By Ernst Junger Storm of Steel (Penguin Modern Classics) (New Ed)

Since its publication in 1920, Storm of Steel, written by Ernst Junger, has been surrounded by controversy. Many have misunderstood Junger and accused him of attempting to glorify war. I saw no evidence of the glorification of war in his book. Junger has obviously been desensitized to violence does not show much emotion to the atrocities of war that he witnesses. However, I did see evidence of compassion and a longing for the life that he had before the war.
I finished this book in less than two days. From the second I opened the book I fell in love with the words on the pages. I fell in love with this book because of Junger's indifference towards war. I could tell that this book was written by a true warrior, someone who had borne the weight of war. Infantrymen on the front lines of war are often desensitized towards the horrors they witness. What a person witnesses in war is often difficult to understand and describe in more detail then merely recalling the events. Junger does not try to glorify or condemn war, He merely tells his story of the war that he and the average soldier experienced throughout the war. The only way a person could possibly cope with daily life in an all out war would be to become indifferent towards it. How else could someone survive the constant artillery bombardments, gas attacks, mass infantry assaults and constant death.
Junger briefly names no more than a few soldiers that he goes to war with. As participant in a war in which over 37 million people were either killed or wounded, I am not surprised that he attempted to only have a few close bonds with his fellow soldiers. On two occasions throughout the war, Junger's Company was almost decimated. I believe that Junger avoided friendships or even knowing the names of the majority of the men he served with. He did this to protect him from constant grieving over friends that were killed in the battle.
After months on the front Junger and his men return to the rear for rest. Junger writes the following passage as he sits in a leather armchair next to a warm fire. "Those few days were used by all of us to enjoy the life that we'd had to fight so had to cling on to. We still couldn't quite grasp that for the time being we'd given death the slip, and we wanted to feel the possession of this new lease on life, by enjoying it in every way possible." (P.203 Junger) As someone who has returned from the blood, sweat and filth of war, this was a powerful passage to me. There are simple things in life that many people take for granted. To a war veteran, sitting in a warm room next to a fire could be one of the most beautiful moments of their life.
On Page 233, Junger describes a scene in which he encounters a wounded british officer on the battlefield. He is about to shoot the man when the Brit pulls out a picture of his family. "It was a plea from another world. Later, I thought it was a blind chance that I let him go and plunged onward. That one man of all often appeared in my dreams. I hope that man got to see his homeland again." Junger, who had endured 4 years of horrific trench warfare was still able to feel compassion towards fellow man. I believe that his desensitization towards the cruelty of war heightened his sense of compassion and empathy towards humanity. I can relate to Junger because of my time in Eastern Afghanistan as an Infantryman in the US Army. In the volatile Hindu Kush mountains, savage death and the chaotic beauty of war have coexisted for the last 30 years. Witnessing the horrors of war and the misogynist Pashtun culture heightened my compassion not only towards the women and children that had that way of life forced upon them but towards all that suffered the consequences of war.
Storm of Steel has often been compared to All Quiet on the Western Front, an antiwar book written by Erich Maria Remarque. There are many differences between these two books which make it difficult to compare and contrast them. The former being a memoir, written by an Infantryman who spent 4 years on the front and was simply telling his story. The latter being a fictional novel, written an Sapper who only spent about a month near the front. I would say that the Stormtrooper who was wounded 14 times on six different occasions is better qualified to tell the average man's story of World War I.
In Conclusion, many readers may be astonished by the fact that Junger is not disillusioned by the horrors of war. My hypothesis, is that Junger had suffered so much physical, mental and emotional pain that he was desensitized and used indifference as a defense mechanism to the block out the war. Due to Junger's combat experience, he wrote his memoir in a different manner than Remarque wrote All Quiet on the Western Front. I don't believe that Junger was attempting to glorify war but merely tell his story of the war.

Any serious student of WWI will need to read this as it comes straight from Ernst Jungers diaries. It doesn't bog the reader down with the politics and the why's of the war - just a straight forward description of trench warfare and observations. Unless one can read German, this is as close as one can get to reading the original text.

As with most Penguin Books, the product itself is well made and the print is easy-to-read. The pages are thick and bound well and the print is bold.

As for the content, Storm Of Steel is one of the best books I've read and is sure to be a repeat-read in the future. It is a short read, only a little over 200 pages, but I rank it right up there with Hemingway (only Junger's book is a true, first-hand account).

