The Soldiers' Press: Trench Journals in the First World War by Graham Seal ISBN: 9781137303257
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on April 8th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century, Social History
Pages: 272
Len's Summary: A look at a few of the some 300 trench newspapers published in the BEF in an effort to delve into their impact on morale among front-line soldiers.
The Great War: Ju1y 1, 1916, the First Day of the Battle of the Somme
The Great War: Ju1y 1, 1916, the First Day of the Battle of the Somme by Joe Sacco, Adam Hochschild ISBN: 9780393088809
Published by W. W. Norton on November 4th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Illustrated
Pages: 54
Len's Summary: A 24-foot long panorama presenting a wordless depiction of the horrors of the Somme by an accomplished cartoonist. A History Book Club selection packaged in a slipcase with a 16-page narrative by Adam Hochschild.
My Life Before the World War, 1860-1917 – A Memoir
My Life Before the World War, 1860-1917 – A Memoir by John J. Pershing, John T. Greenwood ISBN: 9780813141978
Published by University Press of Kentucky on June 20th 2013
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs, History, Military, United States
Pages: 727
Len's Summary: Pershing’s previously unpublished memoir traces his life from boyhood in Kansas, through West Point, the final Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection and his role as an observer in the Russo-Japanese War, as well as the frustrating pursuit of Pancho Villa across northern Mexico.
Haig’s Medical Officer
Haig’s Medical Officer by Eugene Ryan ISBN: 9781781593165
Published by Pen & Sword Books on January 1st 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 222
Len's Summary: Excerpts from Dr. Ryan’s diaries.
The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and their Forgotten World War
The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and their Forgotten World War by Richard Rubin ISBN: 9780544290488
Published by Mariner Books on May 6th 2014
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, World War I, United States, Veterans
Pages: 518
Len's Summary: Beginning ten years ago, the author set out to interview surviving WWI veterans and succeeded in finding several dozen men and women aged 101 to 113. These included an infantryman, an artillerist, an engineer a balloonist, sailors, marines, a woman War Department worker, yoemanettes, a veteran of the Siberian expedition, and a Canadian veteran, as well as the last surviving Doughboy Frank Buckles. These are their stories.
Hero of the Angry Sky: The World War I Diary and Letters of David S. Ingalls, America’s First Naval Ace
Hero of the Angry Sky: The World War I Diary and Letters of David S. Ingalls, America’s First Naval Ace by Geoffrey L. Rossano ISBN: 9780821420188
Published by Ohio University Press on February 5th 2013
Genres: History, General, Military, World War I, Transportation, Aviation, Naval
Pages: 350
Len's Summary: Ingalls was a member of the famed First Yale Unit, “the millionaires unit” of Truby Davison, and America’s only naval air ace. He later served in House of Representatives and as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air. Rossano spoke at the 2012 WW1HA seminar at Quantico.
The Great War from the Air Then and Now
The Great War from the Air Then and Now by Gail Ramsey ISBN: 9781870067812
Published by After the Battle on November 15th 2013
Pages: 128
Len's Summary: Shows how the Western Front has been transposed over 100 years through trench maps, then and now aerial photos. // How the Western Front has been transformed over 100 years.
Nels Anderson’s World War I Diary
Nels Anderson's World War I Diary by Nels Anderson, Allan Kent Powell ISBN: 9781607812555
Published by University of Utah Press on June 30th 2013
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Personal Memoirs, History, World War I
Pages: 308
Len's Summary: Extensive annotations by the editor make this book worth reading. // First-hand account of service of an enlisted engineer in the 89th Division of the AEF.
Voyage to Gallipoli
Voyage to Gallipoli by Peter Plowman ISBN: 9781922013538
on December 1st 2013
Genres: History, Australia & New Zealand, Military, World War I
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: Follows the first two contingents of ANZAC troops from Australia to Egypt, Lemnos and Gallipoli.
