Synopsis
When Louis Sacchetti, a poet and conscientious objector refuses to participate in the war against Third World terrorists he is confined to a special camp where experimental drugs are tested
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Review
Thomas M. Disch is one of the overlooked masters of science fiction, and Camp Concentration is one of his finest novels. The unlikely hero of this piece is Louis Sacchetti, an overweight poet who's serving a five- year prison term for being a "conchie", or conscientious objector, to the ongoing war being fought by the United States. Three months into his sentence, Sacchetti is mysteriously taken from prison and brought to Camp Archimedes, an underground compound run by General Humphrey Haast. This is the so-called "camp concentration" of the book's title, a strange oubliette where inmates are given a drug that will raise their intelligence to astounding levels, though it will also kill them in a matter of months.
Sacchetti's job is to chronicle the goings-on at Archimedes in a daily journal that is sent to Haast and other select members of the project. Through his writings, readers get to know the various characters that inhabit the camp, geniuses whose intellectual fires burn brightly even while their bodies slowly go cold. Although these latter-day Einsteins are supposed to be thinking up new ways of killing the enemy, most of the inmates are instead focusing their studies on alchemy, which Haast hopes will allow them to discover the secret of immortality.
Camp Concentration is one of those SF books that falls squarely into the "literature" category both for the eloquence of Disch's writing and the timelessness of his ruminations on life and war. This is a thoughtful novel that offers insights into human existence, and it will likely stay with readers long after they have turned the last page. Ursula K. LeGuin summed up the book best in her cover blurb, which says simply: "It is a work of art, and if you read it, you will be changed." --Craig E. Engler
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Camp concentration,
Seller: Redux Books, Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Ken Reilly (illustrator). Good hardcover with dustcover. Text is unmarked. Covers show very minor wear. Binding is tight, hinges are strong. Dust jacket shows edge wear with some rubbing, scuffing and a small tear. Previous owner's name is on end paper.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Ships same or next business day! Seller Inventory # 112604230021
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Camp Concentration
Published by
Rupert Hart-Davis, 1968
ISBN 10: 0246973528
ISBN 13: 9780246973528
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: The Book Bin, Salem, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Ken Reilly (illustrator). First Edition. 1968, first edition. 177 pages. Red hardcover with gilt spine titles, boards very good with light edgewear to spine ends, a few tiny white marks to front panel. Spine square. Binding sound. Dust jacket toned, scuffed, and lightly edgeworn; light spotting to front panel near top edge and fore-edge; good+ or very good- in Mylar. Cover price 25s. Scarce foxing to textblock fore-edge; faint thumbprint smudge to fore-edge margin of title page; pages else clean, text unmarked. Seller Inventory # BBS-2024305