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3.5 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

By Vicente Blasco Ibáñez & John Turnure
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez & John Turnure digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

The epic tale of an Argentine landowner's family fighting on opposite sides during World War I became a worldwide best-selling novel when first published in 1916. Fanatical nationalism tragically triumphs over common sense and family ties, causing horrific destruction and death in a war the likes of which the world had never seen.

More than a story about long-ago events, this historical novel is a piercing meditation on modern warfare and a profound warning about the dangers of isolationist nationalism. This first new translation in decades offers a fresh look at a disastrous global tragedy that is eerily relevant to current events in the 21st century.

The 1921 American silent film had a huge cultural impact and became the year's top-grossing film. It turned actor Rudolph Valentino into a superstar and inspired a tango craze and gaucho pants fashion fad.

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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Reviews

3.5
“A truly masterful work, it's biggest failing is it's pentient for making some of it's points hyper-explicit when the rest of the work does a phenomenal job of illustrating those points already. Regardless, the novel's greatest strength is the way it takes a scalpel to the nationalist psyche. Vicente essentially argues that the end point of nationalism is violence on a literally apocalyptic level. Patriotism is fine but true nationalism (the belief that your nation is divinely chosen and is the greatest nation on earth, and that all previous great nations only existed to bring yours into existence) can only end in violence. Because if your nation is the greatest ever, then is it not your divine prerogative to spread your nation across the entire world? This will always lead to violence, and the inevitability of this violence is simply multiplied by the number of nationalistic nations in existence. Vicente illustrates this by creating a vivid picture of the culture at large before the war broke out. The level of aristocratic pomp and circumstance and the conspicuous wealth set against the backdrop of normalized nationalist dialogue until it all comes to a violent end. The characters are somewhat shielded from the worst of it because of their wealth but they are unable to escape it ultimately. And to say the novel's depictions of war are 'brutal' is an understatement.”
“Why have I never heard of this classic before? Originally written in Spanish, it tells the story of an Argentinian landowner, whose two daughters marry, one to a French man and one to a German, right near the beginning of WWI. It documents the invasion of France by Germany and the Battle for Paris. It's a beautiful, sweeping tale, of how war can tear apart a family. Many of the characters aren't particularly likeable, but they do feel real. If you haven't read this classic, I highly recommend it!”

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