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"Ypres Salient at Night"
by Paul Nash
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If you wish to start reading about the Great War, we recommend the following books for initial exploration:
I. FOR INTRODUCING NEW AND YOUNGER READERS TO THE GREAT WAR
- AMERICAN HERITAGE HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
by The American Heritage Editors and S.L.A. Marshall
- A comprehensive history that's well illustrated and contains helpful
maps plus commentary by a distinguished historian; good for starting.
- OVER THERE
by Frank Freidel
- Story of the American military effort told sympathetically, with
gusto; uses many firsthand accounts.
- GOSHAWK SQUADRON
by Derek Robinson
- Exciting, myth debunking aviation novel.
- VOICES FROM THE GREAT WAR
by Peter Vansittart
- Compilation of literary and political quotes, headlines and statistics
that tell the story of the war.
- IN FLANDERS FIELDS
by Leon Wolff
- Passchendaele - The Third Battle of Ypres, 1917; war at its worst.
II. CORE READINGS AND SOME CLASSICS FOR A BROAD OVERVIEW
- THE GERMAN HIGH COMMAND AT WAR
by Robert Asprey
- Looks at military operations from German viewpoint; humanizes their military
establishment and the Kaiser without justifying their actions.
- KNIGHTS OF THE AIR [Time-Life]
by Ezra Bowen
- Best introduction to the air war; extensive photos of aces and aircraft.
- TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
by Vera Brittain
- Memoir of V.A.D. nurse who lost several loved ones in combat and became a
pacifist and feminist afterwards.
- THE WORLD CRISIS [ONE VOLUME ABRIDGEMENT]
by Sir Winston Churchill
- Masterful grand survey of the War; obviously strongly British in outlook;
very good on naval matters.
- THE RITES OF SPRING
by Modris Eksteins
- Looks at underlying social forces, the arts, the heritage of the War; somehow
pulls together Charles Lindbergh, ballet and the Lost Generation.
- GOOD-BYE TO ALL THAT
by Robert Graves
- Most famous memoir by a survivor of the War, a Captain in the Royal Welch
Fusiliers, later a distinguished novelist and poet.
- THE PRICE OF GLORY
by Alistair Horne
- Epic French-German battle at Verdun in 1916; best single volume study of a
battle or campaign.
- GALLIPOLI
by Robert Rhodes James
- Disastrous Allied--Turkish battle of 1915.
- ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
by Erich Marie Remarque
- Classic anti-war novel which was made into a classic movie.
- THE DOUGHBOYS
by Laurence Stallings
- The American military involvement as told by Marine veteran 45 years after.
- THE GUNS OF AUGUST
by Barbara Tuchman
- Covers the opening stages and the roots of the conflict; superb, but read a
general history first for orientation.
- THE EXPERIENCE OF WORLD WAR I
by J.M. Winter
- Introduction to the War showing the different points of view of soldiers,
politicians and the public; read first; outstanding illustrations & graphs.
Want More?
Try the Trenches on the Web - Reading List
101+ Indispensable Books on World War I
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