The Praetorians

Jean Larteguy's unflinching sequel to The Centurions, a searing novel of modern warfare admired by military experts, with a foreword by General Stanley McChrystal Based on the events of May 1958 in France and Algeria, The Praetorians picks up in the footsteps of The Centurions, which was called "a stunning reflection of modern war" by Stanley McChrystal. After turning to tactics of guerilla warfare, a group of French paratroopers serving in the Algerian War is called to answer for actions they consider necessary, however immoral. Fearing another loss of French honor, they plot a coup that results in the return to power of Charles de Gaulle and the death of one of their own. With resonance to modern conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, The Praetorians further develops some of Larteguy's most persistent and pertinent themes: counterinsurgency, the ugly, morally conflicted nature of modern war, and the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between the experiences of soldiers and of the civilians they serve.