Book description
November 2008 sees the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War,
'the war to end all wars' that still haunts and fascinates in equal
measure. Richard van Emden's new book tells that story as never before
through the words and pictures of the men who were there. The
Soldier's War includes incredible never-published-before letters
and photographs to reveal the true stories of a lost generation.
The Soldier's War traces the war chronologically, taking
stories from each year of the fighting and following the British Tommy
through devastating battles and trench warfare to the armistice in
1918. The book also reflects on other lesser-known and more personal
aspects of the war, such as the work of stretcher-bearers, army
chaplains, and burial parties.
Each chapter will begin with an exploration of the soldiers' post-war
attitudes to an emotive and controversial aspects of the conflict.
What were their attitudes towards the enemy? What did the troops at
the front line really think about their generals? Did they remember
their time in the war with any fondness?
Central to The Soldier's War are the original and
as-yet-unseen photographs that punctuate the narrative. Many soldiers
carried lightweight VPK cameras (Vest Pocket Kodaks) and used them
(illegally) to photograph the war as it unfolded. Between seventy-five
and a hundred remarkable images will for the first time show
trench-warfare as it really happened.
Richard van Emden has interviewed over 270 veterans of the Great War
and has written ten books on the Great War including
The Trench
, and
The Last Fighting Tommy
(both top ten bestsellers),
Boy Soldiers of the Great War
, and
Prisoners of the Kaiser
. He has also worked on more than a dozen television programmes on the
Great War, including
Prisoners of the Kaiser
,
Veterans
,
Britain's Last Tommies
, and the award winning
Roses of No Man's Land
and
Britain's Boy Soldiers
.
