About the Author

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Poet, novelist, and journalist Henri Barbusse (1873-1935) enlisted in the French army in 1914 at the age of 41. His novel Le Feu: journal d'une escouade (Under Fire: The Story of a Squad)received French literature's prestigious Prix Goncourt for fiction in 1916 and drew both acclaim and criticism for its harsh realism. Barbusse's wartime experiences drew him toward pacifism and communism, and after the war he joined the French Communist Party, traveled to Russia, and wrote a biography of Stalin.Translator William Fitzwater Wray (c.1870-1938) was an English journalist who specialized in reporting on cycling.