All Quiet on the Western Front

Original Classic Translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen

In 1928—only 10 years after the end of World War I—Erich Maria Remarque’s classic war novel was published in Germany. It was an immediate hit: in its first 18 months in print, 2.5 million copies were sold, translated into 22 languages.

The title of the novel in German—Im Westen nichts neues—was rendered by its first English translator, A.W. Wheen (whose version is presented in this edition), as All Quiet on the Western Front. The English title has stuck, but the German literally means “nothing new in the West.” It is taken from the very end of the novel. It points to the book’s central theme, which centers on the experience of young Paul Baümer, who is coaxed to join the German army at the beginning of the war.

This gripping tale follows Paul and his mates as they navigate the horror, boredom, and stupidity of the First World War. We see the pain of one comrade, who loses a leg, while his friends covet the pair of boots he can no longer wear. We follow Paul’s company as it is whittled down in combat from 150 men to 32. Paul, wounded, goes home on leave, but he feels alienated from his family, who do not understand what he has gone through and to whom he cannot explain it.

Throughout this grim drama, the meaning of the original German title pokes through. The war, the greatest and bloodiest in history up to that point, is also drearily routine—perhaps its greatest horror.

All Quiet on the Western Front has caused controversy even since it appeared. It has been taken as a manifesto of pacifism and as such has been banned in countless contexts (including Nazi Germany). But at the outset, Remarque says that the book “will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.”

Remarque’s stark account speaks to the horror of war far more deeply than any manifesto could. It must be listened to by anyone who wants to understand war—that horrible yet constantly recurring part of the human condition.

©2025 Translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen (P)2025 Maple Spring Publishing

**SPOILERS!!!!*** This is meant as a critique for the production company

The very last chapter- chapter 12, needs to have a different narrator. This passage is the only time in the whole book where it shifts out of the first person, to an unknown, impromptu narrator. And you would never pick up on that switch unless you were really, really paying attention. In print format, you can see the distinct change because the new narrator is on a completely new page. I just think it would really add a whole new level of experience/performance value if all of a sudden we heard a new voice that “jolts” us to an understanding that we are not in Paul’s present moment anymore. I only figured it out because I read a Sparknotes analysis on the book. Granted, had I paid super close attention would I have realized Paul actually died and the last chapter was meant more as an epilogue? Maybe. But I feel I’m a pretty good representation of an average audible consumer and can’t imagine that I am not the first person to feel this way. I feel like I missed out on a big part of the ending because I didn’t hear it and I had to read it.

will we ever learn?

I don't need to recommend this classic.
But it is something that should be mandatory reading, and this narrator was nothing short of fantastic.