“One of the very few good, ambitious and important novels to have been done by the writers of my generation.” —Norman Mailer The lives of four Americans born between the world wars are intertwined to devastating effect in this gripping novel from one of the twentieth century’s most acclaimed authors.   Beautiful, sad Ellen Beniger; her younger brother, Tom, a scholar unhappily moonlighting as a TV writer; the athletic amorist Guy Cinturon; and tough little Eddie Bissle, ex-infantryman and Ellen’s secret lover, struggle to come to grips with the limits of their futures and the scars of their pasts as they enter middle age. Will the physical, emotional, and spiritual violations they have endured remain with them forever, or can they be healed?   As The Violated builds to its stunning climax, the story of four lost souls reveals heartbreaking truths about the dark side of post–World War II...

In this masterwork of confessional literature, a man approaching middle age recalls his impetuous youth with fondness, remorse, and astonishment Spanning the years 1939 to 1946, this is the story of a defining era in one man’s life and an exhilarating tribute to the entire generation that came of age during World War II.   Quince’s youthful adventures begin with his first sexual encounter, a night with a girl named Moomie in a one-room cabin in Virginia, and end with the twenty-four-year-old veteran settling down to his postwar future. In between, he falls in and out of love with dozens of women, drinks and drugs his way through two years of college and four years of military service, travels the world, and meets a dazzling array of colorful characters.   In a voice both beguiling and sincere, an older, wiser Quince narrates his escapades in search of the truth about who he was and who he has become. One of the finest...

An American man goes searching for himself in the ruins of Mexico in a novel that "deserves comparison with the best novels of the post-war generation" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). At the start of this vibrant and invigorating novel, Robert Brill has a farm, a law practice, a daughter in high school, a son fighting in Vietnam, and a wife who deep dives into the sherry bottle every night. What more can a typical midwesterner ask for in the late 1960s? A lot, thinks Brill. Tired of distracting himself with drinking, hunting, and sleeping around, Brill leaves Illinois and his family to join an archaeological dig in Puebla, Mexico. As he sifts through pre-Columbian artifacts, Brill considers the ruins of his life and imagines what might have been. One exhilarating fantasy involves a beautiful and free-spirited woman named Gabby. If there is a lesson to be learned from cataloging ancient pottery sherds, however, it is that the past never disappears, no matter...

Vance Bourjaily’s classic novel of World War II dramatizes an entire generation’s loss of innocence When Thomas “Skinner” Galt leaves Greenwich Village to volunteer as an ambulance driver with the British Army, he anticipates the adventure of a lifetime. What he fails to understand is that no matter where he comes from or how many books he has read, once he dons a military uniform, his life will cease to be his own.     Stationed first in the Middle East and then in Italy, Skinner and his fellow American volunteers, Rod, Freak, and Benny, endure boredom, fear, and the exquisite frustration of following orders. They seek solace in their friendship with one another and in the debauched diversions available to men during wartime. But as the days and nights drag on, Skinner begins to drift away from his comrades—and from himself. Too late, he discovers that the path he has chosen leads only to tragedy.  ...