1914-2014: Commemorating World War I: Links and Book Ideas

Since some of us may be reading books relating to World War I in 2014, I thought I would post some links to other groups that are doing so for book ideas. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just some I found when I was looking at the idea for Reading Globally.

Virago Modern Classics: http://www.librarything.com/topic/159508
These would be largely fiction by British women.

In the History Fans group: http://www.librarything.com/topic/160397
In the Historical Fiction group: http://www.librarything.com/topic/63436 and http://www.librarything.com/topic/6926
In the Non-Fiction Readers group: http://www.librarything.com/topic/61720

I personally am also interested in reading books that relate to the aftermath of WWI, as I've already read a lot that relate to the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Maybe those who are interested in this idea can post books they've read or are interested in reading and we can develop our own list of interesting books.

Nice idea and thanks Rebecca for starting this thread. I'll look to join in from time to time as I'd like to commemorate this important centenary in my own small way. As I remember being taught at school, 1914 is really when the 19th century ended and the 20th began. Not literally, but in the sense that politically, culturally, and economically, it was very definable as the end (or at least the beginning of the end) of one age: of Imperial Europe, several monarchic dynasties, and even systems of rule; and the beginning of the age of nation states, Marxist revolution, universal suffrage (not everywhere alas), modernism, etc.

I've read quite a few histories of WW1 in the past, but hope to perhaps explore a bit more of some of the more unusual aspects of the conflict, or how it affected those parts of the world not so readily associated with the battlefields we more typically associate with the war.

I have two books on my TBR pile that would suit this theme. Most people around here have probably already read them, but they are Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks (fiction), and The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction).

I don't tend to do well with following themes that don't flow naturally from what I'm reading anyway, but since these were both in my "imminent reads" pile, I may actually get to them!

I am definitely interested in a WWI theme. I have started tagging books in my library and Chris' that that will fit the theme. I shouldn't have to buy anything new to fill up my dance card. :) Although I did load my Kindle with several of the books the Virago group has selected. Many were free. I will try to put together a list of the books I intend to read for this theme.

In Europe by Geert Mak covers Europe from the end of the First World War to the Cold War and is an excellent overview / introduction. The chapters focus on different countries in Europe.

As a history teacher, WWI and the period between the wars has always been my favorite part of history. I look forward to looking for some titles that fit this theme.

Hoping to stay involved here. I have that Tuchman book, and I'm interested in In Europe (care of RidgewayGirl's recent review).

Dan, I've read The Guns of August twice and may read it again; I think only a small part of In Europe is about WWI, but I bought it too, based on RG's review. I'm planning on getting Margaret Macmillan's new book, The War That Ended Peace, since I enjoyed her Paris 1919 about the aftermath of the war. I'm going to have to find some time to go through my library and find fiction about the war.

A terrific novel based on events during World War 1 is
The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally
It might be time to reread Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain as well.
and of course view the film Oh What a Lovely War

My WWI tag netted me the following from my library/wishlist

Back to the Front: An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War 1 by Stephen O'Shea - sounds curious
The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman - I want to read this
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - I want to read this too
Akin to Anne & Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery - ??. These are my wife's childhood books. I haven't read any of the series.
The Enormous Room by E.E. Cummings - ??
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham - ??
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin - I have read this. It's long and has its moments.

And, I think it's funny these showed up because I had forgotten about them. These four are from my University class on German history (from 1994!)
German Social Democracy, 1905-1917: The Development of the Great Schism by Carl E. Schorske
Germany and the Approach of War in 1914 by Volker R. Berghahn - I did not finish this one.
The German Empire, 1871-1918 by Hans-Ulrich Wehler - I didn't read this
Germany 1866-1945 by Gordon A. Craig

A similar method to Dan's turned up the following in my own library:

Non-fiction -

The First Day on the Somme 1 July 1916 (Penguin History) by Martin Middlebrook - superb!
Diary of a World War I Cavalry Officer by Archibald Home
From Sarajevo to Potsdam by A. J. P. Taylor - solid mid-century take on the great catastrophes between 1914-1945.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence
T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View by Suleiman Mousa
Fields of Death by Peter M. Slowe - very moving collection of personal testimonies.
History of the First World War by B. H. Liddell Hart

Fiction -
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks - worth the praise.
War Story by Derek Robinson (very well written novel of Royal Flying Corps airmen, surprisingly good, must read more by this author.)

