Malcolm Brown

[andigger]

Pals.. Just leafing thru the bibliographies and further reading sections of a few books and notice Malcolm Brown is mentioned several times. His Christmas Truce book also appears to get good reviews on the Forum. What about his other books though, how do they rate in comparison?

Andy

Tommy Goes to War

IWM Book of the Somme

IWM Book of the Western Front

IWM Book of 1918

[Paul Hederer]

Andy,

Not sure if your interested, as you didn't list it, but I read Mr. Brown's "Verdun, 1916."

His writing style is good, but I have to honestly say when I finished the book I didn't feel I'd learned anything new about the battle. It felt like more of a summary of other sources I had already read.

Just one man's opinion on one of his books.

Paul

[paul guthrie]

I feel exactly as Paul does about his Verdun book, not close to Alistair Horne's classic which I have read multiple times. The others, especially Somme, are quite good and I think it will be easy to find used copy.

[Christina Holstein]

Malcolm Brown's book on Verdun is all right if you want an introduction to the subject and don't feel you can face Alistair Horne's full-length book on the battle. MB's book won't give you anything new but it's nicely written and illustrated and it is at least correct in it's facts. However, Alistair Horne's book is still far and away the best overall history of the battle in English.

Christina

[Justin Moretti]

Brown's Verdun. Read it, bought it, love it.

I think a great number of people prefer a 'bite sized summary', especially if our jobs require us (as mine does) to enage in intensive study of other things (in my case it is tissue pathology). Much as I would like to go back to uni and do a WW1 history degree, I would need to win a lottery first. (Perhaps two lotteries, to find and buy all the books I want, and the shelves on which to put them, and trips to ANZAC Cove, Somme, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and the PRO too, of course! Mustn't forget the PRO...

[Paul Hederer]

Justin,

I think you make a good point. To second what Christina wrote, Horne's book is still the classic in English--he's a hard act to follow.

It depends on your depth of interest and accordingly what amount of time you are willing to devote to the study of any aspect of the war.

Mr. Brown's book is not bad, it's just more introductory in nature.

Paul

[andigger]

Thanks for the feedback on the Verdun book. I have read The Price of Glory and found it incredibly well written and researched. I don't think I would need an intro book to the battle.

What about the other books though, any opinions?

Andy

[Halder]

... Much as I would like to go back to uni and do a WW1 history degree, I would need to win a lottery first. (Perhaps two lotteries, to find and buy all the books I want, and the shelves on which to put them, and trips to ANZAC Cove, Somme, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and the PRO too, of course! Mustn't forget the PRO...

A cautionary tale on that point... I'm researching about eight books simultaneously on Germany's various campaigns in the two world wars. Over 13 years of gathering material (books, journal articles, travelling to the PRO/IWM/newspaper archive, foreign archives, beaches of Normandy, Berlin etc etc), I reckon it's cost me £40,000 And only book one is finished...

This is a frighteningly expensive hobby... or did I mean obsession...

[Ribble]

I 've read 'Tommy Goes to War' and 'IWM Book of 1918' and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Brown has a relatively light touch compared to some heaveywight military historians but there is nothing wrong in that. He is trying to appeal to all, not just Great War students, and I think he succeeds in his objective.

[Guest Brissie]

The teenage students of Mt Barker High, South Australia, are more interested and aware of happenings on the Western Front, thanks to Malcolm Brown and a considerate UK Pal.

They thank him again

[Fred van Woerkom]

I admire TOMMY GOES TO WAR, but, somehow, I did not take to the IWM BOOK OF 1918.

All the best,

Fred

[marina]

I admire TOMMY GOES TO WAR, but, somehow, I did not take to the IWM BOOK OF 1918.

All the best,

Fred

I've just finished reading Malcolm Brown's '1914'. It's a general overview of that year, covering the battles, the home front, invasion panic, Christmas truce etc. Since it covers so many areas, it is not detailed or in depth, and yet somehow through letters and memoirs, he manages to capture the feel of that year, the terrors and the attitudes of the people. Certainly, it's the first time I have had any real appreciation of the close shaves and sheer doggedness of the BEF in its encounters with the enemy. Enjoyed this very much.

Marina

[gporta]

I 've read 'Tommy Goes to War' and 'IWM Book of 1918' and thoroughly enjoyed them both.

"Tommy goes to war" was among the first WW1 books I ever purchased (and the third or so I read). For the absolute beginner I was then (not that I have improved that much, ha) it was an excellent introduction and I still go back to it from time to time (Winter's "Death's Men" was the one following)

I have also read his IWM 1918 book which I regard as a very readable and good overview of a somewhat uncovered year...

