In 1831, Nat Turner awaits death in a Virginia jail cell. He is a slave, a preacher, and the leader of the only effective slave revolt in the history of 'that peculiar institution'. This novel is Turner's confession, made to jailers under the duress of his

Through the eyes of a man recollecting three episodes from his youth, this collection explores death, loss, war and racism.

Two extraordinary works about soldiers in a time of dubious peace by a writer of vast eloquence and moral authority. With stylistic panache and vitriolic wit, William Styron depicts conflicts between men of somewhat more than average intelligence and the military machine. In The Long March, a novella, two Marine reservists fight to retain their dignity while on a grueling exercise staged by a posturing colonel. The uproariously funny play In the Clap Shack charts the terrified passage of a young recruit through the prurient inferno of a Navy hospital VD ward. In both works,...

In the blaze of a Carolina summer, eight Marines are killed almost casually by misfired mortar shells. To reinstall discipline, Colonel Templeton takes his battalion on a 36-mile forced march.