Book description
Of all the million British dead of the First World War, only one -
the Unknown Soldier - was ever returned to his native land. An
anonymous symbol of all those lost without trace in the carnage of the
battlefields, he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey amid an
outpouring of grief that brought the whole nation to a standstill, far
outweighing even the emotion expressed over the death of Princess
Diana over eighty years later. Inspired by this example, almost every
combatant nation buried its own Unknown Soldier and the graves became
the focus of a pilgrimage that still continues today.
Drawing on largely unpublished letters and diaries, Neil Hanson has
resurrected the lives and experiences of three unknown soldiers - a
Briton, a German and an American. Every word is based on the testimony
of those who fought, those who died and those who mourned. Few books
have ever shown the terrible reality of warfare in such compelling,
unforgettable detail, or told such a moving story of human life and loss.
Amid all their sufferings, the common humanity of the men and their
loved ones shines through. Each soldier lives on in the memory of his
family to this day. They stand at the head of a ghost army three
million strong, all of whom have no known grave. Their story is the
story of the Unknown Soldier.
Neil Hanson is the author of three acclaimed works of narrative
history:
The Custom of the Sea, The Dreadful Judgement
and
The Confident Hope of a Miracle
. He lives in Yorkshire with his family.
