Declarations of War

“Written with economy and grace . . . often exciting, sometimes eerie, always sad.”—Evening Standard

Len Deighton’s only collection of short fiction explores the devastating experiences of soldiers across twenty-three centuries of warfare, from Hannibal’s march on Rome to the jungles of Vietnam.

Across these sharp, unsparing stories, Deighton’s deep compassion for the ordinary soldier is matched only by his hatred for war and the ways it makes machines of men. His heroes are ordinary people c...