Facing the Flag or For the Flag (French: Face au drapeau) is an 1896 patriotic novel by Jules Verne. The book is part of the Voyages Extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages) series.
Like The Begum's Millions, which Verne published in 1879, it has the theme of France and the entire world threatened by a super-weapon (what would now be called a weapon of mass destruction) with the threat finally overcome through the force of French patriotism.
It can be considered one of the first books dealing with problems which were to become paramount half a century after its publication in World War II and the Cold War: brilliant scientists discovering new weapons of great destructive power, whose full utilization might literally destroy the world; the competition between superpowers to obtain overwhelming stockpiles of such weapons; and, efforts of other nations to join the nuclear club.
Read more about Facing The Flag: Plot Summary, Response, Politics, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the words facing the, facing and/or flag:
“Here is unfenced existence:
Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods?”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“—Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence
Of the unbroken ice. I stand here,
The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare
At the North Pole. . .
And now what? Why, go back.
Turn as I please, my step is to the south.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)