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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

What WW1 books are you reading?


andigger

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PS

Spent all my Christmas money at NMP....again!

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Scarletto,

From looking at your list of Mons related books, have you read "Farewell Leicester Square" by Kate Caffrey? It also covers the period August-November,1914 and it well done.

Cheers,

Terry

This is a book that along with Lyn Macdonalds '1914' had a great impact on me.

Arm

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What am i reading ??.

Not afraid to say that i am on my fourth read through "Forgotten Voices" I JUST CAN'T put it down !!.

Stephen :blink:

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Hi, i am just finished reading the book Anger of the Guns By: John Nettleton who was in the 2nd Rifle Brigade, though originally a member of the Artists. It was a wonderful story with excellent photographs produced throughout. I highly recommend this book. It was published by William Kimber a while back and is not easy to find. On another note I see that Cerebrus Publishing is releasing a new edition of Gallipoli 1915 By: Joseph Murray, and I am looking forward to reading it. Cheers, Bill

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Hmmm, apart from flicking through various books with a lot of continuous stop-starting due to a bit of an addiction to purchasing books I am now reading a book (properly) I picked up second-hand the other weekend titled "1914-1918 Understanding the Great War"

Ryan

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

I have just been kindly lent some books by a friend, the first one I have just started to read is: "Bullets and Billets" by Bruce Bainsfather written in 1916!

The others I have to read are: "The Immortal Salient" by Sir William Pulteney and Beatrix Price. "The First Hundred Thousand" by Ian Hay

Will let you know the outcome. Has anyone else read any of these books?

Liz

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  • 1 month later...

Although there are some interesting editorial questions (referencing his other books) I think Ian Beckett's book on First Ypres is a good and very informative read. It definitely adds a lot of detail to the months after Aug 1914 which haven't covered as well by other authors recently. Andy

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What am I reading at the moment?

Helmut Lorenz: Die versunkene Flotte (The sunken fleet). Berlin: Martin Warneck, 1926. A bit of romance, friendship among British and German sailors, then the drama of the unfolding war at sea.

Happy Easter to you all

Daniel

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Always good for this one to bounce up!

Currently: The United States, Revolutionary Russia and the Rise of Czechoslovakia by Betty Miller Unterberger.

About 70 or so pages in, very good goes into detail regarding Wilson's attempts to broker a seperate peace with Austria-Hungary and holding off declaring war on AH to encourage Kaiser Karl to break away from his German alliance.

interesting insight into early Italian resistance to independent Czechoslovak troops being recruited from AH POW's, seems the Italians did not want to encourage Slav self-determination as they had an eye on some of the South-Slav lands.

Covers Czechoslovak attempts to recruit troops in the US (similar experience to the Poles).

Very much enjoying it.

Neil

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Sorry, Andy:

0-89096-931-0

Texas A&M University Press

I picked mine up on Amazon this was for my Summer 2004 reading!

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  • 7 months later...

At the moment I am reading fellow Pal Niall Cherry's book on Loos, "Most Unfavorable Ground". Definitely a good read on an understudied battle.

I know some of the others who have read the book have commented on the maps, which I would agree are a bit lacking. However the pictures, both contemporary and modern add a lot to picturing what the men faced in Sept 1915. I would definitely recommend it.

Andy

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Currently reading Margaret Macmillan's excellent "Peacemakers - six months that changed the world".

I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the post-war politics and diplomatic wranglings that went on in Paris in 1919.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Currently reading Margaret Macmillan's excellent "Peacemakers - six months that changed the world".

I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the post-war politics and diplomatic wranglings that went on in Paris in 1919.

I read that some time ago it is on my, groaning, bookshelves and I agree with your verdict.

A read of this book will inform on the legacy left by the political wrangling of that period and in the light of recent events in the Middle East I am intending to revisit it. I wonder how many of our current policy makers were familiar with the ramifications considering the mess they have made of Iraq?

Then I will drag out Massie's 'Dreadnought' again.

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I have just finished reading "THE RAYMOND BRUTINEL TAPES - 18 October 1962". In these recently re-discovered interviews, given two years before his death, retired Brigadier General Raymond Brutinel discusses the formation, operations and role of the "Canadian Emma Gees" in the Great War. There are some interesting quotes regarding the role of the CEF on the other "Emma Gees" in the Allied forces.

Borden Battery

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Re-reading Niall Ferguson's 'The Pity of War' - which made me look at WW1 from a completely different angle. Very well argued perspective -and he writes beautifully too! Thoroughly recommended.

jo

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Currentlly reading MacCrae's Battalion by Jack Alexander, about the 16th Royal Scots. This is emminently readable, and shows a clear depth of research that fully justifies the length of time it took Alexander to write the book. While my interest in football at its greatest can only be described as 'tepid', I am nevertheless finding this an interesting book, in particular the background to the raising of the battalion, which gives a good insight into public attitudes at the start of the war.

Cas

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I can recomend Correlli Barnett's 'The Swordbearers, Studies in Supreme Command in the First World War' as an excellent analysis of the progress of the war, through the characters of four key commanders - von Moltke, Jellicoe, Petain and Ludendorff.

Good character assessments, and a sound understanding of the political pressures that each of these men were under. Maps are disappointing (this may be because I have an old paperback copy), although it does have photos of the commanders.

I found it refreshing, as I knew little about these people.

Ray

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Guest Benoit Douville

I just finished to read "La Guerre de 14-18" by Werner Beumelburg for the second time. It is from the German perspective and I recommended it to everybody.

Regards

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Leadership in the Trenches: Officer-Man Relations, Morale and Discipline in the British Army in the Era of the First World War

by Gary Sheffield

thoroughly recommended despite the price

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I managed to find a 1916 copy and 1st edition of Bullets & Billets by Bruce Bairnsfather for £12 in the local book shop it might not be the deepest bit of military literature but it gives a good view of life in the trenches. A good down to earth read with great sketches.

Cheers,

Rob

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Conscripts by Ilana R. Bet-El.

Makes the point that conscripts saw themselves differently to volunteers, TF, KA and regulars.

Heavy going and repetative but worth the read if you have the time.

Wish they's included the letters from the soldiers they quote from - would have been a much more enjoyable read - it seems to be a thesis or three, or a series of dissertations more than a book.

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