America‘s Greatest Blunder: The Fateful Decision in Enter World War One
America‘s Greatest Blunder: The Fateful Decision in Enter World War One by Burton Yale Pines ISBN: 9780989148702
Published by Hillcrest Publishing Group on October 29th 2013
Pages: 452
Len's Summary: The author argues that, absent American intervention, the exhausted and bankrupt warring powers would gave negotiated a peace replete with compromises and tradeoffs as in earlier European conflicts. Not a new assertion, but a powerful one…
Air and Sea Power in World War I: Combat and Experience in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy
Air and Sea Power in World War I: Combat and Experience in the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy by Maryam Philpott ISBN: 9781780761510
Published by I.B.Tauris on July 25th 2013
Genres: History, Europe, General, History, Western, Military, World War I, Aviation, Naval, Social History
Pages: 258
Len's Summary: An analysis of how British aviators and naval officers coped with technical innovation in time of war.
Sailor in the Desert: Adventures of Phillip Gunn DCM, RN in the Mesopotamian Campaign 1915
Sailor in the Desert: Adventures of Phillip Gunn DCM, RN in the Mesopotamian Campaign 1915 by David Gunn ISBN: 9781783462308
Published by Pen and Sword on November 14th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 160
The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun
The Vickers-Maxim Machine Gun by Martin Pegler ISBN: 9781780963822
Published by Osprey Publishing on May 20th 2013
Genres: History, Military, Weapons, World War I, World War II
Pages: 80
Len's Summary: One of a number of brief studies in the Osprey Weapons Series looks at the standard British heavy machine gun of WWI & II.
Great Britain’s Great War
Great Britain's Great War by Jeremy Paxman ISBN: 9780670919635
Published by Penguin UK on June 1st 2014
Pages: 356
Len's Summary: Social history: The day-to day British life by a prolific author, broadcaster and journalist known for his 2014 WWI documentary series for the BBC. -- Acerbic and witty attempt to capture the mood and morale of a nation engaged in what the author labels a senseless war.
At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War
At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War by Phillip G. Pattee ISBN: 9781612511948
Published by Cleis Press on October 15th 2013
Genres: History, Military, General, History, World War I
Pages: 273
Len's Summary: Economically dependent on international trade, Great Britain was vulnerable to German commerce raiders just as Tirpitz’ risk theory anticipated.
Prisoners of Britain: German Civilian and Combatant Internees During the First World War
Prisoners of Britain: German Civilian and Combatant Internees During the First World War by Panikos Panayi ISBN: 9780719078347
Published by Manchester University Press on February 5th 2013
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 272
Len's Summary: By the end of the war, Britain held prisoner an unprecedented number of POWs and enemy aliens: over half a million worldwide including some 160,000 at one camp on the Isle of Man.
To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War
To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War by Vincent P. O'Hara, W. David Dickson, Richard Worth ISBN: 9781612510828
Published by Naval Institute Press on July 15th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Naval
Pages: 349
Len's Summary: The history, training, organization, doctrine, and materiel of the British Royal, French, Italian, German, Imperial Russian and American navies and how their unique characteristics governed how they fought in WWI.
The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench Warfare to 1914
The Rocky Road to the Great War: The Evolution of Trench Warfare to 1914 by Nicholas Murray ISBN: 9781597975537
Published by Potomac Books, Inc. on August 31st 2013
Genres: History, Military, Strategy
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: Trench warfare typified the 1914-18 Western, though not the Eastern, Front. This is an examination of the evolution in theory and practice of field fortification from 1877 to 1914.
Aisne 1914
Aisne 1914 by Andrew Uffindell ISBN: 9781848848016
Published by Pen & Sword Books Limited on May 30th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 215
Len's Summary: Fought from 12 to 15 September 1914, this was the final, failed attempt by the British to expand upon their success at the Marne. After these battles, the front became a gelid stalemate for nearly four years.
