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Available
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Description
In 1972, a team of academics and archivists from the Imperial War Museum set about the momentous task of tracing ordinary men and women who lived through one of the most harrowing periods in modern history, the First World War. Veterans from Britain, Germany, America, and Australia were interviewed in detail about their day-to-day experiences on and off the front. It has since grown to be the most important archive of its kind in the world. These audiobooks contain just a sample of these voices--some of which have rested unheard for more than 30 years--the forgotten voices of a generation no longer with us.
User reviews
LibraryThing member SmithSJ01
I read this book over quite a considerable period of time. It is not something I feel you can simply pick up and read from cover to cover. The book is in chronological order, for each year of the First World War. I read each year at a time and then took a break in between. By doing this I felt I
The book is order chronologically (as I've said) and with notes and entries from a vast range of people involved in, and affected by, the First World War. Within in each year, there are sections for different battles, thereby keeping all linked entries together. The people whose information has been used range from nurses to factory workers, soldiers to commanders, children to wives - and from many different nationalities. This makes it a highly informative and educational read - giving a real insight into the lives of all touched by the Great War.
The Imperial War Museum has collated this material over many years and whittled down the thousands and thousands of notes, letters and diaries in order to produce this excellent collection. The photographs they have used complement the written text and further enhance understanding of what happened and how the people involved must have felt.
Some of the entries will disgust you, some will entertain you; all of them with make you think. The ones that really stuck in my mind were from soldiers coming home for leave and how their families and friends reacted to them. After this, it was the last entries that made me reflect on how the soldiers in particular were feeling - one day they were fighting the next they weren't. It must have led to a feeling of loss, in a strange way.
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was giving myself time to reflect on all of the entries that I read. The book is order chronologically (as I've said) and with notes and entries from a vast range of people involved in, and affected by, the First World War. Within in each year, there are sections for different battles, thereby keeping all linked entries together. The people whose information has been used range from nurses to factory workers, soldiers to commanders, children to wives - and from many different nationalities. This makes it a highly informative and educational read - giving a real insight into the lives of all touched by the Great War.
The Imperial War Museum has collated this material over many years and whittled down the thousands and thousands of notes, letters and diaries in order to produce this excellent collection. The photographs they have used complement the written text and further enhance understanding of what happened and how the people involved must have felt.
Some of the entries will disgust you, some will entertain you; all of them with make you think. The ones that really stuck in my mind were from soldiers coming home for leave and how their families and friends reacted to them. After this, it was the last entries that made me reflect on how the soldiers in particular were feeling - one day they were fighting the next they weren't. It must have led to a feeling of loss, in a strange way.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
A moving collection of extracts from taped interviews with WWI veterans recorded by the Imperial War Museum since 1972. These are organised by year so one can get a feeling for the overall flow of events; each reminiscence is cross-referenced by author, so that you can follow an individual
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witness's story if you choose. A mixture of horrific, moving, heroic, degrading and depressing memories. Coming through it all is a feeling by veterans that no-one who had not lived through their experiences could understand what they had been through. Show Less
LibraryThing member butlindog
great book
LibraryThing member jakadk
This one was intense. Not that I did not expect it to be, given the topic - but it still took the wind out of me on a few occasions.
Mr. Arthur - through the testimonies of the people who lived through it - pulls no punches. Whatsoever. You are taken on an emotionally intense, vivid, brutal and
But this is not a piece of "Rule, Britannia"-esque, self-promoting literature. You get to hear the voices of the Germans, the French, members of the ANZAC corps - and last but not least, the civilians. The voice of the home front.
And when I say visceral, I mean visceral. You are not spared any details. Decomposing bodies, gangrenous wounds, people drowning in latrines, foolhardy blaze-of-glory charges to no avail - it's all there, in gory detail. This book is not for the faint-hearted.
But you also hear of the more light-hearted aspects. The banter. The jokes. The famous Christmas truce. The stories of medical officers haranguing the common soldiery about the dangers of venereal disease - only to sneak into the clinic shortly after to give himself the treatment he was giving the privates' privates.
And of course the armistice. The collapse of the German army. How soldiers home on leave were handed the white feathers of cowardice because they were wearing "civvy clothes".
This book was an experience. It took some time to digest. But I heartily recommend it!
Mr. Arthur - through the testimonies of the people who lived through it - pulls no punches. Whatsoever. You are taken on an emotionally intense, vivid, brutal and
Show More
flat-out visceral tour of those four pivotal years in modern history.But this is not a piece of "Rule, Britannia"-esque, self-promoting literature. You get to hear the voices of the Germans, the French, members of the ANZAC corps - and last but not least, the civilians. The voice of the home front.
And when I say visceral, I mean visceral. You are not spared any details. Decomposing bodies, gangrenous wounds, people drowning in latrines, foolhardy blaze-of-glory charges to no avail - it's all there, in gory detail. This book is not for the faint-hearted.
But you also hear of the more light-hearted aspects. The banter. The jokes. The famous Christmas truce. The stories of medical officers haranguing the common soldiery about the dangers of venereal disease - only to sneak into the clinic shortly after to give himself the treatment he was giving the privates' privates.
And of course the armistice. The collapse of the German army. How soldiers home on leave were handed the white feathers of cowardice because they were wearing "civvy clothes".
This book was an experience. It took some time to digest. But I heartily recommend it!
Show Less