The nine short stories in The Longest Night recreate the Second World War atmosphere in Greece in general and Athens in particular during the grim years of the German Occupation of that country. Eight of the stories focus on the fate of Athens, and, as the subtitle of the volume suggests, it amounts to a “chronicle of a dead city” which opens with a description of the German troops entering Athens and ends with an account of their inglorious departure. It is the story of the suffering endured by the Greek people, especially those residing in Athens, and their struggle to regain their freedom. The Longest Night is a quiet, also subtle contribution to the field of “antiwar literature.” For, as the author himself puts it, “Protesting against the facts of war in a high-pitched or shrill voice does not always serve the interests of literature; by doing so, one may, indeed, give magnitude or heroic scale to such facts but at the same time deprive them of the drama and truth of living reality.” Thus, one learns as much, maybe more, about the ugliness and futility of war by observing the reaction of the “oppressed” toward their oppressors than by cataloging the latter’s atrocities. For oppressors and oppressed are equally victims of the larger impersonal forces of war, as it is symbolized by the case of the young enemy soldier about to depart from Athens for a more tragic destiny—Stalingrad.