...and there are too many on the wishlist!

Last night I saw part of this interview with Margaret MacMillan, the author of The War That Ended Peace.

I haven't put my list together yet. I am not at home, and I prefer to do things like that on my computer, rather than on my iPad. However, for those of you who haven't read it, the Regeneration trilogy is wonderful.

Colleen, my library has the Regeneration trilogy, so I hope to get to that in stages across the year.

From my TBR I have:

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden - really want to get to this one sooner rather than later, it meets my interest in aspects of the conflict less often considered. It involves First Nation Canadians fighting on the Western Front.

Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger is a memoir of a German soldier.

The Missing of the Somme by Geoff Dyer is a recent look at how we memorialize the fallen.

ETA:
Band of Brigands: The First Men in Tanks by Christy Campbell.

6 - fuzzy what is it about WWI that you find so interesting as to make it your favorite?

15- There are a lot of things that I enjoy about World War I. I find the long and short term causes of the war fascinating. I enjoy reading the literature that came out of the war because the war scarred those who took part in it so much. I love the contrast between the pre and post war cultures. It's just a fascinating time.

When I think of World War I literature, the first thing that strikes me is the World War I poets. They provided a shot in the arm to the poetry in the early part of the 20th century and are probably the greatest chroniclers of the war.

Lets read some World war I poetry, there are plenty of collections around.

Barry, I might suggest something by Siegfried Sassoon. He was one of the main characters in Regeneration, and I've been meaning to get to something by him.

Thanks fuzzy and bas.

That's a great idea about the poetry, Barry. When you feel the time is right, why not start a thread about WWI poetry so people can post about their reading there. (This is more an ideas thread.)

Some of my WWI tags that may not have been mentioned:

Books I have read

1919: Volume Two of the U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos (outstanding work, but you need to read the whole trilogy)
Parade's End a tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford (focuses on the social changes brought about by the war)
The African Queen by C. S. Forester (who hasn't seen the movie?)
The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War by Jaroslav Hasek - (one of the greatest war satires of all time)
The First World War by John Keegan (excellent history of the war by a top military historian)
C by Tom McCarthy (only partly about WWI but very illuminating regarding drug use)
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (again only partly about the war but one of the few novels that will give you the Russian perspective)
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth (one of the best novels about the demise of Austria-Hungary)
Hotel Savoy by Joseph Roth (read this as an Austrian counterpart to The Good Soldier Svejk set in the same locale)
August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - (not one of his better-known works, but an excellent piece of historical fiction)

Books I haven't read but plan (hope?) to in 2014

Under Fire by Henri Barbusse
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt
The Wars by Timothy Findley
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot
In Parentheses by David Jones
Her Privates We by Frederic Manning
The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig
The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman (not about the war itself, but the conditions and events which precipitated it starting in 1890)

That is a great list Steven - maybe this WWI theme will finally get me reading Dos Passos, or Joseph Roth, or The Good Soldier Svejk...??

I'm thrilled for this theme.

Margaret MacMillan has an essay up at Brookings: "The Rhyme of History: Lessons of the Great War" that may be of interest to readers here.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2013/rhyme-of-history?utm_campaign=broo...

(Apologies for the horribly formatted link, I know it's ugly.)

Also posting a link to the VMC's Great War Read wiki: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Virago_Modern_Classics:_Great_War_The...

I'm also really excited for this theme!

>10 dchaikin: - Dan, Rilla of Ingleside is the last of the "Anne" books, and it is the only Canadian novel about WW1 written by a woman who was actually alive during the war. It is a children's book, but it's also a good look at life on the home front, and maybe a bit more light-hearted than most war novels.

>14 Polaris-: - Polaris, I just started Three Day Road this afternoon, and so far it is excellent. Boyden was inspired by the life of Francis Pegahmagabow, a First Nations sniper in WW1.

Re: war poetry - I love Wilfred Owen's poems. He is, like Sassoon, very honest about the brutalities of war. Rupert Brooke, on the other hand, was much more pro-war (probably because he only lived until 1915, and didn't really see any fighting).

I'd like to read Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth and Timothy Findley's The Wars, and maybe reread A. S. Byatt's The Children's Book, which is really about the lead-up to the war.

Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier is a good look at the long-lasting effects of war on a soldier.

BTW the latest novel by Jean Echenoz will be released in the US on January 7th, which is titled 1914. I'll definitely read it early next year.

