Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero in an interstellar war against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. But his greatest test will be when he returns home. Relativity means that for every few months' tour of duty centuries have passed on Earth, isolating the combatants ever more from the world for whose future they are fighting. The Earth he knew is dead. The one he returns to. unrecognisable. Winner of the Nebula, Locus and Hugo awards, The Forever War was the first title selected for the SF Masterworks series when it launched in 1999. Inspired by Haldeman's experience in the Vietnam War, it has been seen as a critical work of anti-war SF.
