Why read The Stuff To Give The Troops?

Book cover of The Stuff To Give The Troops

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Stuff To Give The Troops as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Paul Willetts

Author

I re-read this in the wake of writing an introduction and afterword to a forthcoming edition of Julian Maclaren-Ross’s humorous yet melancholy Memoirs of the Forties, which could be described as a 1940s Withnail & I.

First published in 1944, The Stuff To Give The Troops collects his often very brief short stories about his far-from-heroic experiences as a conscript in the British army during World War II. They’re written in a conversational style that still feels fresh and modern. So too does their jaundiced tone, which prefigures M*A*S*H and Catch-22.

You can see why these stories quickly established…

From Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2023.