Understanding Erich Maria Remarque

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In this book, Wagener presents the life and work of the German writer Erich Maria Remarque, whose antiwar and exile novels have sold millions of copies worldwide. The author tells of Remarque's fascinating life as a child in the Westphalian city of Osnabruck, as a soldier in World War 1 as a newspaper editor in Hannover and Berlin, as the famed author of All Quiet on the Western Front, and as a German living in exile in Switzerland and the United States. Wagener then provides an in-depth analysis of Remarque's novels, placing them in the context of 20th century history. A discusssion of their aesthetic merits as well as their reception in the United States and in Germany is also included.