It is sometimes claimed that next to the Bible, Erich Maria Remarque's Im Westen nichts Neues (1929; translated as All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929; has sold more copies than any other book in history. Whether that claim is true or not, the enormous popularity of this best-seller has made the name Remarque a household word for over half a century; and without much question that name is recognized by more readers around the world than that of any other modern German writer. For serious observers of literature he does not rank with Thomas Mann, Heinrich Böll, or Bertolt Brecht; but generations of young people continue to form their attitudes toward war from Im Westen nichts Neues, and it is difficult to find a literate person anywhere who has not read the novel.

In spite of such success, however, Remarque is not very well known today if...