What is the main conflict in Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War by Paul Fussell?

The author presents a critique of the culture and literature produced during and after World War II, often using the Great War as a contrasting phenomenon. The focus on culture and literature suggests that these aspects of human existence effectively mirror common existence. The author develops each chapter as a topical examination of a particular aspect of wartime understanding. Subsequent chapters tend to further develop themes or topics presented early in the book. The basic premise of the book is that war—particularly World War II—is not about anything intelligible, does not construct any significant meaning, and is too violent to comprehend. The book briefly examines several commonly held beliefs about the rationale of World War II and dispels them as localized paradigms without enduring validity when applied to the entire scale and scope of the conflict.