WWI is my "favourite" war, if one can have such a thing. I did a WWI theme read a few years ago in November, but then I got sort of burnt out on the topic and still have a few in my TBR to get to--I guess Birdsong will be the first I pick up.

I haven't seen Goodbye to All That mentioned yet. It's the WWI memoir of Robert Graves, and goes in to a lot of the aftermath of the war. One of my favourite WWI books. For novels, I really love Return of the Soldier and Jacob's Room. And the Regeneration trilogy is fine.

eta: another good one: The Wars by Timothy Findley.

Joyce, I get the "favorite" war comment, and have a whole list of books tagged as WWI. Some are only wish listed, but I have quite a few either in my own library, or on my daughter's library list. Goodbye to All That, Return of the Soldier, and Jacob's Room are in my library. The Wars is on my wish list, so I feel like I have a good selection. I was going to follow the VMC's Great War Read, but have many more I intend to read.

I am planning to read War Horse. I've not seen the movie, so it should be all new to me. :)

Old Soldiers Never Die by Frank Richards is a useful supplement to Goodbye to All That.

Richards was in Graves' regiment and was encouraged by him to write his experience of the war from a foot soldier's point of view.

I've coincidentally just finished reading Under Storm's Wing by Edward Thomas' wife, Helen.

It ends with with Edward leaving their cottage to return to his regiment, walking to the station through the mist, calling back 'coo ee' every so often to Helen who, standing at the front door, returns his calls until, straining her ears, she hears one last coo ee and then silence.

Thomas, of course, goes to the front, writes a handful of final poems, and is killed.

As I have already mentioned that this is my favorite time period, I would like to also add that part of what makes any historical event interesting to me is how it affects the people involved. As such, I would add that novels written just before and just after the war could fit the theme as well. How did the world view and the life experiences of people in the early 1910s differ from the world views and life experiences of the people of the 1920s? Even though they are not about war per se, this makes novels like Of Human Bondage, The Sun Also Rise, or even The Great Gatsby fit the theme, which I think is appropriate when considering World War I.

>31 fuzzy_patters: That is an excellent point. I plan on reading books at both ends of that spectrum as well.

>31 fuzzy_patters:

Where I grew up, the start of WWI was considered just the third war in the sequence of the Balkan Wars (and the fact that the pretext for it happened on the Balkans did not help much)... until it turned out to be a bit more global. Some days I wonder if the war would have started in 1914 if not for the previous 2 years and the raw wounds in the region... The war was inevitable - this is clear, but it could have happened a bit later... maybe.

I plan to read these:
The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War by Richard Rubin (oral histories)
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (fiction)
Regeneration by Pat Barker (fiction)
One of Ours by Willa Cather (fiction)

And these, which are peripherally related to WWI:
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Wake by Anna Hope (fiction set in aftermath of WWI; recent EarlyReviewer snag)
The Great Influenza by John Barry (science/medical history)

Those are from my TBRs. I'm interested to add a volume of history too, likely The Guns of August.

Here is a list of World War I books posted by Paul Cranswick on his 75 Books thread. I will come back and add touchstones, but I don't have time now. Obviously, many of these may be repeats of books already mentioned above.

The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund
The Final Whistle by Arthur Ellis
The Cartographer of No Man's Land by P.S. Duffy
The Archduke's Assassination by Greg King
The Unending Vigil by Philip Longworth
The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard
The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell
The Missing of the Somme by Geoff Dyer
Vimy by Pierre Berton
Roses of No Man's Land by Lyn Macdonald
Death's Men by Denis Winter
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden
Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning by Jay Winter
Peacemakers by Margaret MacMillan
Night Shall Overtake Usby Kate Saunders
The Wars by Timothy Findley
The First Casualty by Ben Elton
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
Rising Above the Ruins in France by Corinna Haven Putnam
At Break of Day by Elizabeth Speller
Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson
Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan
British World War One Poets edited by Candace Ward
The Monocled Mutineer by William Allison
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Under Fire by Henri Barbusse
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
Parades End by Ford Madox Ford
Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington
The Enormous Roo by e.e. cummings
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos
The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon
Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham
The Donkeys by Alan Clark
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
Fly Away Peter by David Malouf
Gossip from the Forest by Thomas Keneally
In Parenthesis by David Jones
An Ice Cream War by William Boyd
World's End by Upton SInclair
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
The World Crisis by Winston Churchill
Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger
War Memoirs by David Lloyd George
Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark
The First World War and its Aftermath by AJP Taylor

Histories of the War or parts of it by

David Stevenson, John Keegan, Norman Stone, Jeremy Paxman, Max Hastings and many others.

