Most Unfavourable Ground

[squirrel]

Received a copy of this book yesterday and have read the first couple of chapters.

Well written and researched, concise, precise and informative. Good pictures, tables, maps and illustrations.

Worth adding to your book list at or near the top.

[Simon Jones]

Received a copy of this book yesterday and have read the first couple of chapters.

Well written and researched, concise, precise and informative. Good pictures, tables, maps and illustrations.

Worth adding to your book list at or near the top.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Naval & Military Press have it hardback for a tenner.

Regards

Simon

[Clive Maier]

... Worth adding to your book list at or near the top.

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People might like to have some indication of what the book is about before shortlisting it.

[Simon Jones]

People might like to have some indication of what the book is about before shortlisting it.

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It is about the Battle of Loos.

Regards

Simon

[squirrel]

Published by Helion & Company, ISBN 1 874622 03 5

[andigger]

Nial has announced that his book is available in this earlier thread.

If prompted I am sure he can give at least a slightly unbaised overview until others have read it.

Andy

[squirrel]

Have now finished reading this book and can really add no more than my first post. Excellent book.

Only one small niggle, but the same one as I have with most of the books I read - why can't we have a detailed fold out map to follow the narrative? Publishers would say it is too expensive I suppose.

Most unfavourable Ground is well worth adding to your reading list.

Well done Niall; at last a detailed book on the Battle of Loos.

[PhilB]

Only one small niggle, but the same one as I have with most of the books I read - why can't we have a detailed fold out map to follow the narrative? Publishers would say it is too expensive I suppose.

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Have to agree, squirrel. Very annoying when you can`t work out where everything is and a fold out map (or maps) would make all the difference to most books. Surely it would only cost a few pence? Phil B

[squirrel]

Phil B

probably have to pay some vast sum to use an existing map or pay a fortune plus a royalty per copy to have someone do it.

Perhaps someone who knows about having books published can throw some light on this.

Just a thought, but what about the map being printed on the inside of the dust jacket? Not so easy to lose that way (no pun intended).

[PhilB]

Phil B

Just a thought, but what about the map being printed on the inside of the dust jacket? Not so easy to lose that way (no pun intended).

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Sounds a good idea! Unused space and removable so as to be visible while reading. The map needn`t be to professional standards as long as it shows the relation of the places mentioned in the text. Good thinking! Phil B

[squirrel]

PhilB

My thoughts entirely - but I wonder if any writer or publisher would take it up? Any writers or publishers out tghere wish to comment?

[Tom Morgan]

The original hardback version of "The First Day on the Somme" had just such a map, which you could fold out and keep by you as you read. It was extrememly useful and a nice touch. It wasn't included in the later paperback versions or the latest new Hardback edition.

Tom

[squirrel]

Where are the authors and printers when you nedd them?

[Paul Reed]

As an author I might wish to have such maps, but the reality is that publishers don't like them: they are not as cheap as you think to produce and I am told are 'fiddly' to put in a book. There are also copyright issues if using an original map, and most publishers charge authors to produce maps... so all these factors combined is why this sort of thing doesn't happen except in vanity publishing.

[PhilB]

Would it be a big deal just to insert a loose map then inside the book? As I say, It doesn`t have to be too professional - just clear and showing all places mentioned. Phil B

[paul guthrie]

It is amazing how many WW1 books are poorly mapped. I can't think of author's name but Isonzo published only a few years ago, terrific, but unbelievably bad maps and about an area few are really familiar with. It's a real problem, frustrating, and a WW1 atlas does little to help.

[Borden Battery]

As a trained geographer and former city planner, I worked extensively with maps. In reports to Council, I could dispense with pages of narrative with 1 or 2 well-presented maps. In today's age of "Geographic Information Systems" [GIS] and computer graphics, the making of maps has never been easier or cheaper.

Isn't rather ironic that most battles were planned from maps, managed from maps, reactions were based on maps and yet the military historians feel they must spend pages and pages of written narrative to achieve [if a gifted writer] what a map page or series of map pages might have achieved. The "fodder" for the Great War aces were the observation planes which were taking aerial photographs for artillery placement maps. Where are they and where are we - told on a map.

If anyone reading this is intending to write another book on the Great War, for goodness sake, at least work from a good Trench map or pay someone to prepare a new and useful map. To get you started, here is a starting list of website map sources - the list is included on this discussion forum and the CEF Study Group forum.

======================================================

Great War Photographic and Mapping Websites - Part 10

Note: CEF Study Group member websites denoted with asterisk "*"

==============================================

Jack Turner’s War - Photographs

Website provides about 200 original photographs from the Great War. Text is a little weak, however, many photographs will not be seen elsewhere

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/turner/index.html

Autochromes de la guerre 1914-1918

Website [in French] with photographs from the Great War

http://www.mediatheque-patrimoine.culture....ochromes.html#2

The National Film Board WW1 Film Project

The NFB continue a program to digitize Canadian films from WW1. The only downside is having to use my least favourite media player, RealPlayer. However, the images have a haunting impact on the viewer.

http://www.nfb.ca/ww1/

Great War in a Different Light

Accounts and Galleries from Great War Books and Magazines with more than 6000 Authentic Period Photos, Illustrations and News articles.

