BEFORE AND AFTER

[HERITAGE PLUS]

My subject is History and my wife has a Geography degree.

My 13 year old son has now developed a strong interest in Historical Geography - makes sense doesn't it?

He is looking for books showing the Western Front 'before and after' so that he can assess the changes in landscape which occurred during the war.

Any recommendations?

[Chris_Baker]

I would recommend the series written by John Giles, founder of The Western Front Association. Excellent modern photographs alongside contemporary ones. They are not so much 'before and after' as 'during and now'.

"The Western Front Then and Now" was published in 1992. "The Somme Then and Now" and "Flanders Then and Now" were a little earlier. You can find copies through www.abebooks.com for about £15-20. Or you can probably get them at your library.

Ifyou can get hold of the WFA's excellent journal "Stand To!", there has for many years been a feature called "The Camera Returns", where a modern photo is taken on the exact spot where one from the Imperial War Museum contemporary collection was originally photographed.

[Mark Hone]

The 'Then and Now' books are published by 'After The Battle' publications, who have their own web site. (www.afterthebattle.com) Their real forte is World War II and they have published exhaustive volumes on D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, Arnhem etc. which include virtually every photo taken of these battles with modern comparisons. They have done a Gallipoli World War One volume and also publish the wonderful 'Before Endeavours Fade'. A very good (and not too complicated!) geographical tie-in to the Western Front is provided by Geology of The Western Fron 1914-18,a booklet published by The Geologists' Association (ISBN 0-900717-59-9).

[Hedley Malloch]

It depends how far 'after' you want to go. I am reading Will Bird's 'Thirteen Years After' and it's very good. It's an account of an ex-Canadian soldier who

returns to the battlefields in the late 20s/early 30s. He gives some 'landscape' accounts when he describes the physical remains on the battlefields that he found. If one compares his account of, say, how the landscape of Ypres still bore hundreds of blockhouses with the paucity of remains that exist today, then one is aware of how much has changed.

[CROONAERT]

There's also an excellent book (if you can get hold of it)called "The Western Front ,Then and Now" which was published in the 1930's.I've seen it for sale recently for £25 by (I think) a company called "Battlebooks" (or something similar).I think they've a website.

The magazine series "20 Years After" is also worth hunting down.

Dave.

[Theo]

In 1936, R H Mottram published 'Journey to the Western Front'. This gives some good descriptions on what the sites looked like after 18 years. Obviously long out of print but there are copies on bookfinder.com for around 20 pounds or try local libraries. amazing what they have in their basement stock.

[Charles Fair]

The "Twenty Years After" magazine series published in the late 1930s is excellent. It was published by Newnes and edited by Maj-Gen Sir Ernest Swinton. It runs to over 2,000 pages. It can now most often be found in a bound series of three volumes and usually seems to go for around £60 a set.

CROONAERT mentioned "The Western Front ,Then and Now". This was also published by Newnes and is an extract of many of the then and now photos from 20 YA. I seem to recall that the paper quality and therefore the reproduction of the photos is better in this book than in the magazine. £20-25 is about right for this

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Thank-you everyone for the leads - I'm sure we'll be able to give Martyn a good start now.

Dave

[Guest Hussar]

Battle front books has their own website

http://www.battlefrontbooks.com

and, yes, they are listing 'Then and Now' for £25.00 ( a 1930's version)

Personally, I find Boot sales and Charity shops are often a good source at less cost.

[CROONAERT]

and, yes, they are listing 'Then and Now' for £25.00 ( a 1930's version)

Personally, I find Boot sales and Charity shops are often a good source at less cost.

....Definately. This was the source of my copy of "Then and Now" (and also my "20 Years After". I remember paying something like £2.50 and £10 for them respectively (including the supplimentary volume of 20YA) without haggling!

Dave.

[john w.]

Wasnt Before Endeavours Fade another book that did this?

John

[john w.]

TheTV series Battlefield detectives and their looking at the site of the Gallipoli campaign would be right up his street, combining topography and history. It would be a superb start to his interest linking both geography and history in the way that he wants... a book on the series was also produced, but that covered other battles from other times..

John

[HERITAGE PLUS]

A big THANK-YOU to all who have responded (both on and off forum) with quality info.

I have persuaded the boss to visit our daughter in the US next summer while Martyn and I visit The Western Front - Magic!! New digital camera agreed!! Must be doing something right!!!

Dave

[Roberta]

One last idea: if you can get your hands on them, the Michelin Guides of 1919 and 1920 to the battlefields of France show before/after shots, plus they're loaded with maps and other information. Not too available; e-bay sometimes has them, though, and they're not too expensive. Good luck!

[CROONAERT]

One last idea: if you can get your hands on them, the Michelin Guides of 1919 and 1920 to the battlefields of France show before/after shots, plus they're loaded with maps and other information. Not too available; e-bay sometimes has them, though, and they're not too expensive. Good luck!

The N&MP (amongst a couple of other outlets) has reprints of these. They can sometimes be found under the title of "Bygone Pilgimage".

dave.

[paul guthrie]

Those guides are quite helpful, remember while many new roads have been built the old ones are still there.

[Paul Reed]

You might also find Peter Slowe and Richard Wood's Fields of Death (Robert Hale c.1985) of use; it looked at the battlefields from a geographical perspective. Pete Slowe was my geography lecturer at Uni, and this is a first class book that deserves a reprint.