The novel “The Honor Guard” (1948) by the famous American writer James Gould Cozzens (1903–1978) for a long time occupied a leading place on the bestseller list and was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. The novel, set at a US Air Force base in Florida in 1942, provides an accurate, detailed description of the lives of military pilots and their many problems that arise when communicating with each other, between superiors and subordinates. On the other hand, the book also has a second plan that attracts readers no less than the first. The military base appears as a unique symbol of American society, which finds itself in a state of crisis, explosive, and fraught with unpredictable consequences. Considering the difficult relationship between the individual and society, Cozzens proceeds from the idea of a reasonable compromise, the ability of those who, by force of circumstances, find themselves in power, to unite the multidirectional aspirations of individuals and groups into that single flow, which, according to the author, alone can provide society with what it needs for normal life. development stability. This novel acquires special significance for our reader in connection with the turbulent social processes in the country.