James Jones Reading from The Thin Red Line: From Great American Authors Read from Their Works, Volume 2

The Thin Red Line, Jones' second war novel, is set in Guadalcanal and is notable for its explicit and harrowing depiction of battle. As in From Here to Eternity, its characters are enlisted men and officers who feel trapped in a situation they can neither control nor often understand. The book is a telling commentary on the violence done to soldiers, as well as by them.