Forgotten Voices of the Great War

[Alan Seymour]

Max Arthur's book 'Forgotten Voices of the Great War' which was created from the collection of taped interviews held by the Sound Archives of the Imperial War Museum is now available as an Audio Book version from Random House Audio Books, London.

The audio book of approximately 12 hours in length is narrated by Richard Bebb, with the inclusion of the taped interviews and is divided up into the following chapters:-

'The Opening Shots, August 1914 - April 1915'

'From Ypres to Gallipoli, April 1915 - June 1916'

'The Somme and back to Ypres, June 1916 - July 1917'

'The Struggle to Victory, August 1917 - November 1918'

The audio book is available as a box set on CD or tape or as individual chapters.

Recommended retail price for the 12 CD box set is £50, and £40 for the 10 tape set. Individual chapters are £13.99 for 3 CD's and £12.99 for 2 tapes.

A search on the Internet will find better deals, I managed to get my CD box set for £35.

[salientpoints]

And you can win a free hardback signed copy on my website. No commercial interest just I got two copies when I met Max Arthur.

Ryan

[Steven Wright]

Although from the US, I and three other PALS happened to attend a "reading" offered by Max Arthur and others on 11 November at the Imperial War Museum. It was a truly memorable evening! I purchased the 12 CD set and think they are great! It is quite chilling to sit and listen to veterans of the Great War tell of their exploits. It is as if I am a boy again listening to my grandfather talk about his time in Frace with the AEF. My wife has some to tears several times while listening to the stories of these people -- both men and women.

I do have one complaint, however. There is NO description of the tracks (either on the back of the CD box or inside the boxes)! There isn't a booklet to describe who the recording is with or what they are describing. Thus while a particular CD might be covering a particular date, it is impossible to jump to a specific track on that CD for a specific veteran's quote about an event because you won't know that they are on the CD. This seems to be a bit of a shame and is rather frustrating. Still, I think this is an amazing compilation.

SJW

[salientpoints]

Steve,

A good point made indeed!

When I met up with Max the other week for the launch of the paperback and audio collections, I also met his publisher and other relevant folks. Max asked me to have a word with them about the poor packaging. For example, you cannot get into the cassette version without tearing the box, which when in a presentation box is not good news!

The first thing I also noticed on both cd and cassette was the lack of track listings and descriptions... you will be pleased to know Max was happy I spotted this and I have informed the audio department of Random House. Whether they do anything about this who knows!!!

Did you know that this title has now surpassed Antony Beevors' Stalingrad in book sales...

[Raster Scanning]

I hope the errors that were included in the original have been corrected in the paperback?

i.e. Pte W. A. Quinton 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Fusiliers, a unit that never existed (later on the same page he is correctly attributed to the Bedfordshire Regiment).

Tom Adlam VC is quoted as belonging to the Beds and Herts Rgt. This unit did not exist in the war.

These are apparent to me as someone interested in the Bedfordshire Rgt, are there others?

This does not detract from the transcripts of the mens recollections, but spoils the book for me.

Cheers.