Paul Fussell

"Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic," by Paul Fussell. Little Brown. 310 pages. $24.95.Paul Fussell hates war and the political-military complex that attempts to give it meaning and purpose. He hates it with a loathing stemming directly from the horrors he encountered as an infantry lieutenant in World War II.Much of his literary career has been dedicated to exploding the ** notion that this was "the Good War" - in contrast, obviously, to the equally prevalent sentiment that Vietnam was "the Bad War."

The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945, by Paul Fussell. Modern Library. 208 pages. $19.95. Paul Fussell, who has written widely on war, knows firsthand the absolute terror and brutality that combat can inflict upon adolescent infantryman. He was a 22-year-old lieutenant leading a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division when he was severely wounded in France during World War II. In this crisply written, profoundly moving and all-too-vivid narrative, Fussell chronicles the role of American soldiers during the last full year of the war. The campaign from the bloody beaches of Normandy to the triumphant fall of Berlin in the spring of 1945 is the framework on which he has chosen to tell the story of the effects of war on those who were destined to fight it. "It should strike everyone as funny that armies at war are insane institutions devoted to two quite contradictory operations, both brought to the highest technological standard," he observes.

More than 20 years ago, Paul Fussell dedicated the book that made him an important literary figure in America to Sgt. Edward Keith Hudson, "Killed beside me in France." It happened March 15, 1945.The dedication was a poetic gesture to the man whose life was snuffed out by the same artillery blast that put Lieutenant Fussell into the hospital in World War II. The book, which won the National Book Award and carries the dedication to Hudson, was about the First World War, 1914-1918. Titled "The Great War and Modern Memory," it explored the poetry, memoirs and other outpourings of some of Britain's great writers who had first-hand experience in the trenches.

Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. By Paul Fussell. Houghton Mifflin. 224 pages. $22. I have been a fan of Paul Fussell for years -- not just of his rich, beautifully written World War I history, The Great War and Modern Memory, but also of his 1983 effort, Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, whose winsome, cranky voice was eclipsed only by its stunning accuracy. Thus I eagerly looked forward to Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. This book is not, however, all that I had hoped it would be. The first disappointment was that it focused on uniforms in a literal way -- not, say, the gray flannel suit of mid-20th-century businessmen or the baggy trousers of contemporary hip-hop types, but clothing actually issued by institutions like the military and the post office.

Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. By Paul Fussell. Houghton Mifflin. 224 pages. $22. I have been a fan of Paul Fussell for years -- not just of his rich, beautifully written World War I history, The Great War and Modern Memory, but also of his 1983 effort, Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, whose winsome, cranky voice was eclipsed only by its stunning accuracy. Thus I eagerly looked forward to Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear. This book is not, however, all that I had hoped it would be. The first disappointment was that it focused on uniforms in a literal way -- not, say, the gray flannel suit of mid-20th-century businessmen or the baggy trousers of contemporary hip-hop types, but clothing actually issued by institutions like the military and the post office.

The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945, by Paul Fussell. Modern Library. 208 pages. $19.95. Paul Fussell, who has written widely on war, knows firsthand the absolute terror and brutality that combat can inflict upon adolescent infantryman. He was a 22-year-old lieutenant leading a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division when he was severely wounded in France during World War II. In this crisply written, profoundly moving and all-too-vivid narrative, Fussell chronicles the role of American soldiers during the last full year of the war. The campaign from the bloody beaches of Normandy to the triumphant fall of Berlin in the spring of 1945 is the framework on which he has chosen to tell the story of the effects of war on those who were destined to fight it. "It should strike everyone as funny that armies at war are insane institutions devoted to two quite contradictory operations, both brought to the highest technological standard," he observes.

"Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends."Paul Fussell According to news reports from Washington, President Bush strolled the White House grounds at dawn," which evoked the cinematic image of a solitary commander-in-chief, reflective and contemplative, awed by his power and the immensity of his responsibility. Other news reports said the question of war with Iraq "weighed heavily" on the president.