Here's another LibraryThing cross reference to the 75 books group:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/163004

Robert

I've started a new thread where we can start talking about the books we're reading.

I saw this news on the VMC WW1 discussion:

'BBC reveals 2,500-hour WWI season'

Here's hoping some of this makes it to the states.

Also, posting a few book recommendations here.

A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 by G.J. Meyer. I think of this book as the "gateway drug" for WW1 history - it's a fantastic, well-written one-volume history of WW1 that covers both political-military history and social history. I loved the format of this book, which was a straightforward chronological history of the war separated by standback interludes on topics including each powers' political and military leadership, the history of states and empires, the development of military technologies and tactics, each powers' officer corps, war propaganda and poetry, shell-shock, and the role of women in the war. I am much more accustomed to reading social and political history than military history, so these chapters really helped break up the endless stream of battles. This for me was the book that really kindled my WW1 obsession.

I would also strongly recommend George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I, which is very much a familial and diplomatic history of WW1, and To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, which focuses on antiwar activism during WW1.

Parts of Elaine Showalter's wonderful book The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1890-1980 examine mental health issues circa WW1, including shell shock and how war victims became "feminized" by their experiences of mental illness.

DESERT QUEEN: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia and A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East look at the Middle Eastern aspects of WW1.

I have the following unread WW1 books that I will read from (not all in one year, of course):

The Great War and Modern Memory
The Greatest Day in History: How, on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, the First World War Finally Came to an End
The Guns of August - which I previously stalled out on
July 1914: Countdown to War
A Line in the Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle East, 1914-1948
The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World - about halfway through this, might start over
The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914
Rites of Spring : The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
The Russian Origins of the First World War
Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires 1908-1918
Singled Out: How Two Million British Women Survived Without Men After the First World War
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914

And about 25 other WW1 books that will be released this year on my Amazon Wishlist.

I also have Wake: A Novel by Anna Hope, which is about three women's experiences of the war, and which I still need to read and review for Early Reviewers.

Plus I will be reading along with the VMC WW1 theme reads, which are looking at fiction focusing on or from different periods during and after the war. Since we're reading chronologically through the war, I may try to read histories of the pre-war and early war period first.

I will be rereading Regeneration with students in my Seminar on Historical Fiction. We'll also be reading some of the war poets (Sassoon, Owen, etc.).

Besides the Regeneration series (The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road are numbers 1 & 2), Barker has written several other WWI focused novels, including Life Class and Toby's Room.

I think A Month in the Country would also qualify.

I have read the first part of the Regeneration trilogy; the other two parts are sitting on my shelves, I will get to them this year

I understand that this is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war but it did last over four years. Surely a case for some staggered reading. For many the real commemoration will be 2018.

Good point, Jargoneer. There's plenty to read over the course of several years, and some of the books I'm most interested in deal with the aftermath of the war, especially in the former Austro-Hungarian empire (where the writers were prolific!).

Could I suggest a couple of extra books which feed in to WW1? The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey and Bertie A Life Of Edward VII by Jane Ridley. The Secret Rooms grew out of research undertaken by Bailey in the archives of Belvoir Castle for a book about the effect of WWI on a small part of rural England. Although the direction of the book changed there is still substantial material about WW1, including details such as the fact that at the edge of each of the Duke of Rutland's villages is (or perhaps by now was) either an oak or an ash tree marking the point at which the village volunteers turned to wave to their families. Interesting to get different views of the same people and events across the three books. I read The Proud Tower some years ago and loved it. August 1914, which I've read recently, was initially harder work, but then a good read. I attempted Sleepwalkers (was put off by Niall Ferguson's slighting reference to Tuchman, but that's not Clark's fault) but probably started it too soon after August 1914 and needed a break. Clark's parallels between the issues in 1914 and those of today are interesting. Must pick it up again and keep going. I'm really pleased to have found this group and look forward to discussions. (But so many books to choose from!).

Thanks for the suggestions, Oanthegang, and I will properly welcome you on the Welcome thread, but in the meantime I wanted to let you know about "touchstones" which allow people to link to the books and authors you mention (they're why you see titles and authors in blue in many of the posts above). To touchstone a book put the title between a single set of square brackets and to touchstone an author put his or her name inside a double set of square brackets.

