Synopsis
Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since enjoyed a long and well-deserved tenure in the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.
Written in gritty, journalistic detail, the story follows a platoon of Marines who are stationed on the Japanese-held island of Anopopei. Composed in 1948 with the wisdom of a man twice Mailer's age and the raw courage of the young man he was, The Naked and the Dead is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing.
New York Times
Many consider The Naked and the Dead to be the greatest combat novel ever written by an American. In it, the reader engages with Lieut. Robert Hearn, fighting in the Pacific in World War II. As the story progresses, the reader goes inside his thoughs, experiencing both his real and his imagined fears.