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More for the scholar than the general reader . . . and a postscript re FDR
Albert Camus was a multi-faceted writer: novelist, playwright, essayist, and (for a time) journalist -- the aspect of his literary talents least known in the United States.Before the publication of "The Stranger", Camus had made a name for himself as a left-wing journalist in his native Algeria.In 1943, re-located to occupied Paris, Camus began writing for the underground Resistance newspaper "Combat" and for some time served as its editor-in-chief.From 1944 to 1946, "Combat" and Camus were among the most influential voices on political affairs in France.

CAMUS AT COMBAT collects all of Camus's journalism (mostly editorials) published in "Combat" between March 1944 and June 1947 - about 170 pieces in all.It is the first such collection published in English translation.It is an admirable volume in many ways.It is handsomely put together, with instructive and useful but not overly copious footnotes.There is an excellent 20-page foreword by David Carroll.

Among the themes addressed by Camus in various pieces were the "just" treatment of Vichy officials and Nazi collaborators, freedom of the press and democracy in post-War France, and Algeria and colonialism.Not surprisingly, the work is uneven.Too often it is cliched, emotional, or grandiloquent.But virtually every piece contains further evidence of Camus as a morally concerned intellectual, an independent and original thinker.And virtually every piece contains something of interest or value, even at this remove.

Nevertheless, I am less than enthusiastic about CAMUS AT COMBAT because, at least for me, it was impossible to read from cover to cover.That surely is a problem with any comprehensive collection of editorials.Each is written to address immediate concerns of that very day in a few hundred words, with inevitable uncertainty about what might be the topic of the next editorial.And the next editorial often deals with an entirely different subject, giving any such collection a herky-jerky feel.Camus's journalism undoubtedly was very distinguished and influential for contemporary French readers of "Combat", but more than six decades later CAMUS AT COMBAT is of more interest to the scholar than to the general reader in the English-speaking world.

Postscript:Sixty-five years ago today (on April 14, 1945), Camus wrote an editorial in response to the news of FDR's death.To give you one example of Camus's journalistic style and to honor one of the greatest U.S. presidents, here is an excerpt from that editorial:

"His face was the very image of happiness.For so many who knew him without ever coming near him, all that remains is the smile that for all those years he displayed on the front pages of newspapers, on movie screens, and amid cheering crowds of his countrymen.This is no doubt the reason for the emotion that was felt throughout the free world at the news of his death, even though it was but one of the many deaths that America has contributed to our common cause.

"History's powerful men are not generally men of such good humor. * * * To the idealism that America has shown * * * he brought grandeur and efficiency.The greatest praise one can offer him is to say that he knew the value of life. * * * His apparent happiness was not that of comfort, nor that of a mind too limited to perceive mankind's distress.He knew one thing: that there is no pain that cannot be overcome with energetic and conscientious effort.When we know this about a man, we know what he is worth, and we begin to like him."

Excellent insight into the author and the man.
Having been a big fan of Camus' novels and essays prior to discovering this collection, I was very excited to pick this up. This book is extremely well researched with lots of footnotes that add great insight into the social and political events Camus references in hist articles.

What I enjoyed most about this book was how Camus applies the themes so prevalent in his essays and novels to the dramatic events in the immediate days leading up to and following the end of WW II. I was struck by the absolute chaos and turmoil that existed but is often forgotten.

This book is excellent for so many reasons. The beauty of Camus' writing is equaled by the gravity of the events he describes.

Context
If you are unfamiliar with the global struggle against Nazism, and the French idealogical struggle against this same threat, this may not be the book for you.However, I highly doubt that this is the first title one comes across as one encountering Camus for the first time.So, if you are one of those, perhaps you may like to look at something that is more of one one the great "Nobel Prize-Wining" author's novels first.They are entirely engaging and easy to read, but an intellectual challenge.
Intellectual grandstanding aside, I found this book wonderful.It gives perspective into the mind of one of the greatest Journalists / Novelist of the twentieth century.I have enjoyed his essays and novels in the past, but as a former working journalists, the thing that amazed me the most was his ability to see into the future based off of world events.Camus's insights are as revelant today as 60 years ago when he was writing in Combat.In this book, the young man's insight's and intellectual development are laid out in a neatly ordered fashion.
A caveat, this is a hard book to "get into".While there is a grand historical narrative, there is little continuity between the passages, making this, at least for me, a lengthy read.However lengthy it was, it was worth it.Camus's insights and his highly quotable and pity quotes are massively enjoyable.My significant other would account the times I had to read her a line.As a teacher, I had to have much restraint to not plaster my room with his quotes.The entry reflecting the first explosion of the atomic bomb is worth the price of admission alone.

