The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army

The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus ArmyThe Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army by Glen Craney
ISBN: 0981648444
Published by Brigid's Fire Press Genres: Fiction
Pages: 562

Glen Craney is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. He is a Chaucer Awards First-Place Winner, a two-time indie BRAG Medallion Honoree, and a three-time Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year-Award Finalist. Craney’s research for this book included the Daughters of the Texas Republic Library, the UCLA Special Collections Library, and the Raymond H. Fogler Library. Fans of historical fiction should read his books.

Reviewed by Dana Lombardy, publisher of WWOI

Military Writers Society of America: “…a vivid picture of not only men being deprived of their veterans’ rights, but of their human rights as well….[an] admirable book.”

National Flowers: The Battle of Verdun 1916

National Flowers: The Battle of Verdun 1916NATIONAL FLOWERS: The Battle of Verdun 1916 by Kermit R. Mercer
ISBN: 9781312048447
Published by Lulu.com on July 21, 2014
Genres: History, General
Pages: 384

WW1HA member Kermit Mercer has found a unique way to understand the war with his novel about Verdun based on conversations with World War One poilu (French soldiers).

Mercer lived in the Verdun area while serving with the USAF. He got to know many of the veterans when they were in their early 60s and wrote down their stories in the year after he returned home. His notes were not appropriate for a formal history so he turned them into a gripping novel with insights into the hell that was the war’s longest battle.

This is not summer beach reading. The long-forgotten details about life in the Verdun trenches are surprising and enlightening, like the need to always hold utensils over a candle before eating to avoid dysentery, or how seasoned poilu could tell from the location of shell bursts that an inexperienced German artillery team was at work. In many ways, National Flowers is an excellent supplement to the recently translated memoir Poilu by Caporal Louis Barthas. This is a novel for the serious historian.

Reviewed by Steve Suddaby, past president of WW1HA

The Kaiser’s American

The Kaiser’s AmericanThe Kaiser's American by Edward J. Klekowski
ISBN: 9781539382423
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on October 16, 2016
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 292

This is the story of a Brooklyn man of German descent and his adventures in Belgium in the opening campaign of World War One. It presents an entertaining, almost unbelievable, series of events in compelling detail. Klekowski has written other non-fiction books, including Americans in Occupied Belgium, 1914-1918, and created several TV documentaries, including one on WW1 volunteer ambulance drivers.

The protagonist, Paul Meyer, enlisted in the German Navy at the beginning of the war and survives a crash landing of the Zeppelin on which he was serving as an engineer. His American attitudes clash with many in the German military, but somehow he lurches from event to event learning survival skills and giving the reader a look at the chaos behind the front lines of the German advance on the Western Front.

Unfortunately, the author adds lots of historical detail even when it interrupts the story—what eventually happens to famous historical figures who appear briefly in the book does not advance the story. An appendix or afterword would have been more appropriate. Despite this flaw it’s a good read.

Reviewed by Anne Merritt

The Wide World Trilogy

The Wide World TrilogyThe Ways of the World (The Wide World Trilogy #1) by Robert Goddard
ISBN: 0802123597
Published by Mysterious Press on June 2, 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 416

 

 

The Wide World TrilogyThe Corners of the Globe (The Wide World Trilogy #2) by Robert Goddard
ISBN: 0802125220
Published by Mysterious Press on June 7, 2016
Pages: 400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wide World TrilogyThe Ends of the Earth (The Wide World Trilogy #3) by Robert Goddard
ISBN: 0802126561
Published by Mysterious Press on April 25, 2017
Pages: 400

 

Kirkus Reviews enthused that the Edgar Award-winning best-selling author Robert Goddard’s James Maxted Thrillers are “A sophisticated spy story with serious historical chops.” Publishers Weekly noted that “Characterization and dialogue are topnotch … Readers will look forward to seeing these characters spar again.”

Royal Flying Corps veteran Lieutenant James “Max” Maxted was introduced in the first volume in 2013. His diplomat father Sir Henry is in Paris for the Versailles Treaty and is found dead after a fall from a roof. The French police conclude it’s an accident but Max finds evidence of espionage and government double-crossing.