Verdun: The Lost History of the Most Important Battle of World War I
Verdun: The Lost History of the Most Important Battle of World War I by John Mosier ISBN: 9781101621387
Published by Penguin on October 1st 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 400
Len's Summary: The author is an engaging contrarian writer (The Myth of the Great War, Harper, 2002) who teaches English at Loyola University in Louisiana. Fun to read, but not necessarily authoritative. According to Mosier eight distinct battles were fought for Verdun.
Unspeakable Regret
Unspeakable Regret by Sonny Moran ISBN: 978 0 9869 2492 0
on March 16th 2013
Len's Summary: The story of the first American military member, an Army nurse, to be killed in WWI
World War One Soldiers, 1914-1918
World War One Soldiers, 1914-1918 by Laurent Mirouze ISBN: B00MF11A5G
Published by Histoire et Collections on 2013
Len's Summary: Photos of surviving originals uniforms and equipment from private and public collections illustrated in full color on live models.
The League: The Story of Average Americans on the Hunt for WWI Spies
The League: The Story of Average Americans on the Hunt for WWI Spies by Bill Mills ISBN: 162087508X
Published by Skyhorse Publishing on May 1st 2013
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: The story of 250 thousand volunteers — amateur G-Men — looking for spies, saboteurs and subversion amid the paranoia of WWI-era America.
A Fine Brother: The Life of Captain Flora Sandes
A Fine Brother: The Life of Captain Flora Sandes by Louise Miller ISBN: 9781846881848
Published by Alma on August 1st 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Military, Women
Pages: 423
Len's Summary: Sandes work as a nurse and soldier serving with the Serbian army changed public perceptions of women’s roles in war.
Reconstructing Faces: The Art and Wartime Surgery of Gillies, Pickerill, McIndoe and Mowiem
Reconstructing Faces: The Art and Wartime Surgery of Gillies, Pickerill, McIndoe and Mowiem by Murray C. Meikle ISBN: 9781877578397
Published by Otago University Press on January 1st 2013
Genres: History, Military, General, Medical, Surgery, Plastic & Cosmetic
Pages: 264
Len's Summary: Facial reconstructive surgery in two world wars.
July 1914: Countdown to War
July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin ISBN: 9780465060740
Published by Basic Books on April 29th 2014
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century, Political Science, International Relations
Pages: 460
Len's Summary: Analysis of the frenetic activities of often desperate diplomats and more sanguine soldiers by the winner of the 2011 WW1HA Tomlinson Book Prize. A fast-paced account of some of the most important decisions of the 20th century. The author spares no one, but lays much of the blame on France and Russia. See also The Lions of July: Prelude to War, 1914,William Jannen, Presidio Press, 1997.
The Ships of Scapa Flow
The Ships of Scapa Flow by Campbell McCutcheon ISBN: 1445633868
Published by Amberley Publishing on March 1st 2014
Pages: 96
Len's Summary: British Home Fleet naval base in two world wars and the grave yard of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet.
Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I
Wounded: A New History of the Western Front in World War I by Emily R. Mayhew ISBN: 9780199322459
Published by Oxford University Press on November 12th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 275
British Artillery on the Western Front in the First World War; The Infantry Cannot Do with a Gun Less
British Artillery on the Western Front in the First World War; The Infantry Cannot Do with a Gun Less by Sanders Marble ISBN: 9781409411109
Published by Ashgate Publishing on March 28th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Weapons
Pages: 285
Len's Summary: It was not the machinegun, but rather artillery which dominated trench warfare of 1914-1918.
Artillery in the Great War
Artillery in the Great War by Paul Strong, Sanders Marble ISBN: 1783030127
Published by Pen & Sword Books on January 1st 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 246
Len's Summary: In all armies on the Western Front artillery was the dominant arm in both attack and defense. -- A look at the deciding weapon of the war. Sanders Marble is historian at the US Army Medical Museum and a frequent speaker at WFA seminars.
