Voices From the Great War

Vansittart, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844134156 ISBN 13: 9781844134151

Publisher: Pimlico, 2003

Bringing together Sigmund Freud, Osip Mandelstam, Lloyd George, Bertrand Russell, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Vera Brittain - voices famous and unknown - Peter Vansittart takes us through the course of the Great War, juxtaposing letters from the trenches with music-hall songs, and the words of poets and politicians. Linking the public and the personal, the history with the myth, his rich and unorthodox anthology forms a moving image of everything that went into the War, and culminated in its 'scalding waste of spirit'.

Review:

'A historical echo chamber, agog with eye-witnesses, newspaper headlines, memoirs, massacres and maniacs. He arranges his relic with moving irony.", Sunday Times .'This valuable and entertaining anthology-does not set out to demythologise the war. But it goes a long way towards decosmeticizing it, showing the savage realities in which the myth had its roots.", Observer .'The fluctuating moods, dreams, boasts and moments of revulsion and despair - the effect is shattering.", Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher:

'This stupendous and kaleidoscopic book takes the lid off the Great War of 1914-18 and reveals-the sight, sound and smell of Armageddon.' London Magazine