Author(s): Archibald Baxter

NZ Biography/Memoir

Against the backdrop of troops being mindlessly slaughtered at the whim of upper-echelon officers, WE WILL NOT CEASE is a story of extreme bravery and resolve. WE WILL NOT CEASE is the epic record of New Zealander Archibald Baxter's brutal treatment as a conscientious objector. In 1915, when he was 33, Baxter was arrested, sent to prison, then shipped under guard to Europe where he was forced to the front line against his will. Punished to the limits of his physical and mental endurance, Baxter was stripped of all dignity, beaten, starved and left for dead. In the final attempt to discredit him authorities consigned him to a mental institution, an experience that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Archibald Baxter's lonely fight against 'the war to end all wars' is a nightmare that Kafka could have penned except that the story is true. Long regarded as a classic, his book is as relevant now as when it was first published in 1939.