Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A New History of WWI in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There (Forgotten Voices/the Great War) |
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Max Arthur
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Pages: 322 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0091888875
Pub: Ebury Press
Pub date: 2003-10-02
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17761
Editorial Review:
Max Arthur's compilation of First World War memories, Forgotten Voices of the Great War, offers a reminder of the scale of human experience within the 1914-18 conflict. Arthur, a military historian best known for his history of the RAF and his account of the Falklands campaign in 1982, has assembled hundreds of excerpts from the sound archives of the Imperial War Museum. Officers, rank-and-file troops, Australians, Americans, war widows, women in the munitions factories, and German soldiers too, all left oral testimony of their experiences, and these interviews provide the basis of the book. Arthur has put them in chronological and campaign order, and provided a general commentary, but beyond that, has left the rich and moving record to speak for itself.
The sheer humdrum ordinariness of modern warfare--the mud and rain, the relentless loss of life and inevitability of death, the pointless routine of attrition--come over in the matter-of-fact recollections of so many. But so too does the humanity and morality of the ordinary soldier--a factor that rather belies the recent emphasis amongst some historians on how soldiers loved to kill. Arthur might have intruded more. No biographical information is given about the owners of these "voices", nor does he say when, where and how this oral testimony was gathered.
These quibbles aside this is a worthwhile read and should encourage people not only to observe a minute's silence on Remembrance Day, but also to spend a few hours in the Imperial War Museum itself. --Miles Taylor
Reader Reviews:
Overrated (0/1 people found this helpful)
I am a social history student and a great war fanatic. I found this book extremely overrated. I bought it and read it cover to cover in a day, the content is good, primary sources etc. It really does sum up the experiences of life during the war by the people there. However, there is no analysis whatsoever, it's basically a skilful collaboration of sources. So from the point of view of a budding historian, all it is worth is some quotes for some essays. Anyone here could go in the archives of the IWM and pick up these sources themselves. All Max Arthur has did is put them in a book. Not impressed!
A book all true Brits should read (4/4 people found this helpful)
Firstly i won't ramble on about the way this book is brilliantly structured to give you the whole feeling of the sheer brutality of this shambolic war. I will express how humbled you will feel reading this extremely moving piece of work. The sheer sacrifice our forfathers gave should never be forgotton.In a society where youngsters have no respect for the elderly or this country in general this book should be force fed to every delinquent. This is a must read for all.
Well worth reading, quite inspirational (11/11 people found this helpful)
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 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.
Superb, moving (50/51 people found this helpful)
I don't want to repeat what other reviewers have said and mostly agree with their high opinion of Max Arthur's work. Some anecdotal histories can be overdone, but this isn't one of them - it rings with authenticity. I agree with one reviewer in that the title is a little misleading: it isn't a New History of WW I but as a valuable and poignant record of experience, it is hard to beat. It is extremely moving - after I read it I lent it to my father (who served in WW II) and he was tremendously affected by it when he recalled my grandfather's recounting of his experiences in those same trenches. As those voices are now almost entirely gone, this book is a tremendous contribution to their memory - highly recommended.
Brilliant idea, could be better executed (13/27 people found this helpful)
The concept is brilliant, write a history of WW1 in the words of those who where there - using interviews and archive material. And to a point, this is what Max Arthur does supremely well, his selection of material, and the way it really puts you in the front line of the first world war is incredibly moving - you really finish feeling that you'd heard about the trenches and Gallipolli yourself, from hours of talking to the men who were there.
But, what for my mind it does very badly, is actually explain the war. Despite many photographs of the people "speaking", Arthur didn't find room for a single map, so in trying to understand where people where and how these places related to each other. Also, the reader with no other education would be convinced that the entire first world war occurred in the trenches of France, and the beaches of Gallipoli - the RFC occasionally flew overhead, and the RN occasionally delivered some troops to a beach. There's no mention of a single naval battle (Were Jutland and Scapa Flow that insiginificant? Surely not.) There's not a single interview with a pilot of the Royal Flying Corps or the Royal Naval Air Service. Nowhere do the wars in either Africa or Russia get a look-in.
Finally, and most unforgiveably, virtually every interview was with somebody ranking Captain or below. Without doubt these people have much to say to us, and their inclusion is essential - but what about the more senior officers - the people making the decisions, who decided how and why the war should be fought. I cannot believe that the archives are totally devoid of a single word by the generals - on either side - who managed the first world war. For something that portrays itself as a history of WW1, this omission is unforgiveable.
Yes, this is worth reading, but it could do the job so much better.
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