The Cross and the Arrow: Albert Maltz (Calder Publications) - Softcover

Albert Maltz

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714550787 ISBN 13: 9780714550787

Publisher: Calder Publications (UK), 2024

Synopsis

Despite being decorated with a German Service Cross, Willi Wegler is inwardly sickened by both Hitlerā€™s genocidal war and the complicity of his fellow citizens in Third Reich brutalities. Wracked by guilt, he suddenly betrays his country in a profound gesture of protest and self-sacrifice: during the course of an air raid, he fashions an enormous arrow out of hay in an open field, then ignites it as a flaming signal to direct British bombers to the site of the factory where he works ā€“ an act that cannot fail to precipitate a series of dramatic events.

The Cross and the Arrow ā€“ first published in 1944, during the latter stages of the war it describes ā€“ portrays a manā€™s struggle to retain his dignity in defiance of state-sponsored cruelty and explores the role and responsibility of the individual in the face of tragic global events. In its examination of an enemyā€™s complex heroism, it provides a life-affirming message of humanityā€™s ultimate capacity for good.

About this title

About the Author

Albert Maltz (1908–85) was a prizewinning American playwright, fiction writer and screenwriter. His novel The Cross and the Arrow, about the German resistance to the Nazi regime, was distributed to 150,000 American soldiers during the Second World War. He worked on a number of films, including Casablanca, until he was blacklisted during the period of Cold War anti-Communist hysteria. He is best remembered today for his novels A Tale of One January and The Journey of Simon McKeever.

From the Back Cover

Despite being decorated with a German Service Cross, Willi Wegler is inwardly sickened by both Hitler's genocidal war and the complicity of his fellow citizens in Third Reich brutalities. Wracked by guilt, he suddenly betrays his country in a profound gesture of protest and self-sacrifice: during the course of an air raid, he fashions an enormous arrow out of hay in an open field, then ignites it as a flaming signal to direct British bombers to the site of the factory where he works - an act that cannot fail to precipitate a series of dramatic events.

The Cross and the Arrow - first published in 1944, during the latter stages of the war it describes - portrays a man's struggle to retain his dignity in defiance of state-sponsored cruelty and explores the role and responsibility of the individual in the face of tragic global events. In its examination of an enemy's complex heroism, it provides a life-affirming message of humanity's ultimate capacity for good.

Contains an introduction by Patrick Chura, Distinguished Professor, University of Akron.

Edition details

• Publisher: Calder Publications (UK)
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0714550787
• ISBN 13: 9780714550787
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400