book's small strengths and major weakness. COBRA was a plan by General Omar Bradley to use fighter-bombers and strategic bombers to blast a gap in the German defenses near St. Lo. Although the US infantry pulled back some 800 yards in advance of the bombing many were still killed when 'friendly fire' strayed off target. The chapter provides a tragic, but useful illustration of the FUBAR principle. On the other hand, the entire COBRA chapter is only eight short pages, far too short to develop the full story. Indeed, the chapters are too short to develop the repellent awfulness of infantry life and death.

Any reader familiar with Paul Fussell's work is likely to be disappointed and anyone not familiar with it is likely to be misled by The Boys Crusade. Anyone wanting to read a far superior book that also takes aim at de-romanticizing the infantry soldier's war need look no farther than Fussell's own Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War. Or try E.B. Sledge's the With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. World War One spawned its own memoirs on the horrors of war such as Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel (Penguin Modern Classics) and Robert Graves' Good-Bye to All That. The best I can really say about The Boys Crusade is that it may open the eyes of the uninitiated and it will not long detain you because of its brevity.

This little book reflects the reality of infantry life better than 99% of military histories.

Fussell is a very good writer, but I agree with many of the previous reviews here: it's a small book that rehashes a lot of more complete histories. I also found much of it very much in the vain of the revisionist, left wing criticisms of many of our actions during the Second World War, which, of course, is the current vogue.

War is hell. I've never experienced it, but it is very much a given that it is a terrible, terrible thing. Nonetheless, we had to do what we had to do over in Europe, which was throw infantry-men into the meat grinder that was the Second Front. Too bad we lost so many men and the atomic bomb wasn't around in 1944. Surely we would have lost far fewer if we had selectively obliterated several German cities with this device and thenceforth caused a surrender similar to the Japanese capitulation.

Now that the author is old and feels the shadows lengthening he has apparently decided to take refuge in venting his spleen against his younger stronger self. His last two books have sought to make a mockery of the young men who won WWII. He wrote a very good book "Thank God For The Atom Bomb" and an OK book on WWI and its effect on Western memory. This book is dull and in reality little more than a short story fit for Harpers or The Nation. Basically we won the war on the backs of 15 years olds and almost despite our disorganized selves. At least I think this is the author's point. The writing is muddy and I came away unsure of what he was really driving at except all the G.I.'s were poor stupid dupes. From what I have read here his most recent book continues the theme of the US soldier as inept coward. He can rail against cruel fate all he wants but he can't change his ultimate destination.

This "book" is poorly researched, shows a marked prejudice on the part of the author and presents nothing new to the reader. It is a disjointed attempt to portray war as a horrible experience--no kidding. I am sorry I bought it and would hope others do not make the same mistake.