BAD: Or the Dumbing of America. By Paul Fussell. Summit Books. 201 pages. $19. WHAT is it that unnerves us in an expensive restaurant when a blow-dried person in an apron presumes intimacy by saying: "My name is Sandy and I'll be your server tonight"? Why does the recitation of the "specials" -- bloated with adjectives about the sauce slathered on them and the sensuous pliability of their fibers -- make us worry we're being taken?Finally, Paul Fussell explains this experience, and many others like it, in his new book, "BAD: Or the Dumbing of America."

To some, H. L. Mencken is Baltimore's sage -- his hyperbolic biting criticism are the words of pure truth. To others, he is Baltimore's scourge -- an anti-Semitic bigot and woman hater.But Mencken really was an artist who had a love for words and a magical way of crafting them, Paul Fussell, award-winning author and University of Pennsylvania professor, told a packed room of Mencken lovers at the revered writer's 117th birthday anniversary celebration yesterday at the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Cathedral Street.

The defendant, Kingsley Amis, stands accused of incorrigibly right-wing views and -- worse still -- attitudes deeply offensive to women, all expressed vigorously and repeatedly in his novels.The counsel for the defense, Paul Fussell, has filed a spirited brief on behalf of his client, who is also a friend. He concedes that Mr. Amis went a bit potty about the Red Menace during the years before it collapsed under its own weight. But the charge of anti-feminism, he argues, rises mainly from the vulgar error of misidentifying characters in a novel with the author -- which is particularly unfair to Mr. Amis, who has created some of the most thoroughly disagreeable characters in contemporary British fiction.

More than 20 years ago, Paul Fussell dedicated the book that made him an important literary figure in America to Sgt. Edward Keith Hudson, "Killed beside me in France." It happened March 15, 1945.The dedication was a poetic gesture to the man whose life was snuffed out by the same artillery blast that put Lieutenant Fussell into the hospital in World War II. The book, which won the National Book Award and carries the dedication to Hudson, was about the First World War, 1914-1918. Titled "The Great War and Modern Memory," it explored the poetry, memoirs and other outpourings of some of Britain's great writers who had first-hand experience in the trenches.

"Doing Battle: The Making of a Skeptic," by Paul Fussell. Little Brown. 310 pages. $24.95.Paul Fussell hates war and the political-military complex that attempts to give it meaning and purpose. He hates it with a loathing stemming directly from the horrors he encountered as an infantry lieutenant in World War II.Much of his literary career has been dedicated to exploding the ** notion that this was "the Good War" - in contrast, obviously, to the equally prevalent sentiment that Vietnam was "the Bad War."

BAD: Or the Dumbing of America. By Paul Fussell. Summit Books. 201 pages. $19. WHAT is it that unnerves us in an expensive restaurant when a blow-dried person in an apron presumes intimacy by saying: "My name is Sandy and I'll be your server tonight"? Why does the recitation of the "specials" -- bloated with adjectives about the sauce slathered on them and the sensuous pliability of their fibers -- make us worry we're being taken?Finally, Paul Fussell explains this experience, and many others like it, in his new book, "BAD: Or the Dumbing of America."

"Every war is ironic because every war is worse than expected. Every war constitutes an irony of situation because its means are so melodramatically disproportionate to its presumed ends."Paul Fussell According to news reports from Washington, President Bush strolled the White House grounds at dawn," which evoked the cinematic image of a solitary commander-in-chief, reflective and contemplative, awed by his power and the immensity of his responsibility. Other news reports said the question of war with Iraq "weighed heavily" on the president.

Engaging the hippocampus is going to be as popular as eating hot dogs and drinking beer at Oriole Park at Camden Yards this afternoon.That's because, as Professor Larry Squire explains it, "For a perception to transfer into memory, the hippocampus system has to become involved."So, if those attending Opening Day are going to cherish their memories for years to come, their hippocampi, a part of the brain in the media-temporal lobe, are going to be working overtime.Otherwise, the images might go the way of the name of that person you met briefly on the way into the park.

As Paul Fussell sees it, we can only remember crucial moments in our lives when the facts can be made to fit one of a small number of fictional plots, the roots of which date back thousands of years.Speaking at a scientific and cultural symposium on memory at Johns Hopkins Hospital yesterday, the author of "The Great War and Modern Memory" said we use the tremendous power of stories and myths to shape our past. In turn, those myths seem to determine which memories we keep and which we toss away.