a general he called "off his rocker, and the only idea in his one-track mind was 'field of fire,' " (p. 63) the idea of destroying everything in your path. In this case, the Abbey "lay exactly between two armies, one German, the other American," (p. 63). Although Robert said that the German army needed a field of fire "like a hole in the head," he destroyed it all the same, "just three days before the war ended" (p. 63), as a punishment for the monks who supported war. Later in the novel, Robert's son Joseph is presented as an architect who helps rebuild the Abbey. After he learns that it was his father who demolished it, he abandons the reconstruction project, not willing to participate any more. Even his career in architecture is in doubt. Although initially Heinrich is greatly affected by the Abbey's destruction (he had "walked through the rubble of the Abbey…mumbling what the peasants were mumbling, what Grandmother had always muttered in the air-raid shelter, whywhywhy" (p. 201), he finally becomes reconciled to it, regarding it as an insignificant loss compared with the loss of actual human lives. At the very end of the novel, at Heinrich's birthday party, there is a model of St. Anthony's made from cake. Joseph and Robert's adopted son Hugo bring the cake in and watch Heinrich "cut off the spire of the Abbey first, and passed the plate to Robert," (p. 280). They have reconciled and their family history has become emblematic of Germany's history in the setting of St. Anthony Abbey. The fictional St. Anthony Abbey is thought to have been inspired by the actual Maria Laach Abbey, whose monks were accused of collaborating with the Nazi regime. Adaptations In 1965, Billiards at Half-Past Nine was made into a film entitled Not Reconciled directed by Jean-Marie Straub and Danielle Huillet. References External links BBC Radio adaptation College discussion guide with family tree, cast of characters, symbols and glossary (by Harold Marcuse at UCSB) Grinnell College discussion guide with chapter synopses 1959 German novels Novels by Heinrich Böll German historical novels German-language novels Novels about Nazi Germany Kiepenheuer & Witsch books German novels adapted into films Novels set in one day