Truly powerful collection
For those who only know the novels of Camus, here is what I found to be an invaluable collection of his writings on key issues of the mid 1940's.It made me want to keep reading more about this major intellectual figure. ... Read more

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As a philosophy teacher, mentor, and friend, Jean Grenier (1898–1971) had an enormous influence on the young Albert Camus (1913–1960), who, in fact, acknowledged that Grenier’s Les Iles had touched the very core of his sensibility and provided him with both a "terrain for reflection, and a format" that he would later use for his own essays. Their correspondence, beginning when the seventeen-year-old Camus was Grenier’s student at the Grand Lycée of Algiers, documents the younger man’s struggle to become a writer and find his own voice, a period in which he turned frequently to his mentor for advice, comfort, and direction. The letters cover a period of almost thirty years, from 1932 to Camus’s untimely death in 1960. Because Camus destroyed the earlier correspondence he received, the first twenty-six letters in the volume are his only; the full begins in 1940.

These enlightening letters offer invaluable glimpses into the development of Camus’s aesthetic ideas, literary production, and political stance. In contrast to the correspondence of Grenier, who throughout remains somewhat reticent about his life and doubtful about himself and his works, Camus’s letters are a window into his most profound thoughts and sensitivities, delving deeply into his psyche and, at times, revealing a side of the writer unfamiliar to us. Undoubtedly they allow us a better understanding of Albert Camus, the man and the artist.

Jan F. Rigaud is an associate professor at Villanova University. ... Read more

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Great Seller
The book came in very fast and at a very affordable price.The seller was very professional and I would recommend buying from this seller to everyone. ... Read more

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In 1952, Jean-Paul Sartre engaged Albert Camus in a celebrated and bitter public confrontation that had wide-ranging cultural significance. This book contains the first English translation of the five texts constituting this famous philosophical quarrel. Personally animated, passionately argued, polemically focused, this confrontation was as much a personal encounter as it was a theoretical debate. Alternating between stylistic brilliance and stinging sarcasm, each draws upon their years of past involvement as former friends both to make their criticisms more pointed and their theoretical critique more challenging. At the same time, their views serve as lightning rods for the wider cultural forces of which they are partial expressions. ... Read more

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Is there a third way?
Not only does this book contain the original articles that comprise one of the great intellectual debates of the last century, it also has very helpful contextual commentary by the editors.

One can substitute terrorism for Stalinism and the debate is, if you will forgive the cliche, as current as the headlines. But it most certainly is not at all like the sound bite debates of Cross Fire. Great breath and depth in the arguments of the participants - anguished arguments about the relationships betweenmeans and ends, justice and freedom; and finally personal responsibility.

Camus corectly sees Stalinism, read terrorism, an an unmitigated evil. Yet, he sought to live as neither victim nor executioner. That caused him no end of grief, especially as he confronted the Algerian situation. Nevertheless his arguments call to mind the views of the Polish and Czech dissidents in the 80s. An anti-politics, a living "as if" one were free. No crusade to eliminate evil from the earth, no war; rather a third way.

Sartre on the other hand saw Stalinism as an understandable, even necessary, response to the injustice inflicted on the wretched of the earth. His understanding of human nature, dare one use that term in discussing Sartre, was such that chioce was required in all circumstances. By this time, in Sartre's thinking, no third way was possible. If the choice is between victim or executioner, he would choose executioner.

Sartre is correct, one must choose. Camus is correct, there is a third way. Enter the debate if you dare. There is no easy exit.

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A double value
The notebooks are valuable as the record of a life, and also as a kind of preliminary sketchbook to the works. Here one can see Camus groping toward the chrystallization of his most significant works. The aphoristic and descriptive beauty of some of the passages also add to the value of the work.

An existentialist in the process
After reading all of Camus' works I read his notebooks, and all of it sudden his track of mind made sense. You can clearly see the train of thoughts before The Stranger and The Fall. This book is essential for anyone who is into existentialism, absurdism and their derivatives.

I would like to say this is more of a philosophical book, but Albert's desire was always to be recognized as a writer more than a thinker. His entries are of an artist expressing his lassitude towards meaning and some paragraphs are harsh while criticizing war, love and human nature. If you are overly religious, this book may not be for you.

Great collection of entries fromwriter who should've won more Nobel Prizes and who is the father of modern existentialism.. still.

Albert Camus, writer.
For too many decades and by too many college instructors, Albert Camus has been clumped together with Jean-Paul Sartre and others under the heading of "Existentialist". This collection of Camus' notebooks indicates that there were many other things going on in his thinking, and Existentialism was hardly one of them. In fact, several revealing excerpts show us a man who disagreed with it fundamentally.

