There are few science fiction novels that can comfortably carry the label of 'classic' for long. The Forever War is one such novel, remaining as relevant now as it was when first published back in 1974. Collected here for the first time in Peace and War are The Forever War, its sequel Forever Free (published in 1999) and a companion novel, Forever Peace (published in 1997).

The Forever War begins during the great intergalactic war of 1997 when a previously unknown alien species known as the Taurans attack Earth's galactic outposts. Space marines are quickly conscripted, trained and dispatched to fight in space. As always, the devil is in the detail. To ensure that our forces can quickly reach their destination thousands of light years away, 'collapsars' or wormhole-like tunnels are used. However, because of time dilation, by the time the soldiers return from a short tour of duty of only months, years may have passed on Earth. As such, the soldiers return home to find a world that has moved on from an increasingly forgotten war.

In Forever Free, Mandela, one of the original soldiers, and his companions have become social relics in a world dominated by hive-mind clones. Sent to live on an ice planet (which serves as a secure zoo), the humans become restless. They plan to utilise time dilation, this time to their advantage, to travel far into time, hopefully into a less alien world.

Set in a different futuristic world, Forever Peace examines the extent to which humanity can strive to destroy itself. With the use of the sentient nanoforges, a machine capable of manufacturing any product imaginable almost instantantly, war becomes a drawn-out affair. As the soldiers discover that peace is within their hands, they must stay one step ahead of the nanoforges as it aims to create the next Big Bang.

All three novels share the same theme: that war is hell. This is most evident in The Forever War, which serves as the counter argument to Robert Heinlein's pro-war novel, Starship Troopers. Slowly, war's dark beauty sucks away the life of Mandela and destroys his soul with each promotion and tour of duty. Read together, these three novels demonstrate just how the genre can be used effectively to comment on the real world.