[In "And No Birds Sang" Mowat has written about his experiences as a soldier in World War II] in a departure from his usual subject matter, natural history, which he covered in such fine books as "Never Cry Wolf" and "A Whale for the Killing."

His purpose in doing so, he informs us, is to put down the lie that it is worthwhile to die for one's country. The discovery he made, in the shell-pitted hills and valleys of Italy nearly 40 years ago, is that there are no good wars. One resists the urge to tell him: You are not alone. It would take a writer of considerably more power than Mr. Mowat can summon to bring any freshness of feeling to this worn theme. Most of us know by now that in war men are killed unfairly. But some of us might still argue that there were...