Middlebrook Guide to the Somme Battlefields by Mary Middlebrook, Martin Middlebrook ISBN: 1844155331
on October 1st 2007
Pages: 383
Len's Summary: A new guide by the author of the iconic First Day on the Somme.
Sergeant York of the Argonne Tour Guide
Sergeant York of the Argonne Tour Guide by Michael Kelly ISBN: 0955938600
on 2008
Pages: 76
Len's Summary: A new, concise portable guide for battlefield travelers visiting the Argonne Forest and the now-well-marked site where the legendary Alvin York won his Medal of Honor in 1918.
American Battlefields of World War I: Château-Thierry — Then and Now, Vol. 1: Enter the Yanks
American Battlefields of World War I: Château-Thierry -- Then and Now, Vol. 1: Enter the Yanks by David C. Homsher ISBN: 9780970244307
Published by Battleground Productions on January 1st 2006
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Essays, Photography
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: First in a new series of guides, the first new guides to American battlefields in many years.
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide to Ypres and Passchendaele
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide to Ypres and Passchendaele by Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt ISBN: 9781844153770
Published by Casemate Publishers on September 15th 2006
Pages: 128
Len's Summary: Includes 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Passchendaele) and 4th Ypres (Lys).
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide to the Somme Battles
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Pocket Battlefield Guide to the Somme Battles by Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt ISBN: 1844153959
Published by Pen & Sword Books on August 2nd 2006
Pages: 112
Len's Summary: Covers the 1916 battles, the Kaiser’s Offensive of March-April 1918 and the American-Canadian sectors of 1918. // Battlefield details capturing essential features and tourist information.
Walking Verdun: A Guide to the Battlefield
Walking Verdun: A Guide to the Battlefield by Christina Holstein ISBN: 1844158675
on July 2009
Pages: 176
Len's Summary: A new guide book from one of the most knowledgeable Western Front historians and guides. // A New work by long-time battlefield guide and WFA member who also wrote an earlier Pen & Sword book on Ft. Douaumont.
Somme 1916: A Battlefield Companion
Somme 1916: A Battlefield Companion by Gerald Gliddon ISBN: 0752453351
Published by The History Press on January 1st 2010
Pages: 560
Len's Summary: A reference work first published as As the Barrage Lifts in 1987 and updated for the 90th anniversary of the Somme battle.
Verdun 1916: A Battlefield Guide
Verdun 1916: A Battlefield Guide by William F. Buckingham ISBN: 0752441485
on April 15th 2007
Pages: 192
Len's Summary: Traces the history of Verdun from the iron age to modern times.
St. Quentin: Hindenburg Line
St. Quentin: Hindenburg Line by Helen McPhail, Phillip Guest ISBN: 0850527899
on January 1st 2001
Pages: 157
Flers
Flers by Trevor Pidgeon, Nigel Cave ISBN: 0850527783
on April 28th 2001
Pages: 160
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The Battle of Neuve Chapelle by Geoff Bridger ISBN: 0850526485
Published by Pen & Sword Books on March 1st 1999
Pages: 144
Mons: 1914
Mons: 1914 by Jack Horsfall, Nigel Cave ISBN: 0850526779
Published by Pen & Sword Books on August 1st 1999
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 192
Cambrai: The Right Hook
Cambrai: The Right Hook by Jack Horsfall ISBN: 0850526329
on January 1st 1999
Pages: 176
Historical Maps of World War I
Historical Maps of World War I by Simon Forty ISBN: 1856487342
Published by PRC Publishing on August 1st 2004
Pages: 144
Len's Summary: One hundred twenty five contemporary maps including trench maps covering the entire war with emphasis on the Western Front, but including Palestine, Gallipoli, Salonica, the Italian Front, the Caucasus and East Africa as well as the war as sea. Also contains graphs and maps showing orders of battle, railways, locations of hospitals and supply dumps, U-boat sinkings, shell supplies and other salient features of the conflict including war aims.
ANZACS on the Western Front: The Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide
ANZACS on the Western Front: The Australian War Memorial Battlefield Guide by Peter Pedersen ISBN: 9781742169811
Published by Wiley on December 19th 2011
Pages: 600
Len's Summary: Walking and driving tours of 28 battlefields (every major Anzac engagement) including tactical considerations and excerpts from Digger soldiers’ writings.
