If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics [Paperback]

Hermann Hesse (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux; First Edition edition (June 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374509255
• ISBN-13: 978-0374509255
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in Germany and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote many novels, stories, and essays that bear a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Glass Bead Game.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hesse's "The European" - key 20th century essay, April 22, 2004

By 

Marian Douglas (Italy, in Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics (Paperback)

I don't know the "Amazon.com Customer" who wrote the 1998 review of Hesse's small book of essays _If the War Goes On_. What I do know is more than 30 YEARS after reading the same essay, "THE EUROPEAN", I'm obliged to continue recommending it to people everywhere. Hesse was European and German yet a pacifist. He also was a person with a healthy self-criticism for the population to which he belonged. In pre-Hitlerian Europe (specifically Germany) he must have suffered for his ideas and feelings far from the Teutonic/Euro ordinary. Yet he had enough courage to claim and share what he perceived. "The European" is a lesson for our times. Get this book. Share this essay.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Hesse Fans and Pacifists Too, August 9, 1998

By 

Adam Kissel ([e-mail]) (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics (Paperback)

What is it like to be a famous German novelist living in Switzerland during World War II? Innumerable Germans at their wits' end would write Hermann Hesse hoping that somehow he could help them. In this collection of short pieces, Hesse shows that the best way he knew to achieve peace was to use his pen.

It is worth getting your hands on this book just in order to read "The European," which reminds us that philosophy must above all be practical.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly translated essays and letters, August 28, 2003

By 

Schmerguls "schmerguls" (Sioux City, Ia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: If the War Goes on: Reflections on War and Politics (Paperback)

This volume covers the period from September 1914 to 1948, and consists of essays and other writings on war and Hesse's reactions to it. I was surprised how what he said resonated with me--filled with opposition to German militarism and detestion of the Nazi horror. I was again reminded of Hesse's greatness, and I don't see how the language of the translation could be better. I was greatly moved by the proof that there were good Germans who cringed in pain as they watched the slide to Hitlerian madness. There are 25 separate pieces and I am glad I own this book, so I can refer to them again and again.