http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/index.htm

Imperial War Museum - Trench Map and Trench Map CD

This selection of 175 large-scale (1:10,000 or approximately 6-inches to 1 mile) trench maps has been made from the collection of the Imperial War Museum, enabling us to provide almost complete coverage of the British section of the Western Front in the 1914-18 war, from the North Sea at Nieuport in Belgium southwards to St. Quentin. They form a most useful database for historians, GCSE and A-level students, battlefield tours, family history researchers, etc., and everyone interested in the First World War.

http://www.great-war-trench-maps.com/

Trenches on the Web - Map Room

Twenty-five general maps of the Great War.

http://www.worldwar1.com/maproom.htm

Western Front Association Website

Aerial photographs and trench maps of Ypres and Poperinghe area from 4th Field Survey Battalion BEF, Maps Section, RE,. Posted in March 2005

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the...spoperinghe.php

Western Front Association Website - Map Room [May 2005]

A good assortment of maps [approximately 40] from the Western Front.

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the...war/maproom.php

The Geography of the Great War - Frank M. McMurray, Ph.D., New York, The MacMillan Co. 1919

An interesting presentation of the original book in digital form. It is a large document and loads slowly, however, it presents the geography of the Great War from a 1919 perspective.

http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~wo...tml#Figure%2035

World War I Maps - US Military Academy

The Department of History at the United States Military Academy began developing a series of campaign atlases to aid in teaching cadets a course entitled, "History of the Military Art."

http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atl...war%20index.htm

Paths of Glory Website - Trench Map Section [April 2005]

This website is part of Croonaert Research and contains a wide range of information and research services primarily for the BEF researcher. However, there is a simple and clear presentation on the type of BEF mapping and trench maps from 1914 until 1918. Croonaert is a regular contributor on the Great War Forum.

http://pathsofglory.co.uk/trench%20maps.htm

Australian War Memorial - Gallipoli Mapping [May 2005]

This high quality website contains landing maps, cemetery maps, Turkish maps and Trench maps. The presentation techniques are highly innovative and should be viewed. Quality of this website is exceptional - all other government websites should look at the techniques used on this site. Highly recommended.

http://www.awm.gov.au/gmaps/landing/index.asp

[PhilB]

Bravo, gents! Phil B

[andigger]

Wow... BB, tell us what you really think! In the mean time thanks for the great links!!

Andy

[Borden Battery]

I have about 140 recommended Great War sites listed on the Great War Forum [which I update quarterly] and a complete up-dated list on the CEF Study Group website [which I update monthly]. Each site, based on discovery or recommendations from readers, is accessed and if deemed of value to a significant number of readers - a short descriptive abstract is prepared.

In recent months, we have been communicating with each new recommended webmaster to better integrate the exchange of information and material between websites. As such, the CEF Study Group is working towards a detailed database of information, linkages to high quality websites with "reference-level" information and an integration of Great War websites. This is a long-term project.

You can review the GWF listings at ... Great War Forum - Documents, photos, meetings Document repository - Websites

Of course, we are always looking for unique and high quality Great War website that foster thought and study into the Great War.

[truthergw]

Received a copy of this book yesterday and have read the first couple of chapters.

Well written and researched, concise, precise and informative. Good pictures, tables, maps and illustrations.

Worth adding to your book list at or near the top.

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Book came this week and a quick skim confirmed that it was well worth purchasing. I will return at leisure, later. I think it might be the book on Loos I've been looking for.

[Paul Reed]

Would it be a big deal just to insert a loose map then inside the book?

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Many big chain bookshops, where booksellers dispose of most of their titles, are often not happy about stocking items that have 'loose' contents. Thus this only happens where the book is self-published and not aimed at the mass market.

[Paul Reed]

If anyone reading this is intending to write another book on the Great War, for goodness sake, at least work from a good Trench map or pay someone to prepare a new and useful map. 

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The situation in the UK regarding copyright is slightly different to Canada. If I wanted to fill my books full of period trench maps, here in the UK I would have to pay very high copyright fees; for a dozen maps this would probably come to more than a years royalties with a 'Battleground Europe' book. And that is excluding any other costs such as photos.

To contract someone to do publisher ready maps is also very expensive here; believe me I have looked in to it and it is just not viable writing for the likes of Pen & Sword.

I agree it is less than satisfactory, but the reality is that publishers expect authors to provide the maps with no financial help to do it. As long as that continues, and you publish commercially as opposed to vanity, then this is likely not to change.

[Borden Battery]

Yes, I know how much work there is in mapping - I am researching how I might outline the movement and actions of the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade and the Canadian Independent Force. These units covered a lot of geography and will place an added strain on required mapping - and - I will have a significant number of maps.

Any thought to engaging some graduate students from some faculty of geography - I remember working for one of my professors for a few lumps of coal while doing my thesis work.

Maybe we need to do some critical letter writing and critiques of publishers who present material without proper mapping - direct the critique onto the publisher and not the author.

[Alan_J]

Many big chain bookshops, where booksellers dispose of most of their titles, are often not happy about stocking items that have 'loose' contents. Thus this only happens where the book is self-published and not aimed at the mass market.

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Or else they shrinkwrap them together, as in the Holts various guides to the various battlefields plus maps, presumably to stop the map and book from becoming separated - or to stop the light-fingered taking one from the other!

Alan