Fields of War: A Visitor’s Guide to Fifty Key Battlefields in France & Belgium
Fields of War: A Visitor’s Guide to Fifty Key Battlefields in France & Belgium by Robert J. Mueller ISBN: 9780982367704
Published by French Battlefields on January 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, World War I, World War II, Travel, Europe, France
Pages: 407
Len's Summary: A guide to 600 years of warfare in northwestern France and Flanders; from Crecy to Bastogne. Order from sales@frenchbattlefields.com or fax (224) 735-4378.
Touring the Italian Front, 1917-1919
Touring the Italian Front, 1917-1919 by Francis Mackay ISBN: 9780850528763
Published by Battleground Europe on March 31st 2003
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 173
Len's Summary: First published in 2002, this guide covers operations of French, British and American forces between November 1917 and the spring of 1919 as the reinvigorated and reinforced Italians rolled back German-Austro-Hungarian advances made during the 1917 Battle of Caporetto.
The War Walk: A Journey Along the Western Front
The War Walk: A Journey Along the Western Front by Nigel Jones ISBN: 0304366838
Published by Cassell on August 5th 2004
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: A combination of history, travel and personal anecdotes from a rapidly dwindling number of surviving veterans.
Major & Mrs. Holts Battle Atlas of the WWI Western Front
Major & Mrs. Holts Battle Atlas of the WWI Western Front by Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt ISBN: 1844154009
Published by Pen & Sword Books on May 1st 2008
Pages: 128
Len's Summary: Covers Mons, Le Cateau, Notre Dame de la Lorette, The Yser, First Ypres, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Festaubert-Givenchy, Second Ypres, Loos, Fromelles, Vimy-Arras, Pesschendaele, Fourth Ypres, First Marne, St. Mihiel, The Aisne, Verdun, The Somme, Chemin des Dames, Cambrai, Kaiser’s Offensive, Château Thierry, Champaign, Meuse-Argonne, and the Hindenburg Line.
Major and Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide: Western Front – South
Major and Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide: Western Front - South by Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt ISBN: 1844152391
Published by Pen & Sword Books on December 1st 2005
Pages: 360
Len's Summary: First and Second Marne, the Somme 1916, Cambrai, the Aisne, Verdun, the Hindenburg Line, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne among other battles and campaigns. Companion volume to an earlier guide to northern Western Front battlefields.
The Fallen: A Photographic Journey Through the War Cemeteries and Memorials of the Great War, 1914-18
The Fallen: A Photographic Journey Through the War Cemeteries and Memorials of the Great War, 1914-18 by John Garfield, Katherine Whitehorn ISBN: 0750952040
Published by Spellmount on May 1st 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Photography, Photoessays & Documentaries
Pages: 168
Before Endeavours Fade: Guide to the Battlefields of the First World War
Before Endeavours Fade: Guide to the Battlefields of the First World War by Rose E. B. Coombs ISBN: 0900913851
on November 15th 1994
Pages: 240
Len's Summary: Revised and updated edition of a highly respected guide first published in 1983 and written by a longtime Imperial War Museum staffer. Includes all the major BEF battles and American battlefields in the Argonne and at St. Mihiel, as well as French battles on the Chemin des Dames, at Champaign, Verdun, and as well as battles along the Yser and near Ypres.
Battle Lines: Ypres: Nieuwpoort to Ploegsteert
Battle Lines: Ypres: Nieuwpoort to Ploegsteert by Jon Cooksey, Jerry Murland ISBN: 9781848847934
on January 1st 2013
Pages: 240
Len's Summary: First in a series of new Pen & Sword walking, cycling and motoring battlefield guides.
The Battlefields of the First World War: The Unseen Panoramas of the Western Front
The Battlefields of the First World War: The Unseen Panoramas of the Western Front by Peter Barton ISBN: 1472111923
on November 14th 2013
Len's Summary: In cooperation with the Imperial War Museum with a foreword by Richard Holmes. Also published by Osprey under the title Battlefields of the First World War: From the First Battle of Ypres to Passchendaele. // Also published by Osprey under the title Battlefields of the First World War: From the First Battle of Ypres to Passchendaele. Covers British and Belgian sectors of the front from the North Sea to the Somme. The included CDs contain the 200 panoramic photos seen the book. Available from the publisher at www.constablerobinson.com or discounted at $65 from Barnes & Nobel. Highly recommended by WFA member John Hurst in Canada.
