Major Sam Woodfill: The Greatest Soldier of WW I by Ben Newell ISBN: 9781605637105
Published by PublishAmerica on September 1st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Military, World War I
Pages: 184
Len's Summary: A biography of WWI medal of honor-winner Major Sam Woodfill, the career military man considered by John Pershing to be the outstanding soldier in the AEF.
Springboks on the Somme: South Africa in the Great War 1914-1918
Springboks on the Somme by Bill Nasson ISBN: 014302535X
Published by Penguin Global on February 13th 2008
Genres: History, Africa, South, General
Pages: 300
Len's Summary: A study of South African participation in far-flung campaigns from German South West Africa, to Egypt and the Western Front.
Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War
Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The First Modern Intelligence War by Polly A. Mohs ISBN: 9780415493314
Published by Routledge on November 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: His book goes far beyond Lawrence of Arabia. It examines the imaginative exploitation of intelligence in formulating an effective British strategy for supporting the Arab Revolt again the Ottomans during the First World War. For more on this subject see: War by Revolution: Germany & Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I, Donald McKale, Kent State, 2008. // The creation and ascendancy of the Foreign Office’s Arab Bureau created specifically to coordinate imperial operations in Arab lands. The hard, often dirty work behind the glamour behind Lawrence of Arabia.
Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East
Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East by Karl Ernest Meyer, Shareen Blair Brysac ISBN: 039306199X
on June 9th 2008
Genres: History, Middle East, General
Pages: 507
Len's Summary: A survey history of the evolution of the modern Middle East beginning in 1882, extending though two world wars and the Cold War, told through the lives of the Britons and Americans who shaped it. A synthesis rather than original research, but nonetheless a good foundation for understanding the region today.
British Popular Culture and the First World War
British Popular Culture and the First World War by Jessica Meyer ISBN: 9789004166585
Published by Brill Academic Publishers on June 19th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, Essays
Pages: 383
Len's Summary: Essays by British social/cultural historians focusing on the cultural forms produced by a wide range social groups including veterans, women, museum visitors and film goers.
Somme Mud: War Experiences of an Infantryman in France, 1914-1919
Somme Mud: War Experiences of an Infantryman in France, 1914-1919 by Edward P.F. Lynch, Will Davies ISBN: 1741668948
Published by Random House Australia on April 1st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Military, World War I, World, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
Pages: 368
Len's Summary: Memoir of a British veteran first published in 2006. // War memoir of an Australian written in 1921 and only now published.
Stanley Spencer’s Great War Diary, 1915-1918
Stanley Spencer's Great War Diary, 1915-1918 by Stanley Spencer, Arthur Littlewood ISBN: 9781844157785
Published by Pen & Sword Military on 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Military, World War I
Pages: 176
Len's Summary: The editor provides a commentary for these recently-discovered letters from a VC winner. // Diaries of a British veteran. // Written by a veteran of the Royal Fusiliers and West Yorkshire regiments who served from 1915 on the Somme, at Moutaubon and Vimy.
Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel
Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Emergence of Israel by Geoffrey Lewis ISBN: 9781847250407
Published by A&C Black on May 31st 2009
Genres: History, Ancient, General, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, Israel & Palestine, Political Science, International Relations, Diplomacy
Pages: 203
Len's Summary: Explores the relationship between the British Foreign Secretary and Chaim Weizmann the British chemist, Zionist and first President of Israel.
Contesting the German Empire, 1871 – 1918
Contesting the German Empire, 1871 - 1918 by Matthew Jefferies ISBN: 1405129972
Published by Wiley-Blackwell on January 3rd 2008
Genres: Germany, History, General, Europe, Historiography, Modern, 19th Century
Pages: 242
Len's Summary: A bottom-up examination of the dynamics of politicization under Bismarck and Wilhelm II; “democracy in an undemocratic state.” Germany had universal male suffrage from 1871, but lacked parliamentary control over anything but the budget as government as ministers remained responsible only to the Kaiser who often became a spanner in the works.