The second volume finds the young ex-aviator working as a double agent as he tries to learn more about his father’s murder. Working with legendary German spy Fritz Lemmer, who claims responsibility for Max’s father’s death, he makes yet more disturbing discoveries.

In the third and final volume the action shifts from Paris and the signing of the Versailles Treaty to Japan where Max was born. The ending should satisfy fans of Goddard’s work.

One of the things to savor in this series is the slower passage of time and information dissemination one hundred years ago. An attempt to outsmart surveillance with changing trains; the need to obtain and protect photographic negatives; and the rare use of weapons are eloquent reminders of how the world has changed.

Reviewed by Anne Merritt

1914: A Novel

1914: A Novel1914: A Novel by Charles B. Smith
ISBN: 9781494236007
Published by Createspace Independent Pub on March 15th 2014
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 647

Len's Summary: A novel of nine soldiers struggling to survive.

The Larks

The LarksThe Larks by Jem Shaw
ISBN: 9781484060834
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on July 21st 2013
Pages: 390

Len's Summary: Tale of an 18-year-old youth flying pursuit aircraft on the Western Front.

The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army

The Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus ArmyThe Yanks Are Starving: A Novel of the Bonus Army by Glen Craney
ISBN: 9780981648446
Published by Brigid's Fire Press on October 15th 2013
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 562

Len's Summary: Follows eight Doughboys through WWI and into the post war era culminating in the 1932 veterans' Bonus March on Washington.

1914: A Novel

1914:  A Novel1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz, Linda Coverdale
ISBN: 1595589112
Published by The New Press on January 2nd 2014
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 119

Len's Summary: A novel of France at war.

The Goliath Stone

The Goliath StoneThe Goliath Stone by Charles Cobb
ISBN: 9781412029827
Published by Trafford Publishing Genres: Fiction, Suspense
Pages: 272

Len's Summary: A British subaltern is tasked to retrieve the stolen Irish crown jewels from Romania just as these are sent to Russia on the eve of revolution in 1917.

The Old Front Line

The Old Front LineThe Old Front Line by John Masefield
ISBN: 9781499539769
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on May 13th 2014
Pages: 24

Len's Summary: A look at the Somme battlefield just after the battle first published in 1917 as propaganda. Masefield later became British poet laureate.

That Quiet Earth: A First World War Tale

That Quiet Earth: A First World War TaleThat Quiet Earth: A First World War Tale by Bruce Fellows
ISBN: 9781783831807
on May 31st 2014
Pages: 196

Len's Summary: pages, ISBN 978 1 7838 3189 7, £16.99 HB. Two nineteen-year-old RAF pilots fight high over the Western Front.

The First of July: A Novel

The First of July: A NovelThe First of July: A Novel by Elizabeth Speller
ISBN: 9781480448186
Published by Open Road Media on November 5th 2013
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 352

Len's Summary: The hopes of four men collide on the first day of the Somme.

Kingdoms Fall: The Korniloff Affair

Kingdoms Fall: The Korniloff AffairKingdoms Fall: The Korniloff Affair by Edward Parr
ISBN: 1494245930
Published by Createspace on December 1st 2014
Pages: 262

Len's Summary: Second volume in a tale of WWI espionage from the point of view of two British officers in the newly-created SIS.

The Reckoning: A John Madden Mystery

The Reckoning: A John Madden MysteryThe Reckoning: A John Madden Mystery by Rennie Airth
ISBN: 9780143126942
Published by Penguin Books on February 24th 2015
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective
Pages: 368

Len's Summary: Inspector John Madden, who debuted in River of Darkness, returns from retirement to investigate murder in post-war Britain.

In Parenthesis

In ParenthesisIn Parenthesis by David Jones
ISBN: 9781590170366
Published by New York Review of Books on 1937
Pages: 224

Len's Summary: A picture of the interminable waiting and unforeseen death on the Western Front by an infantryman.

Flower of Iowa

Flower of IowaFlower of Iowa by Lance Ringel
ISBN: 9781310940606
Published by Smashwords Edition on May 15th 2014

Len's Summary: A novel of battle in France during the final weeks before the Armistice.