1914: Fight the Good Fight: Britain, the Army and the Coming of War
1914: Fight the Good Fight: Britain, the Army and the Coming of War by Allan Mallinson ISBN: 9781446463505
Published by Random House on September 2nd 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, World
Pages: 624
Len's Summary: A British novelist and historian trackles the pre-war army and opening weeks of the war as the “Old Contemptables” retreat before overwhelming German numbers.
Passchendaele: The Anatomy of a Tragedy
Passchendaele: The Anatomy of a Tragedy by Andrew Macdonald ISBN: 9781775540304
Published by HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand on September 1st 2013
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: Examines the experiences of the New Zealand Division at the Third Battle of Ypres in October 1917, as well as the roles of infantry, artillery and engineers from the UK and the dominions in this muddy battle of attrition.
Passchendaele in Perspective: The Third Battle of Ypres
Passchendaele in Perspective: The Third Battle of Ypres by Peter Liddle ISBN: 9780850525885
Published by Pen and Sword on May 14th 2014
Genres: History, Military, General
Pages: 544
Len's Summary: A multidimensional look at the 1917 Battle of Third Ypres by a much-honored British historian who delves into the archives of both sides.
Ballplayers in the Great War: Newspaper Accounts of Major Leaguers in World War I Military Service
Ballplayers in the Great War: Newspaper Accounts of Major Leaguers in World War I Military Service by Gary Mitchem, Mark Durr, Jim Leeke ISBN: 9780786475469
Published by McFarland & Company on September 15th 2013
Genres: Sports & Recreation, Baseball, General, History, Military, World War I, Language Arts & Disciplines, Journalism
Pages: 258
Len's Summary: Annotated accounts of major leaguers who interrupted their careers to serve.
Somme Intelligence: Fourth Army HQ 1916
Somme Intelligence: Fourth Army HQ 1916 by William Langford ISBN: 9781781590829
Published by Pen and Sword on August 5th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 160
Len's Summary: Based on a soldier’s handwritten journal of documents, intercepted messages, prisoner interrogations and other materials.
Defending Neutrality: The Netherlands Prepared for War 1900-1925
Defending Neutrality: The Netherlands Prepared for War 1900-1925 by Wim Klinkert ISBN: 9789004227477
Published by Brill on June 1st 2013
Genres: History, Europe, General, Military, World War I
Pages: 328
Len's Summary: Neutral Holland’s experience of WWI, when its army was mobilized against German invasion, its colonial trade largely cut off by British blockade, and its social fabric stressed almost to the breaking point.
The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World
The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World by Greg King, Sue Woolmans ISBN: 9781250000163
Published by Macmillan on September 3rd 2013
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Royalty, History, Military, World War I, Europe, Austria & Hungary
Pages: 432
Len's Summary: Tells the story of the act that sparked WWI while examining the family life, personality and politics of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the context of the Habsburg ruling house of a fissiparous multi-national empire.
Poetry of the First World war: An Anthology
Poetry of the First World war: An Anthology by Tim Kendall ISBN: 9780198703204
Published by Oxford University Press on July 15th 2014
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Poetry, Anthologies (multiple authors)
Pages: 312
The First World War: The War to End All Wars
The First World War: The War to End All Wars by Geoffrey Jukes ISBN: 9781782002802
Published by Osprey Publishing on June 18th 2013
Genres: History, Military, General, World War I, Pictorial
Pages: 364
Len's Summary: A narrative survey history of the conflict summarizing action on all fronts including Italy and Palestine.
Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914
Militarism and the British Left, 1902-1914 by Matthew Johnson ISBN: 9781137274120
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on January 18th 2013
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, Other, Modern, 20th Century, Social History
Pages: 247
Len's Summary: Prior to 1914, British socialists, Liberals and Laborites displayed ambivalent attitudes toward the military services.
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