>45 Oandthegang:/46 Just to make clear what Rebecca is saying, because it can get a little confusing when people talk about stuff without seeing what they mean, you do like this: [The Secret Rooms] and [[Catherine Bailey]] and you'd wind up in your completed post with this: The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey :)

Monkey, how did you get the first two to show up with the brackets and not be converted to touchstones? I wanted to do that, but couldn't figure out how.

Magic! ;P

Haha. It's [ and ] :)

Now if she's paying attention she'll ask how you did that. I first saw it on LibraryThing somewhere and thought it was clever.

Robert

LOL True enough! Codes for codes for codes! ;P

Thanks for the help. I saw the bit about Touchstones, but being a bit thick when it comes to that type of thing didn't make the connection until too late about the single and double brackets. I had been busily trying to change the colour of the type, which of course didn't work! Will do my best to keep up.

Having just discovered that there are an astounding number of WWI memoirs, letters, and records available as free downloads on Kindle, I am now in the process of acquiring them. The fact that people have scanned these old and often hard to find or prohibitively expensive books is an amazing gift.

I know at least three people had mentioned that they were interested in reading Testament of Youth. I'm going to start soon, anyone interested in joining me?

>54 labfs39:, Oh me, but I was going to wait to buy it because a new edition is being published in March.

Oh, really? I'm going to check it out...

ETA: Do you think there are any changes to the text, or is it a reissue because of WWI commemorations? I'm thinking the latter.

>56 labfs39:, My guess is a reissue b/c of the commemorations. Possibly some updated intro or something. I figured I'd just wait for it since I don't actually own it yet.

for our WWI readers: First world war diaries go online

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/

What a wonderful site and amazing resource! Thank you for sharing the link.

For anyone in London: 7pm, Friday 17 January 2014, London: Award-winning author Adam Hochschild will be speaking about his history of the First World War To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914 - 1918 – the only recent history of the conflict to foreground the anti-war movement in London on Friday 17 January.

Articles

You may notice a preponderance of articles from the Guardian, which allows one to subscribe via RSS to all articles concerning WWI. How convenient.

Teaching the first world war: what Europe's pupils learn about the conflict

Most interesting is the Polish high school teacher quoted: "Poland gained independence as a result of the first world war. Over here, tales of the Great war are not tales of catastrophe, but of a wonderful event which, thanks to the combined wisdom of the leaders of the socialist and nationalist camps, made possible the rebirth of the Polish state after 123 years of being non-existent."

Black Diggers: challenging Anzac myths - A new play running in Sydney about the role of Australian Aboriginal people in WWI and their post-war experiences.

First world war: 15 legacies still with us today

Archduke Franz Ferdinand descendant: don't blame us for first world war

Echoes of 1914: are today's conflicts a case of history repeating itself? -"It remains important that we challenge manipulative or reductive readings of the past when these are mobilised in support of present-day political objectives." - Historian Christopher Clark, author of The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914.

The 1914 Christmas armistice: a triumph for common humanity - Historian Margaret MacMillan, author of Paris 1919 and The War That Ended Peace, continuing the debate about when perceptions of the war began to shift towards viewing it as a waste. This is a fascinating debate, but one that I am not informed enough to weigh in on at this point.

"At the time people on all sides thought they had a just cause. It is condescending and wrong to think they were hoodwinked. British soldiers felt they were fighting for their country and its values; French, German or Russian soldiers felt much the same."

I plan to read Kitchener's Last Volunteer : the Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Veteran of the Great War by Henry Allingham. He was the last British serviceman left alive to have volunteered for active duty in the First World War. His experience was unique in that he saw action on land, sea and in the air with the Royal Naval Air Service, which became the RAF.

In the 21st century he met Dennis Goodwin who helped him tell his story through this book as well as a BBC documentary. Allingham was dedicated to teaching today's generation about the tragedy of war. In June 2009 he became the world's oldest living person before passing away in July of that year. What I've read so far has me won over by this wonderful personality.

Sounds interesting, I'll look forward to your comments, Vivienne.

I remember Henry Allingham, as he had in Britain become familiar to students of the war, and the 20th century for that matter, as he became a centenarian and one of the last survivors of the war. His interviews were always compelling. I'm sure Kitchener's Last Volunteer will be a rich reading experience.