Gloria

[George Armstrong Custer]

As well as his other writings on the Great War, Malcolm Brown has also specialised, over some forty years, in producing television documentaries and books on T. E. Lawrence. His latest is the stunning companion volume to the Imperial War Museum's eponymously titled exhibition Lawrence of Arabia - The Life, The Legend (2005). I've not seen a better published collection of Lawrence related images, including photographs of many relics and artefacts, and Brown's accompanying text is incisive and brings the reader up to speed on current Lawrence scholarship. Brown also edited Lawrence of Arabia: The Selected Letters, an essential work which was reissued in revised format last year.

Brown was on friendly terms with Lawrence's brother and literary executor, Arnold, and spent Good Friday 1991 visiting Arnold Lawrence. Two days later Arnold, the last of the Lawrence brothers, passed away. I much prefer Brown's writings on Lawrence to the turgid prose of the so-called 'official biographer' Jeremy Wilson, a writer who seems too far up his own backside to produce anything of wider interest, and who plays down the less palatable elements of Lawrence's private life despite the existence of evidence to the contrary. Brown, on the other hand, whilst clearly of the opinion that T. E. Lawrence was a remarkable and complex individual, is not blind to his flaws. So, on the issue of Lawrence, at least, Brown is in my view an historian capable of original research and analysis.

BTW, for those interested, a good example of the linking of an artefact with contemporary documentation in Lawrence of Arabia - The Life, The Legend are the images below:

This shows Lawrence and two other British officers 'tooling up' during a raid into Turkish held territory in 1917. Lawrence is on the far right, checking the action of an automatic pistol. But note the officer in the left foreground with the SMLE, which the book indicates may well be Lawrence's own weapon, shown below:

If this SMLE could talk what tales it could tell! Not only was it Lawrence's rifle during the Arab Revolt, but it had been presented to him by Emir Feisal. Feisal, in turn, had been presented with the weapon before the Arab Revolt by the Turkish leader Enver Pasha, it having been originally captured at Gallipoli during the failed British campaign of 1915. It makes you wonder which British or Empire soldier had originally carried this rifle to Gallipoli, and what became of him. If he survived, he can little have dreamt that his rifle would pass through the hands of Enver Pasha and Feisal to become Lawrence of Arabia's! In a letter dated December 1917, Lawrence stated that the gold-inset Arabic inscription on the rifle read: "Part of our booty in the battles for the Dardanelles." The rifle is also inscribed on the stock: 'T.E.L. 4.12.16.' Lawrence subsequently gave the rifle to King George V who in turn presented it to the Imperial War Museum. It had come a long way since leaving the hands of the unknown soldier who carried it to Gallipoli!

Ciao,

GAC

[Justin Moretti]

Not only was it Lawrence's rifle during the Arab Revolt, but it had been presented to him by Emir Feisal. Feisal, in turn, had been presented with the weapon before the Arab Revolt by the Turkish leader Enver Pasha, it having been originally captured at Gallipoli during the failed British campaign of 1915. It makes you wonder which British or Empire soldier had originally carried this rifle to Gallipoli, and what became of him. If he survived, he can little have dreamt that his rifle would pass through the hands of Enver Pasha and Feisal to become Lawrence of Arabia's!

Ciao,

GAC

When an infantryman was issued with his rifle, it was 'his' rifle, wasn't it? Was there ever a list of serial numbers of rifles against names of men? That might be a way to track it down.

[AndyHollinger]

I think Brown and the IWM books are great ... scholarly tendencies but broad market books at heart. He has our dream job ... and has done, IMHO, well with it ...

Horne's book on Verdun was my true intro to WWI all those years ago ... his French History Trilogy is still one of the great, broad works of history ... his novels are not half bad either ...

BTW, since I've had some posts deleted so I'm under the 1K marker ... I feel obligated to post anywhere I can ... I rather enjoyed my 1K status ...

[Moonraker]

I'm just finishing reading Malcolm Brown's The Imperial War Museum Book of the Western Front (revised 2001 edition) and thought it excellent. Admittedly my interest in the Great War is mostly domestic, but I've seldom bothered to read a history of a particular front or campaign and when I did I had a little trouble keeping up with the myriads of personalities, locations and units involved. Brown's book consists of quotations of personal testimonies linked by a little explanatory text, which I found reader-friendly.