That aside, what it really presents to the reader is that Camus is first and foremost a writer. Whether it's creative writing, critical writing, reflective writing, etc., he was accomplished at all of them. His description of a sunset, quaint as it might sound, is so beautiful it's almost heartbreaking. Meanwhile, his political observations are keen, with a strong sense of urgency.

Equally fascinating is to observe his literary works taking shape: to see the mind of a writer putting a major opus together. To me, this is the major contribution of the book. I highly recommend this book to aspiring writers, diarists, or to anyone interested in the mid-20th century thought. That goes for Existentialists too.

Great insight to his work
This novel , more like a autobiography is great because in it he tells of certain unforgetable conversations and ideas that his mind has come up with.It just makes me want to read more of his work because now i know how he gets some of his ideas and the process he goes through in creating a grea novel.Although the notes are written in a form that is different then usual , they are great to read.I recomend it. ... Read more

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"All Men Believe In God, Even Those Who Reject Him"
Camus could sweep through a volume of philosophy with one razor edged sentence.
I may not agree with all his perspectves, but I do give him the credit of genius.

This september (not january) 1954 'Vintage Books' edition has gained a collectors cult following (If only for the haunting cover).But the reason escapes me.certainly the disaffected void hangs heavily throughout this story.It's unrelenting grip of dread holds the reader tightly.But personally I feel this translation lacks the true Camus ambience. ... Read more

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"Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken."

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Condamn?? ?? mort, Meursault. Sur une plage alg??rienne, il a tu?? un Arabe. ?? cause du soleil, dira-t-il, parce qu'il faisait chaud. On n'en tirera rien d'autre. Rien ne le fera plus r??agir : ni l'annonce de sa condamnation, ni la mort de sa m??re, ni les paroles du pr??tre avant la fin. Comme si, sur cette plage, il avait soudain eu la r??v??lation de l'universelle ??quivalence du tout et du rien. La conscience de n'??tre sur la terre qu'en sursis, d'une mort qui, quoi qu'il arrive, arrivera, sans espoir de salut. Et comment ??tre autre chose qu'indiff??rent ?? tout apr??s ??a ? ... Read more

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Vocabulary surprise
I don't know if I just didn't read this in the description when I bought the book, but when I opened it up this evening I found-to my surprise-that there is a list in the back of the book with the verbs used in the text. My French skills are sufficient for most things, but I have to admit that the presence of that reference material is comforting.

Other than that, the book arrived in great shape, just as expected.

It has changed my life forever
When I had to study L'Etranger for my school exams, I at first greeted itwith mild distaste - that is, until I got to know Mersault.This leadcharacter made you want to strangle him and protect him from society at thesame time.He truly illustrated the absurdity of life and the hypocrisy inwhich we all take part.I LOVE THIS BOOK!!I have read it no less thanten times and as soon as I start University next month guess what's goingto be the first book I borrow from the library?!? P.S.If anyone out therewants to send me a free copy of the book (in FRENCH of course) please feeldo so!! ... Read more

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Collected for the first time in English, 41 of Albert Camus's Combat essays trace the evolution of moral and political themes central to his literary works ... Read more

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Good essays, but collected better elsewhere
I liked the essays, but I liked them better in the more fleshed out "Camus at Combat," which in my opinion has better translations for the English reader.

See where Camus got his ideas for his later work.
I am sad to see no other reviews of this book on Amazon. This is a well written book full of essays written by Albert Camus for the frenchresistance paper Combat. Like the title suggests Albert Camus is faced'Between Hell And Reason' with what he and the world was faced against.Much like Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia" we see the writer in hisearly age before his written his major works and going off into the abyssof war. We see them mold ideas which mostly are more radical and lesscomplicated which they would use later to write "masterpieces".

The essays start with the liberation of Paris. The topics throughout thebook go from self critique of the paper to responses of major figures inthe war.My favorite essays were the ones that pointed out how false andfake the press were during the war. Camus however doesn't just criticizeother figures and press, he self-critques his own paper Combat. Camus isvery honest and isn't just filled with meaningless words. He really meanswhat he says and doesn't say it if it's not true. Mostly when I readpolitical essays and other works of the same nature, I mostly feelalienated and disagree but with "Between Hell And Reason" I couldunderstand and really believe what Camus said. Very few political pieces dothat to me.

This edition of "Between Hell And Reason" has a bigintroduction with translator's notes and footnotes for the essays. Anyonewho wants to really study Albert Camus could use a lot from this edition of"Between Hell And Reason." ... Read more