The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie: Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-1933
The Selected Papers of Sir Arthur Currie: Diaries, Letters, and Report to the Ministry, 1917-1933 by Mark Humphries ISBN: 097834412X
Published by Military History on May 1st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Canada, Military
Pages: 407
Len's Summary: The first complete collection of the papers of Canada’s top soldier of WWI. Currie was a land speculator and militiaman from British Columbia who rose to command the four divisions of the CEF. He is best remembered for the Canadian Corps successful 1917 attack at Vimy Ridge. Purchase directly from Wilfred Laurier University at www.wlu.ca or phone Andrew Thomson, at (519) 884-0710.
The Oil Hunters: Exploration and Espionage in the Middle East
The Oil Hunters: Exploration and Espionage in the Middle East by Roger Howard ISBN: 9781847252326
Published by Bloomsbury Academic on July 15th 2008
Genres: History, Middle East, General
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: Anecdotal history of the search for oil in the Middle East from 1880 to 1940, including the 1908 discovery of oil in Persia and Mesopotamia which had a vast impact on WWI and the post-war world.
A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War
A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War by Michael Howard ISBN: 9780826498137
Published by Continuum on August 20th 2008
Genres: History, General, Europe, Great Britain, Historiography, Military, World War I
Pages: 229
Len's Summary: A scholarly examination of revisionism and traditionalism in studies of The Great War by British historians. // A series of brief essays written by British historians (Gary Sheffield, Julian Putkowski, Terry Castle, Malcom Brown among others) who engage in much critical comment on present and past historians and histories of The Great War. Labeled by Hew Strachan in a review for the Times Literary Supplement as a rehash of old, insular arguments.
Douglas Haig and the First World War
Douglas Haig and the First World War by J. P. Harris ISBN: 9780521158770
Published by Cambridge University Press on October 15th 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, Modern, 20th Century, World War I, Great Britain
Pages: 666
Len's Summary: Accuses Haig of first underestimating German strength in 1916 and then exaggerating German’s power in 1918, advocating a compromise peace. A new biography which has stoked another round in the never-ending controversy over the most pilloried military leader in British history. The author is a lecturer at Sandhurst.
First Blitz
First Blitz by Neil Hanson ISBN: 0385611706
Published by Doubleday on May 19th 2008
Pages: 448
Len's Summary: Popular history of the German Gotha bomber offensive against England in 1917-1918.
A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire
A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire by M. Şükrü Hanioğlu ISBN: 9780691146171
Published by Princeton University Press on February 25th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Middle East, General, Modern, 18th Century, World, Social History
Pages: 264
Len's Summary: Traces the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 19th century into 27 successor states after 1918. The author is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. A History Book Club selection for summer, 2008.
Brushes and Bayonets: Cartoons, Sketches and Paintings of World War I
Brushes and Bayonets: Cartoons, Sketches and Paintings of World War I by Lucinda Gosling ISBN: 9781846030956
Published by Osprey Publishing on April 22nd 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Art, General, Comic Strips & Cartoons
Pages: 200
Len's Summary: Collection of 250 WWI illustrations taken from the archives of the London Daily News.
Lutyens and the Great War
Lutyens and the Great War by Tim Skelton, Gerald Gliddon, Gavin Stamp ISBN: 0711228787
Published by Frances Lincoln on January 1st 2009
Genres: Architecture, Individual Architects & Firms, General
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: Sir Edwin Lutyens is known principally for his residential architecture. Here range of his memorials from the Cenotaph at Whitehall to the Memorial at Theipval and many lesser known monuments in England, France and overseas is explored.
The Routledge Atlas of the First World War
The Routledge Atlas of the First World War by Martin Gilbert ISBN: 9780415460378
Published by Routledge on October 29th 2008
Genres: History, General, Military, World War I, World, Reference
Pages: 173
Len's Summary: New edition of a fine atlas.
The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and the Fiction of Mobilization
The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and the Fiction of Mobilization by Keith Gandal ISBN: 9780199744572
on July 31st 2008
Genres: Literary Criticism, American, General, United States
Pages: 288
Len's Summary: Analyses post-war fiction of the “Lost Generation” and finds it less anti-war than anti-mobilization in reaction to the authors personal rejection for service with the US forces.
In Search of the Zeppelin War: The Archeology of the First Blitz
In Search of the Zeppelin War: The Archaeology of the First Blitz by Neil Faulkner, Nadia Durrani ISBN: 0752441825
Published by The History Press on November 1st 2008
Genres: History, Ancient, General, Military, World War I, Aviation, Social Science, Archaeology
Pages: 176
Len's Summary: Technical details and other information on the German Zeppelin attacks against Great Britain.
Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson: Progressivism, Internationalism, War, and Peace
Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson: Progressivism, Internationalism, War, and Peace by John Milton Cooper Jr. ISBN: 0801890748
Published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press on September 30th 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Presidents & Heads of State, History, United States, 20th Century, Political Science, International Relations, General
Pages: 376
Len's Summary: A series of essays reexamining Wilson’s policies and legacy.
Unlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special Relationship
Unlikely Allies: Britain, America and the Victorian Origins of the Special Relationship by Duncan Andrew Campbell ISBN: 1847251919
Published by Bloomsbury Academic on February 1st 2008
Genres: History, United States, General, Political Science, International Relations, Europe, Great Britain
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: Putting aside residual antagonisms stemming from the War of 1812, America and Great Britain lay the basis for an alliance that survived two world wars and is still operative today.
An Officer’s Manual of the Western Front, 1914-1918
An Officer's Manual of the Western Front, 1914-1918 by Stephen Bull ISBN: 9781844860722
Published by Conway on September 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, World War I, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
Pages: 160
Len's Summary: A compendium of 30 whole manuals and shorter extracts.
Answering the Call: The U. S. Army Nurse Corps, 1917-1919: A Commemorative Tribute to Military Nursing in World War I
Answering the Call: The U.S. Army Nurse Corps, 1917-1919: A Commemorative Tribute to Military Nursing in World War I by Lisa M. Budreau, Richard M. Prior ISBN: 0160817242
Published by United States Department of Defense on November 10th 2008
Genres: History, Military, General, World War I, Medical, Nursing, Emergency
Pages: 254
Len's Summary: The author is a research historian in the Army Office of Medical History.
The Unquiet Western Front: Britain’s Role in Literature and History
The Unquiet Western Front: Britain's Role in Literature and History by Brian Bond ISBN: 9780521036412
Published by Cambridge University Press on April 30th 2007
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, General, Social Science, Media Studies, Literary Criticism, Social History, Military, World War I
Pages: 140
Len's Summary: First published in 2002, this is a critique of the anti-war culture that pervades writing and teaching The Great War. Favorably reviewed by History Today as a bid to rescue WWI history from popular myth.
Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918
Setting the Desert on Fire: T. E. Lawrence and Britain's Secret War in Arabia, 1916-1918 by James Barr ISBN: 9780393335279
on July 6th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 382
Len's Summary: Barr makes the point that the British were no more duplicitous that the Arabs, many of whose leaders (Hussein for example) maintained open lines of communications to the Turks up to the end of the war. Absent a unified Arab national movement, the British and French — the author argues — had no choice but to assume responsibility for the former Ottoman provinces.
Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-Century Europe
Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-Century Europe by Nicholas Atkin ISBN: 0313336571
Published by Greenwood Press on August 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, Modern, 20th Century, Social History, Social Science, Sociology
Pages: 230
Len's Summary: Essays covering both issues and countries, including France in WWI, as well as the Spanish Civil War and World War Two.
Kitchener’s Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War
Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War by Henry Allingham, Dennis Goodwin, HRH Prince Charles ISBN: 1845964160
Published by Mainstream Publishing on October 1st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, History, Military, General, World War I, Political
Pages: 240
Len's Summary: Alingham served on land, at sea at Jutland and in the air with the Royal Naval Air Service.
The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War
The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War by Mustafa Aksakal ISBN: 9780521175258
Published by Cambridge University Press on December 9th 2010
Genres: History, Europe, General, Middle East, Military, World War I, World
Pages: 234
Len's Summary: A revisionist history of Ottoman “Young Turk” politics and policies leading to belligerency on the side of Germany.
Uniforms of the German Colonial Troops, 1884-1918
Uniforms of the German Colonial Troops, 1884-1918 by Charles Woolley ISBN: 9780764333576
Published by Schiffer Military History on 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, Uniforms, Illustrated, Germany
Pages: 187
Len's Summary: Also see Uniforms of the Schutztruppen, the Expedition Corps and III, the Batallion of the Imperial Marines assigned to protect Germany’s far-flung pre-WWI colonial possessions.
