James Jones Reading from From Here to Eternity

The troubled infantryman Robert E. Lee Prewitt, one of the key characters in James Jones' From Here to Eternity, is a former boxer and passionate bugler. His independence and intransigence lead to conflicts with his superior officers and ultimately to his tragic end.

In this recording, Jones reads the famous scene where Prewitt plays Taps at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. The passage is a masterpiece of writing, in which Taps becomes "the requiem of the common soldier." Jones' emotionally powerful reading brings out the loneliness, fear, dignity, and courage of the soldier's lot.