Officers and Gentlemen

The "wise, amusing, and beautifully written" second installment in Evelyn Waugh's masterful trilogy of World War Two novels (Commonweal).

Fueled by idealism and eagerness to contribute to the war effort, Guy Crouchback becomes attached to a commando unit undergoing training on the Hebridean isle of Mugg, where the whisky flows freely and respect must be paid to the laird. But the comedy of Mugg is soon followed by the bitterness of Crete, where chaos reigns and a difficult evacuation must be accomplished.

Officers and Gentlemen is the second novel in Waugh's brilliant Sword of Honor trilogy recording the tumultuous wartime adventures of Guy Crouchback,"the finest work of fiction in English to emerge from World War II" (Atlantic Monthly), which also comprises Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender.

"Deft and amusing, sober and compelling. And it offers, incidentally, one of the most graceful salutes of many seasons to the flexibility of the English language." —New York Times

"A very good novel indeed. . . . Those who have served in the various American military forces will close the book reminded again that the more it changes the more it's the same." —Curtis Bradford, The New Republic

"An often very funny book. . . . Every bit as good as Men at Arms, whose splendid characterications and fine writing led many in 1952 to predict that its author had begun the best English fictional account of World War II." —TIME