It must have been strange to be one of millions of combatants, from all countries, fighting and hoping to stay alive and then almost 100 years later to find you are the only one left. He was able to meet - and hug - the last German veteran of WWI. I bought the book as soon as it came out because I was so touched by his story. We are fortunate that he was able to tell it.

A New York Times article about music commemorating the war.

A review in the New York Review of Books of six recent books about the war and its origins.

I enjoyed the review of the six new titles, although it seems that the author recommended most highly a title from 2005, The First World War by Hew Strachan, and a new book of photographs that I would definitely like to see (The Great War: A Photographic Narrative).

Thanks for posting those Rebecca, especially the music one. That's an angle to the commemorations I had not read about before.

A nice BBC article "Lions and Donkeys: 10 Big Myths about World War One Debunked."

Interesting, Steven, although it seems as though he simplifies some things in order to make his points. Food for thought.

Thanks for posting the link to Dan Snow's article Steven. An interesting read.

I can highly recommend The Great War: A Photographic Narrative. I picked it up last night from the library, and it's a fabulous collection of photos from British, French, and German photographers. They cover all aspects of the war and provide a wonderful visual aid to the WWI reading I'm doing. One thing that struck me was how many colonials Britain pulled in to help her fight. Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, Cameroonians. I would love to read some memoirs from some of these soldiers. Has anyone read some they could recommend?

My sense is that it will be a lot easier to find things from Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis. You probably can find a fair amount of stuff as free ebooks on amazon or project gutenberg, if you can get titles.

This book, on Amazon, is very expensive, but looks very interesting.

Altered Memories of the Great War: Divergent Narratives of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada (International Library of War Studies)

The UK National Archives is working on digitizing war diaries, but I am not sure if these only contain diaries from the island proper or if they also contain diaries from the colonies. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/centenary-unit-war-diaries.ht...

Here's a link to a bibliography of Canadian memoirs from those who served in WWI: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/military/025002-6041-e.html

Another bibliography of memoirs: http://www.gwpda.org/memoir.html

A review of a book about Senegalese oral histories of the war: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_i...

Tons of WWI diaries on specific aspects of the war: http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/index.htm

A journal article that might be of interest:

The Recruitment of Colonial Troops... http://web.viu.ca/davies/H482.WWI/ColonialTroopsWWl.pdf

Indian experiences of the war: David Omissi’s Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldier’s Letters, 1914 – 1918 and Santanu Das’ essay ‘Indians at home, Mesopotamia and France, 1914 – 1918’ in his edited volume Race, Empire and First World War Writing.

I'll let you know if I find anything more. Your question has peaked my interest in this topic.

After reading "To End All Wars" my interest in WWI was aroused so I am happy I found this discussion. My mother used the term "canon fodder" and after reading this I understood!! There is a war propaganda movie mentioned in the book which I found on the web..it made the war look like a Boy Scout camp out!!! But they needed more bodies!!!!!
I also have a book that was my grandfather's. It was written at the early stages of the war, so I believe it was also part of the effort to get men to enlist!
The other book I have read is "A Century of November". A haunting story of a father's search for the place where his son fought and died...a perfect title for the book!

#73 Wow! Thank you, Fanny. This is a great list of resources. Where to begin?!

#74 Welcome, Eleanor. I was delighted to see that you are from Kennebunk. I grew up in Limerick, a little further inland. I now live outside Seattle, although my family still lives in Maine.

Interesting about your grandfather's book. Did he fight in WWI? I was also intrigued by A Century of November. (Hint: if you put a title inside brackets, it makes it a link to the book page.) The review reminds me of a scene in Vera Brittain's autobiography, Testament of Youth, which describes her search for where one of her family members was buried. She was fortunate in that his body made it to a graveyard. So many were simply lost in the mud unidentified.

You may also be interested in another WWI thread: 1914-2014: Commemorating World War I: Book Discussions

World War I death count 'too low by one million'

Yes, my grandfather did fight in WWI. When I was little and we visited his fame in Nova Scotia I used to play with his uniform, sword etc. Which were stored in the bedroom where I slept. I wish I knew more of what he did in the war.
I found the book To End All Wars very interesting. Told by relating the lives of five individuals who played important roles in the war.
I was principal of the Limerick school for several years. Thanks for the welcome.

BBC: How did 12 million letters a week reach soldiers?

"In Gallipoli more unopened letters from those killed in action were being passed back from the front than letters going forward. The GPO always ensured that returned letters didn't arrive before the official telegram telling the family that their son was dead. There were 30,000 unopened letters every day."

