Fifitieth Anniversary Edition With a new introduction by Norman Mailer * 'The best war novel to come out of the United States.' The Times * Norman Mailer's first novel. The book that catapulted him to instant fame. * A modern classic, on every American Literature student's reading list. * Based on Mailer's own experience of military service in the Philippines during World War Two, The Naked and the Dead is a graphically truthful and shattering portrayal of ordinary men in battle. First published in 1949, as America was still basking in the glories of the Allied victory, it altered forever the popular perception of warfare.