American Armies and Battlefields in Europe
American Armies and Battlefields In Europe by American Battle Monuments Commission on August 18th 2015
Len's Summary: A combination history, photoalbum, atlas and battlefield guide for the American Expeditionary Force, this classic is now best ordered as part of the 3-CD set, The U.S. Army in World War I, offered by the U.S. Army Center for Military History at their website.
The Post-Office Girl
The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig, Joel Rotenberg ISBN: 1590172620
Published by New York Review Books on April 15th 2008
Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literary
Pages: 257
Len's Summary: First published posthumously in Germany in 1982, this is a novel about post-WWI Vienna and the frayed society left behind with the disappearance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Zweig (1881-1942), an Austrian Jew and author of The World Yesterday (1941) was forced into exile in 1934 and died by his own hand in Brazil in 1941. Stefen Zweig should not be confused with the German Arnold Zweig, author of the classic WWI novels Education Before Verdun and The Case of Sergeant Griska.
Beware of Pity
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig, Phyllis Blewitt, Trevor Blewitt ISBN: 1590172000
Published by New York Review of Books on June 20th 2006
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary, Psychological
Pages: 353
Len's Summary: A powerful novel (first published in 1939) by Austrian master writer Zweig who traces the disintegration of an Austro-Hungarian Army officer even as Europe marches toward the 1914-18 cataclysm. At the height of his literary career in the 1920s and 30s, Zweig was one of the most famous writers in the world. Many of his books reflect nostalgia for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Return of the Soldier
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West ISBN: 9780141180656
Published by Penguin on June 1st 1998
Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literary
Pages: 90
Len's Summary: A shell shocked British officer returns to his stately upper class English home suffering from amnesia. A view of the shifting nature of the British upper classes after the upheavals of the Great War.
Captain Conan
Captain Conan by Roger Vercel ISBN: 9781570037139
on February 25th 2008
Genres: Fiction, Historical, War & Military, History, Military, World War I
Pages: 296
Len's Summary: First published in 1934, this novel of WWI of French troops on the Bulgarian front and postwar occupation duty in Bucharest won a Prix Goncourt and war made into a motion picture available on DVD and video tape.
The Great War, Book 1: American Front
The Great War, Book 1: American Front by Harry Turtledove ISBN: 9780307531018
Published by Random House Publishing Group on December 24th 2008
Pages: 608
Len's Summary: The first in a series of counter-factual historical novels set during WWI. This one finds a divided America on opposite sides of the conflict with Wilson’s Confederate States of America allied with Great Britain and the USA led by Teddy Roosevelt aligned with Imperial Germany. The second in this series is subtitled A Walk in Hell (ISBN 978 0 34544 0562 3).
August 1914
August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ISBN: 9781448191376
Published by Random House on August 7th 2014
Genres: Fiction, War & Military
Pages: 832
Len's Summary: A massive historical novel first published to near universal acclaim in 1971; a mixture of well-researched fact and fictional Russian characters involved in the disastrous battle of Tannenberg.
Not So Quiet…
Not So Quiet... by Helen Zenna Smith ISBN: 9780935312829
Published by Feminist Press at CUNY on January 1st 1993
Genres: Fiction, War & Military, Biographical
Pages: 300
Len's Summary: First published in 1930, this is a bitter- sweet novel about British volunteer nurses (VADs) behind the Western Front. Advertised as autobiographical, it is likely based on the diaries of ambulance driver Winifred Young.
Emperor’s Tomb
Emperor’s Tomb by Joseph Roth, Michael Hofmann ISBN: 081122127X
Published by New Directions on April 22nd 2013
Pages: 200
Len's Summary: Written by an Austrian novelist, essayist, journalist and war veteran about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during WWI and the post war-world of mitteleuropa. The second of two ironic novels tracing the saga of three generations the Trotta family; of world literary rank.