As something quite different from the many books and articles mentioned already, I thought I would toss in Charley's War, a brilliantly done comic from the late 70s to 80s detailing aspects of the war, different fronts and battles and situations. There's been nothing like it, before or since.

Thank you for sharing that link, Florence. I found it fascinating.

What Can 1914 Tell Us About 2014? The disturbing parallels between pre-WWI and today

An interview with the historian who wrote the article

It's fascinating to me that there is this obsession with making the parallel simply because of the date. Even if there were more apt parallels to be found in 1971 or 1985 or whenever, I feel like people just have to write these articles now.

The magic power of numbers...

I think we should remember what another article you quoted said: we may understand 1914 now better than the people of 1914, but it does not mean that we understand 2014 better than they understood 1914.

>82 FlorenceArt:, Bingo. I also think that when people make historical analogies, it is too easy to overlook the discontinuities and the role of personalities. Certainly there are "larger forces at work" that transcend individual leaders, but WWI was the result of decisions that leaders made (or refused to make). It didn't just happen.

With regard to the parallels between 1914 and 2014 I refer readers to Christopher Clark's introduction to The Sleepwalkers, particularly pages xxv onwards, in which he argues that "what must strike any 21st century reader who follows the course of the summer crisis of 1914 is its raw modernity." He cites the suicide bombers, extra territorial organizations scattered in cells across borders, the end of the Cold War shifting the world from a system of bipolar stability to a a more complex and unpredictable array of forces including declining empires and rising powers, the effect of a single symbolic act in creating a shift in world events, nationalist uprisings, etc. His book (which is still on my dipped-into-must-finish pile) is to do with how rather than why the war broke out, so looking forward to it.

My reading order has shifted as I bought Jeremy Paxman's Great Britain's Great War some time ago and discovered last week that a tv series based on the book has started transmission, so I thought I'd try to read Paxman and finish his book at the same time the series ended. I've just realized nearly a week has passed and I've not read the required number of chapters to meet my target. Back to the coal face!

I had done the Touchstone thing, but clicked away from the screen before posting and when I clicked back noticed that it seems to have shed the instruction, so apologies.

>84 Oandthegang:, I wish I were able to get that TV series in the US. Every day the Guardian has some new debate about whether it's too leftist, too jingoistic, etc. The commemoration seems to be provoking a lot of angst in the UK, understandably.

>86 fannyprice: "The commemoration seems to be provoking a lot of angst in the UK, understandably."

This reminds me of a comment in the introduction to 14-18, retrouver la guerre, which was written not long after the 1998 commemoration. The authors note that there has been a rise in interest for WW1 in generations whose parents didn't know the war. He makes a connection with the fact that, apparently, some people who are third generation holocaust survivors (their grandparents were victims) show symptoms of the "guilt of the survivor". Things that have been suppressed in families for two generations and are now resurfacing.

I just read July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin, in which the author argues that the causes of WWI were both multi-faceted and avoidable, and that the usual explanation that it was Germany's fault is too simplistic to be of any use.

I'm wondering if now that a century has passed since the start of WWI, can it now be discussed without national interests framing the conversation?

The wars over the First World War are a troubling abuse of history for political ends
Blog post by Tim Stanley.

Thank you for continuing to bring thought provoking articles to our attention. I especially liked the part in this article where he talked about both the left and the right cherry picking history (like the gospels, he says) to find arguments for supporting their political aim of the moment.

What was true in 1914 isn't true today. Syria is not analogous to Sarajevo, or Mali to Munich. We cannot become prisoners of our past, in the sense of justifying doing something (or doing nothing) because of what went right (or wrong) a long time ago. It is annoying to hear every aspect of foreign policy described as 1914 or 1938 all over again.

Interesting article Florence. This part particularly resonated with me: "The reality is that WWI had nothing to do with modern ideology, yet (ironically) we constantly seek to understand it through modern ideology. It started because the 19th-century diplomatic system broke down, undermining assumptions that various powers had no interest in fighting and would not do so when tested."

This is perhaps the most succinct and clear explanation of the war I've ever heard.

I also particularly like the quote Lisa pulled.

90> Yes!

I also found this interesting:

The reality is that WWI had nothing to do with modern ideology, yet (ironically) we constantly seek to understand it through modern ideology.
(...)
And so the Second World War – a profoundly ideological war – was spawned by a conflict that lacked philosophical justification. No wonder memories are so confused.

