Forgotten Voices Of The Great War - Hardcover

Arthur, Max

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 009191227X ISBN 13: 9780091912277

Publisher: Ebury Press, 2006

Synopsis

The original edition of this landmark book brought history to life in a way that had never been done before - through the words of ordinary men and women. Their eyewitness accounts tell the story of the war in a way that no other history title can. Now this bestselling book has been edited, adapted and illlustrated to make it more accessible and even more commercial. It is the only history book on the market that consists almost entirely of authentic oral accounts of the Great War, told in the words of the people who survived it. Divided into three sections, each section is arranged thematically so that readers can find out more about subjects such as what life was really like in the trenches or how women contributed to the war effort. Fully illustrated with photographs from the Imperial War Museum archives, maps and timelines, complete with special features boxes giving additional background information and a glossary, this book is destined to become an essential reference for pupils, teachers and families everywhere.

About this title

Product Description:

Physical description; 160 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 24 cm. Subjects; World War, 1914-1918 - Personal narratives. World War, 1914-1918 - Sources.

Review:

Max Arthur's compilation of First World War memories, Forgotten Voices of the Great War, offers a reminder of the scale of human experience within the 1914-18 conflict. Arthur, a military historian best known for his history of the RAF and his account of the Falklands campaign in 1982, has assembled hundreds of excerpts from the sound archives of the Imperial War Museum. Officers, rank-and-file troops, Australians, Americans, war widows, women in the munitions factories, and German soldiers too, all left oral testimony of their experiences, and these interviews provide the basis of the book. Arthur has put them in chronological and campaign order, and provided a general commentary, but beyond that, has left the rich and moving record to speak for itself.

The sheer humdrum ordinariness of modern warfare--the mud and rain, the relentless loss of life and inevitability of death, the pointless routine of attrition--come over in the matter-of-fact recollections of so many. But so too does the humanity and morality of the ordinary soldier--a factor that rather belies the recent emphasis amongst some historians on how soldiers loved to kill. Arthur might have intruded more. No biographical information is given about the owners of these "voices", nor does he say when, where and how this oral testimony was gathered.

These quibbles aside this is a worthwhile read and should encourage people not only to observe a minute's silence on Remembrance Day, but also to spend a few hours in the Imperial War Museum itself. --Miles Taylor

About this edition

• Publisher: Ebury Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 009191227X
• ISBN 13: 9780091912277
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160