If England Were Invaded

If England Were InvadedIf England Were Invaded by William Le Queux
ISBN: 9781851244027
Published by Bodleian Library on April 1st 2014
Genres: Fiction, War & Military, Alternative History
Pages: 274

Len's Summary: Originally published in 1906, this popular novel in the vein of Erskine Childers’ The Riddle of the Sands frightened many Britons at the height of the Anglo-German naval armaments race.

The Dawn’s Chorus

The Dawn’s ChorusThe Dawn's Chorus by Martin Richardson
ISBN: 9781849635950
Published by Midpoint Trade Books Incorporated on January 31st 2015
Pages: 253

Len's Summary: A wartime love story which opens with the Battle of Mons.

The Post-Office Girl

The Post-Office GirlThe 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 PityBeware 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 SoldierThe 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 ConanCaptain 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 FrontThe 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 1914August 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…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 TombEmperor’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 MarchThe 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 TrilogyLoss 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 EngagementA 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 WarThe 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 DeathCovenant 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 1902Class 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 EaglesIn 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.

The General

The GeneralThe General by C. S. Forester
ISBN: 9781877853395
on January 1st 1982
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 263

Len's Summary: First published in 1936, this novel recounts the experiences in WWI of Herbert Curzon, a mediocre cavalry officer who rises from battalion command to head up a BEF army on the Western Front which collapses in the face of the German onslaught of spring 1918. Often thought to be the fictionalized story of General Hubert Plummer, this book makes an exceptional read. Forester is best known for the fictional Napoleonic War-at-sea Hornblower series and for his novel The African Queen set in WWI-era Africa.

The Good Soldier

The Good SoldierThe Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
ISBN: 9781467964562
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on December 17th 2011
Pages: 136

Len's Summary: A 1915 story of deception and betrayal set just before WWI; by an exceptional British author who also crafted the acclaimed tetrology Parade’s End about his WWI experiences, A Man Could Stand Up and Zeppelin Nights.

The Devil’s Lieutenant

The Devil’s LieutenantThe Devil's Lieutenant by M. Fagyas
ISBN: 978-0399102080
on June 1970
Pages: 392

Len's Summary: A murder mystery featuring the Austro-Hungarian officer corps in 1910 Vienna and elsewhere in the ramshackle, multinational and polyglot Habsburg Empire. Intrigue in the Imperial and Royal Army as Austria-Hungary stumbles toward war. A fast-paced and finely crafted fictionalized glimpse of a decaying Empire written by the daughter of an imperial officer.

Three Soldiers

Three SoldiersThree Soldiers by John Dos Passos
ISBN: 9780486434674
Published by Courier Corporation on June 18th 2004
Genres: Fiction, Classics
Pages: 309

Len's Summary: First published in 1921, a grim fictionalized depiction of life in the WWI era America Army by the author who typifies the Lost Generation.

Manhattan Transfer

Manhattan TransferManhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
ISBN: 9780618381869
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company on September 2nd 2003
Genres: Fiction, Classics
Pages: 342

Len's Summary: Considered Dos Passos’ greatest novel first published in 1925, this is a series of short stories, an expressionistic look at New York City in the 1920s; its protagonists, including returning Doughboys, struggle to live the American dream. Dos Passos, a leading member of “the lost generation,” was himself a WWI veteran, an ambulance driver in France and Italy.

One Man’s Initiation: 1917

One Man’s Initiation: 1917One Man's Initiation: 1917 by John Dos Passos
ISBN: 1598180800
on December 1st 2006

Len's Summary: A passionate indictment of war with colorful descriptions of France during the conflict, this was Dos Passos first novel. He served Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps in France and with the American Red Cross Northern Italy before volunteering for the U. S. Army Medical Corps in 1918. Available used from several booksellers.

The Enormous Room

The Enormous RoomThe Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings
ISBN: 9780486421209
Published by Dover Publications on August 26th 2002
Genres: Fiction, Classics, War & Military, Poetry
Pages: 192

Len's Summary: An autobiographical account of Cummings’ arrest and imprisonment for alleged treason in France during WWI. Cummings served as an American volunteer driver in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. First published in 1922.