91> Oops, we cross-posted :-D

:)

I hope this is okay since it's not about books but I wanted to mention the movie "Joyeux Noel". It is a glorious look into the famous Christmas truce of 1914 amongst the Germans, the Scottish and the French. The movie is beautiful, the acting superb, the humor ingenious and the emotion impact, powerful. I have shown this movie to many and all have been deeply moved by this film. I really wanted to share it with you guys as it is one of my favorite movies and I really feel like you all would very much enjoy it.

I would be interested. Unfortunately, it's not on Netflix.

BBC's Jeremy Paxman blasted for calling World War One conscientious objectors "cranks"

http://noglory.org/index.php/articles/126-bbc-s-jeremy-paxman-blasted-for-callin...

Is he going to start putting white feathers on their graves too?

Yeah, it's really sad to me that 100 years later, he still feels like he has to denigrate people who made an ethical choice that he disagrees with.

It was a regrettable and uncharacteristically personal comment from a generally outstanding broadcaster.

I've been watching his current series "Britain's Great War", and have been very impressed on the whole. It is obviously from Britain's perspective, but Paxman is focusing very much on how the war was perceived and responded to by those at home, as well as those at the front. There have been many moving moments in the two programmes (of four) so far. A 105 year old Hartlepool woman recalled the experience of the town being shelled by the German Navy out in the North Sea, and the letters home from a rank-and-file Tommy I found quite tragic to listen to - the poor soldier was killed a few days after his last letter.

If any LT'er gets the chance to watch this series in any available media, I heartily recommend it - "cranks" comment and all.

I agree. I saw the first episode (will have to watch the second on catch-up) and it sent me immediately to his book. I too found the interview with the woman who remembered being shelled in Hartlepool amazing. Not only because of the immediacy of Paxman being able to discuss the event with someone who was there, but also I had not known about the shelling. One always thinks of WWI as happening on the continent or at sea, but not on land in the UK.

I hope that it is eventually available to viewers in the US. Maybe on DVD?

The last post: letters home to India during the first world war - Part of the British Library's digitized collection of WWI-era letters

Who were the conscientious objectors of the first world war? - The Guardian analyzes data from those who applied for exemptions. The data is also available for the public to search.

10 big myths about World War One debunked

And a rejoinder: "Dan Snow's 10 myths about World War One debunked by No Glory"

I just finished a book that isn't about WWI, but was completely influenced by it: Wild Harbour by Ian Macpherson. My official comments here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/164095#4561684

But why I'm mentioning it here . . . written in 1936, and set in 1944, this novel anticipates WWII, based on experiences of WWI. The motivations of the characters are their efforts to avoid WWI. A short, unusual, and interesting read.

An article about new art exhibits that treat WWI opening in France and the UK.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/mar/18/bombs-wheels-young-art-first...

The second link shows more of the art:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/mar/18/a-vision-of-conflict...

I went up to London yesterday to see the poppies. There is an art installation in which the moat of the Tower of London is being gradually filled with 882,246 ceramic poppies representing British troops killed in WW1. The installation is called "Blood Swept Land And Seas Of Red". Planting began in August and the last poppy will be planted at 10:50 on 11 November. Every night names of some of the dead are read out and the last post is played. The Historic Royal Palaces, who are responsible for maintaining the Tower, have put a lot of material on their website ( http://poppies.hrp.org.uk/ or a search under Historic Royal Palaces Tower of London will bring it up), and they have recently started putting up day by day videos of the evening roll of honour readings.

If you should happen to find yourself at the Tower, there is a small room in which they have archive film of men being sworn in to the army and then doing their training in signals and gunnery. There are also photos taken in 1914 of some of the 1,600 City workers who joined up at the Tower, becoming the so-called "Stockbrokers Battalion", also known as the Ditchers, because they were sworn in in the Tower's dry moat, known as Tower Ditch. They are photographed queuing to join, packing their kit, and marching off. The Historic Palaces identified the exact location where each picture was taken, and, using a single man from 2014, they have retaken the shot in colour. The men from the black and white original have then been faintly superimposed over the modern image. A modern banker stands in the moat surrounded by the shadowy City workers of a hundred years ago. A modern soldier marches up the ditch while all around him are the ghosts of the men who set off for the war so long ago. Of the 1,600 who initially joined up only fifty were still in active service by the end of the war.