British Silent Cinema and The Great War by Michael Hammond, Michael Williams ISBN: 0230292623
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on November 15th 2011
Pages: 216
Len's Summary: These essays look at the British movie industry’s response to The Great War and how that industry shaped the war’s memory in the 19 teens and 20s.
Lady Under Fire on the Western Front: The Great War Letters of Lady Dorothie Feilding MM
Lady Under Fire on the Western Front: The Great War Letters of Lady Dorothie Feilding MM by Dorothie Feilding ISBN: 9781848843226
on April 2010
Pages: 226
Len's Summary: The record of nearly three years of driving an ambulance behind the Western Front.
Strangers on the Western Front: Chinese Workers in the Great War
Strangers on the Western Front: Chinese Workers in the Great War by Guoqi Xu ISBN: 9780674049994
Published by Harvard University Press on March 20th 2011
Genres: History, Asia, General, Military, World War I, World, Modern, 20th Century, Social Science, Minority Studies, Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: The story of 140 thousand illiterate Chinese contract coolie laborers contracted by the British and French for service behind the lines in France and Flanders; revolutionary China’s major contribution to WWI made in an effort to stave off powerful external threats from Japan and other powers.
Foch in Command: The Forging of a First World War General
Foch in Command: The Forging of a First World War General by Elizabeth Greenhalgh ISBN: 9781107633858
Published by Cambridge University Press on January 30th 2014
Genres: History, Military, General, World War I, Modern, 20th Century, Europe
Pages: 570
Len's Summary: A new look at the life and achievements of the allied generalissimo of WWI.
Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines, and ASW Weapons of All Nations: An Illustrated Directory
Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines, and ASW Weapons of All Nations: An Illustrated Directory by Norman Friedman ISBN: 9781848321007
Published by Seaforth Publishing on December 12th 2011
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: A valuable resource book on naval weapons used by all the belligerents and by several neutral powers, as well.
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford ISBN: 0753827980
Published by Phoenix on August 1st 2010
Pages: 496
Len's Summary: A broad-brush narrative history spanning all the Middle East theatres from Gallipoli, through the Caucasus, Palestine, the Sinai and the Hejaz to Mesopotamia; many detailed maps and numerous illustrations. -- A narrative history of the sweep of war from the Russo-Turkish war in the Caucasus, to Gallipoli, Macedonia, Suez, Palestine and Mesopotamia followed by the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of modern Turkey. Also available in August 2011 in paperback from the same publisher ISBN 978 1 6059 8196 3, $17.95. // A new survey history of the war in Mesopotamia and Palestine.
Shooting the Front: Allied Aerial Reconnaissance in the First World War
Shooting the Front: Allied Aerial Reconnaissance in the First World War by Terrence J. Finnegan ISBN: 9780752460529
Published by Spellmount on September 1st 2011
Genres: History, Military, Aviation, Photography, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
Pages: 408
Len's Summary: First published by NDIS Press in 2006, this is the second revised edition of a unique analysis of the development and tactical employment of aerial reconnaissance and photographic interpretation on the Western Front, the principal use of airpower in that conflict. // The author spoke at the WFA 2006 Annual National Seminar.
The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism
The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism by Casper W. Erichsen, David Olusoga ISBN: 9780571231423
Published by Faber & Faber on August 1st 2011
Genres: History, Africa, South, General, Europe, Germany, Military, Other, Political Science, Political Process
Pages: 394
Len's Summary: An indictment of German colonialism in South West Africa (present-day Namibia); the 1905 massacres of Herero and Nama tribesmen.
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund ISBN: 9780307739285
on September 4th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 540
Len's Summary: A Swedish historian gives us an intimate history generated from the writings of 20 men and woman who participated.
Royal Flying Corps Technical Notes on the Airplanes and Engines of 1916
Royal Flying Corps Technical Notes on the Airplanes and Engines of 1916 by Patrick Ellam ISBN: 9781450299480
Published by iUniverse on March 11th 2011
Genres: History, Military, Aviation, Transportation, General
Pages: 132
Len's Summary: How airplanes of 1916 were built and how to fly them, by a British pursuit pilot.
Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America’s Entry into World War I
Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America's Entry into World War I by Justus D. Doenecke ISBN: 9780813130026
Published by University Press of Kentucky on March 8th 2011
Genres: History, United States, 20th Century
Pages: 394
Len's Summary: A short history of American neutrality.