The Radetzky March
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth ISBN: 9781585673261
Published by Overlook Press on August 1st 2002
Genres: Fiction, General, Literary
Pages: 331
Len's Summary: First volume in the Trotta family saga tracing the decline of the Habsburg dual monarchy.
Loss of Eden Trilogy
Loss of Eden Trilogy by John Masters ISBN: 9780070407817
Published by McGraw-Hill on January 1st 1979
Pages: 589
Len's Summary: Three novels Now God Be Thanked, Heart of War and By the Green of the Spring tracing the experiences of a family of aristocratic landed English gentry, their associates and servants during the Great War. Available from used booksellers. John Masters, a retired British Indian Army officer, is best known for his novels about India including The Night Runners of Bengal and Bwani Junction.
A Very Long Engagement
A Very Long Engagement by Sébastien Japrisot ISBN: 9780312424589
Published by Picador on November 15th 2004
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: A young, polio-crippled Frenchwoman, Mathilde Donnay, investigates the web of deception that shrouds the fate of five soldiers condemned for self-inflicted wounds. All five, including her fiancé, are reported dead. Refusing to believe this, the shrewd Mathilde hires a private detective, enlists the help of family and acquaintance and travels far and wide to unravel the cover-up and find her missing lover. Told at many levels and in many voices, the is at once a war novel, mystery and a love story.. The author uses many techniques including documents, flashbacks and brief, but brilliant character sketches to paint a vivid vision of wartime and postwar France. Winner of the prestigious Prix Interallie in 1991, and a best-seller in France, this novel received well deserved praise in the United States when it was first published here in translation in 1996. A movie based on it was released in 2004 and was subsequently nominated for two Academy Awards.
The Good Soldier Svejk: and His Fortunes in the World War
The Good Soldier Svejk: and His Fortunes in the World War by Jaroslav Hašek Published by Amereon House on 1990
Pages: 429
Len's Summary: Hilarious classic satire first published in 1917 from a leading Czech author and WWI veteran about the adventures of a bumbling yet cunning Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Also available in Penguin paperback from Barnes & Noble. Buy this affordable hardcover copy for the fine illustrations.
Covenant with Death
Covenant with Death by John Harris ISBN: 9780751557121
on April 1st 2015
Genres: Fiction, Classics, War & Military
Pages: 505
Len's Summary: Traces the fate of one battalion of Kitchener volunteers through training to the Somme. Available used from Alibris and other used booksellers.
Class 1902
Class 1902 by Ernst Glaeser ISBN: 9781570037122
on February 11th 2008
Pages: 326
Len's Summary: Another in the Joseph M. Broccoli WWI Series, this novel was first published as Jahrgang 1902, this book tells the story of the German home front as seen through the eyes of an under-draft-age youth.
In The Company of Eagles
In The Company of Eagles by Ernest Kellogg Gann ISBN: 9780450003929
on August 1st 1969
Pages: 223
Len's Summary: Gann (1910-1991) barnstormer, commercial and WWII USAAF transport pilot was the author of The High and the Mighty, Fate is the Hunter and 19 other bestsellers and one of America’s premier novelists who specialized in aviation. This is the fictional tale of two combat fliers, one French, one German, fighting over the Chemin des Dames in the spring of 1917. Several of Gann’s books have been made into major motion pictures.
President’s Quarterly Update—April 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
I’m extremely pleased with the level of WW1HA’s activities, some of which may be unseen by you.
Our Journal, “World War One Illustrated,” is now published three times a year with an average length of 48 pages. Each issue is filled with high-quality articles covering a variety of topics, including the popular “My Kin in the Great War” series.
Our electronic newsletter, “Here and There with the WW1HA” is published monthly, with an assortment of Association events and articles covering WW1 topics.
Sal Compagno’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter continues to hold monthly meetings via Zoom, while Mark Benbow’s Eastern Chapter is holding quarterly meetings.
As President, I am also hosting a quarterly “Fireside Chat” online. The last one emphasized WW1 poetry. The next one will emphasize WW1-era music.
If you’re already a member, I thank you for your membership and encourage you to take part in these activities. If you’re not a member, I ask you to join and participate in these activities. Participate in the events and consider submitting an article for the journal or newsletter.
Reach out to me with your comments: lavarennes@meuse-argonne.com.
Regards,
Randy Gaulke