Interesting insight from a German infantryman about life in the trenches facing the French and English adversary.
World War One is in my opinion quite fascinating. Perhaps more so then World War II.

This book was easy to read and incredibly interesting. just could not put it down. How this guy had the luck survived as long as he did, besides being a extraordinary soldier, is beyond me. Its not like he didn't have enough near death experinces. The worst part of the book is the foreward by some tool who basically bashes the inital author, Junger's, writing style and tries to tell everyone 'what he really means'. Next edition should eliminate that entire section.
-not bob levy

Purely an in the trenches account of war. Great descriptions of artillery and the great loss of life during battles. No mention of politics, which is done on purpose and I think it works well without. The book thus stands on its own as a record of Juenger's war and is not tainted by morals or political spin. Also, he gets wounded alot and suffers great losses of his men, so if you like intense action...

This is absolutely a great book about a truly horrible war. I could not put it down. It is especially valuable for its perspetive from the German side of the war since so little of that side is published in English.

Perhaps best described as the antithesis of Erich M. Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front", this is an excellent account of the Great War. It is a very compelling read. Junger was an exceptional man, very different from most soldiers during this war. Recommended to anyone interested in the history of the Great War.

Fantastic book that is Junger's account of WW1. He really conveys the quick changes of combat from sitting in a trench bored for hours at a time to a mad scramble to find cover because enemy artillery is raining. Overall it's a interesting glimpse at WW2 from someone who was actually there.

The new Deluxe Edition of 2016 is cheaper and bigger: Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches for the one version. Product Dimensions for this older, 2004 edition: 5 x 0.5 x 7.7 inches for the old. Page count is the same.

I was supposed to be a professor of modern European history (Ph. D. 1972). However, I instead went to work for the government and retired several years ago. How did I miss this one? The best narrative of WW I, from a first person perspective, ie. an original soruce. Can't read everything in grad school, I suppose.

The book is great. The story is fantastic, but the translation is very clunky. There were times I couldn't even understand what the meaning of sentences were. Often I had to read a sentence two or three times and still didn't understand what was meant. Eventually I gave up and just skipped these weird sentences. Let me give you an example. Pg. 192. " I laughed on the other side of my face. . . ." Huh? Do you mean I laughed behind their back. That may be very well what the literal translation is, but it makes no sense in English.
The editor sucks! I never like penguin editions but this is honestly the only one you can find. Pg. 258. "a thick fug." You know, I have often been enveloped in a thick fug too. Pg. ". . .having picked them up unasked in the crater. Seeing that did for me." Do they have people that work for them? People that read? These mistakes are infuriating when you actually want to read a book and understand it.

The book is great. The story is fantastic, but the translation is very clunky. There were times I couldn't even understand what the meaning of sentences were. Often I had to read a sentence two or three times and still didn't understand what was meant. Eventually I gave up and just skipped these weird sentences. Let me give you an example. Pg. 192. " I laughed on the other side of my face. . . ." Huh? Do you mean I laughed behind their back. That may be very well what the literal translation is, but it makes no sense in English.
The editor sucks! I never like penguin editions but this is honestly the only one you can find. Pg. 258. "a thick fug." You know, I have often been enveloped in a thick fug too. Pg. ". . .having picked them up unasked in the crater. Seeing that did for me." Do they have people that work for them? People that read? These mistakes are infuriating when you actually want to read a book and understand it.

An okay book about WW1 from the Imperial German side. Has a few short sections which give an insight to how troops lived on the line but they are few and far between. The writers angle seems to be more in the style of the 1900s, the brave warrior and his band of men. I guess the book has been connected to the German socialist movement of the 20's-30's. It seems to me that Junger just tries to put a happy face on a pointless war. If you have served in the military, the book I think would be more enjoyable as the author describes his problems with higher command, and operating in the front lines, along with his interaction with support commands. For living historians not a lot here, but a good starter book.

This book is well written, well translated and flows well on the memoirs of a german private at the start of WW1 and officer by the end, but for all the hype that I had heard about this book it is no where near as good as Rommel's ATTACK and his experience of WW1 that book was full on action.
Storm of Steel does give graphic details of life in and out of the front line including some major battles he took part in, still overrated