The Legacy of the Great War: Ninety Years On
The Legacy of the Great War: Ninety Years On by Jay Winter ISBN: 9780826271990
Published by University of Missouri Press on October 26th 2009
Genres: History, General, Military, World War I, World, United States
Pages: 240
Len's Summary: Papers from a 2007 forum sponsored by the Western Front Association, The National WWI Museum at the Liberty Memorial and the Kansas City Public Library edited by Yale scholar Jay Winter. Contributors include Niall Ferguson, Paul Kennedy, Sir John Keegan, Hew Strachan, John Horne, Leonard Smith, John Milton Cooper, Margaret MacMillan and Paul Fussell.
Tracing British Battalions on the Somme
Tracing British Battalions on the Somme by Ray Westlake ISBN: 9781844158850
on January 15th 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, Great Britain
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: A research guide for Somme enthusiasts by a recognized British historian and researcher.
Before My Helpless Sight: Suffering, Dying and Military Medicine on the Western Front, 1914-1918
Before My Helpless Sight: Suffering, Dying and Military Medicine on the Western Front, 1914-1918 by Leo van Bergen ISBN: 9780754658535
on February 8th 2009
Genres: History, Modern, General, Military, World War I, Medical
Pages: 528
Len's Summary: Drawing on French, Dutch, British and German sources, the author examines the impact of modern war on individual soldiers. Translation from the Dutch recommended by Hubert van Tuyll of Augusta State University.
Images of Conflict: Military Aerial Photography and Archaeology
Images of Conflict: Military Aerial Photography and Archeology by Birger Stichelbaut, Jean Bourgeois, Nicholas J. Saunders, Piet Chielens ISBN: 1443801712
Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing on February 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, Photography, Social Science, Archaeology
Pages: 302
Len's Summary: An exploration of aerial photography in World Wars I and II by military historians with the emphasis on The Great War.
Captivity, Forced Labour and Forced Migration in Europe during the First World War
Captivity, Forced Labour and Forced Migration in Europe during the First World War by Matthew Stibbe ISBN: 0415846358
Published by Routledge on August 7th 2009
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century, Essays
Pages: 232
Len's Summary: Six essays on POWs, refugees, deportees, internees, forced migrations, and use of colonial troops and civilian laborers in Europe.
Banned in Berlin: Literary Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918
Banned in Berlin: Literary Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 by Gary D. Stark ISBN: 9781845455705
Published by Berghahn Books on March 2009
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Political Science, Censorship, Social Science, General
Pages: 316
Len's Summary: Imperial Germany took a broad view of measures permissible and necessary to maintain moral and religious norms and political order, but this did not stifle literary life.
Wings over the Desert: In Action with an RAF Pilot in Palestine, 1916-18
Wings over the Desert: In Action with an RAF Pilot in Palestine, 1916-18 by Desmond Seward ISBN: 9781844256723
Published by Haynes Publishing on 2009
Genres: History, Middle East, General, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: Air battles with the Germans over the Sinai Desert with a pilot of Number 14 Squadron, RAF.
Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain’s Covert Empire in the Middle East
Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain's Covert Empire in the Middle East by Priya Satia ISBN: 0199734801
Published by Oxford University Press on November 1st 2009
Genres: Political Science, General, Middle East, Great Britain, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
Pages: 458
Len's Summary: Beyond Lawrence of Arabia: The interaction between culture and imperialism. // Scholarly critique of British imperialism as a paranoid and brutal arm of military policy with its roots in Edwardian England; questions the liberal underpinnings of imperial ideology. A cultural history of the interwar British imperial state.
The Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great War
The Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great War by Michael Roper ISBN: 9780719083860
Published by Manchester University Press on October 12th 2010
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, General, Psychology
Pages: 368
Len's Summary: Personal experience and psychological impact of WWI on soldiers and their families.
Handbook of Imperial Germany
Handbook of Imperial Germany by Janet Robinson, Joe Robinson ISBN: 1449021131
Published by AuthorHouse on September 23rd 2009
Genres: History, Military, General, Germany, World War I
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: A summary overview of Imperial German government, the constituent states and kingdoms and the organization of the armies of Prussia and the several kingdoms, including an order of battle for August 1914. Appendices contain a timeline, notes on the Imperial Constitution, and on tactics. An outstanding and affordable reference source on Imperial German government, society and military.
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
