The Brick Foxhole

New York Times Bestseller: This "shocking" murder mystery addresses homophobia in the military during World War II (Richard Wright, author of Native Son). The men in the barracks, wrenched from the normal pursuits of life, are being molded into warriors in a battle against the "others." Isolated and fearful, they sometimes relieve their frustrations on the most disenfranchised civilians, namely homosexuals. But one weekend, one of them loses control and commits murder. This tale of suspense is also a story ahead of its time, written by a young marine stationed at Quantico who would go on to become an Academy Award–winning director of such films as Elmer Gantry and The Blackboard Jungle. Sinclair Lewis, writing in Esquire, called Richard Brooks "a really important new writer" and The Brick Foxhole was acclaimed in the Saturday Reviewof Literature as "angry, rapid,...