Haig: Master of the Field
Haig: Master of the Field by John Davidson ISBN: 9781848843622
on November 15th 2010
Genres: History, Military, General
Pages: 192
Len's Summary: Concentrates on the dramatic events of 1917 and 1918 and Haig’s conduct of operations in the final two years of war.
Race, Empire and First World War Writing
Race, Empire and First World War Writing by Santanu Das ISBN: 9781107664494
Published by Cambridge University Press on January 20th 2014
Genres: Literary Criticism, European, General, History, Military, World War I, Social Science
Pages: 350
Len's Summary: Using primary sources, Das looks at the experiences of various ethnic groups during WW1.
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials by Vahakn N. Dadrian, Taner Akçam ISBN: 0857452517
Published by Berghahn Books on December 1st 2011
Genres: History, Middle East, Turkey & Ottoman Empire, Law, Criminal Law, General
Pages: 376
Len's Summary: Analysis of the official Ottoman record Turkish military tribunals concerning crimes against Armenians during WWI. One of a number of new analyses of the 1915 Armenian massacres as the centenary of those events approaches.
Edward Thomas: Prose Writings: A Selected Edition, Volume 1: Autobiographies
Edward Thomas: Prose Writings: A Selected Edition, Volume 1: Autobiographies by Guy Cuthbertson ISBN: 9780199586950
on March 31st 2011
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Literary, Literary Criticism, Poetry, General
Pages: 400
Len's Summary: Best remembered for his poetry which was published posthumously, Thomas (killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917) was appreciated by contemporaries for his prose.
The Hidden Threat: Mines and Minesweeping in WWI
The Hidden Threat: Mines and Minesweeping in WWI by Jim Crossley ISBN: 9781848842724
on October 2011
Pages: 165
Len's Summary: Mines cost the Royal Navy five battleships, three cruisers, 22 destroyers, four submarines, and a host of other vessels.
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography
Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper ISBN: 9780307277909
Published by Vintage Books on April 5th 2011
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Presidents & Heads of State, History, General
Pages: 702
Len's Summary: Pulitzer Prize finalist. Cooper is the leading living Wilson scholar. He writes on a President who remains controversial to this day a hundred years after he was elected by a plurality (defeating Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft) to the first of two terms in office. Remembered principally for leading America in to WWI, Wilson also deserves to be remembered for important amounts of progressive legislation enacted during his first term. // The first bio of the 28th President in some 20 years written by the noted historian John Milton Cooper, author of several books on the Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, the Progressive Era and WWI. A sympathetic examination of the life and politics of the 28th President by a master historian and reigning expert on Wilson’s career.
The Murder of the Romanovs
The Murder of the Romanovs by Andrew Cook ISBN: 9781848681033
Published by Amberley on March 2010
Genres: History, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Reinvestigation of a familiar tragedy.
Sacred Places: Canadian Cemeteries of the Great War-Vol. I, Belgium
Sacred Places: Canadian Cemeteries of the Great War-Vol. I, Belgium by Norm Christie ISBN: 1896979211
Published by CEF Books on January 1st 2011
Pages: 238
Len's Summary: The story of 168 cemeteries where Canadian dead are buried in France and Flanders.
For Our Old Comrades: The Story & Ephemera of the Vimy Pilgrimage, July,1936
For Our Old Comrades: The Story & Ephemera of the Vimy Pilgrimage, July,1936 by Norm Christie ISBN: 1896979750
Published by CEF Books Pages: 105
Len's Summary: Recalls the Great Pilgrimage of 1936 in which 6,200 Canadian WWI veterans, war widows and their children traveled to France for the dedication of the Vimy Ridge Memorial.
The Zeppelin Base Raids: Germany 1914
The Zeppelin Base Raids: Germany 1914 by Ian Castle, Peter Dennis ISBN: 0674012844
on April 19th 2011
Pages: 64
Len's Summary: Royal Naval Air Service attempts to forestall the Zeppelin threat. For more detail see: The Flatpack Bombers by Ian Gardiner (Pen & Sword, 2009).
The Great War: An Illustrated History
The Great War: An Illustrated History by Phil Carradice ISBN: 1848688814
on July 2011
Pages: 160
Len's Summary: A survey history of WWI.
Zeppelins Over England, 1914-1918
Zeppelins Over England 1914-18 by Horst Freiherr Treu von Buttlar Brandenfels ISBN: 1907677356
Published by Helion & Company on May 2nd 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Aviation
Pages: 152
Len's Summary: A peek at what it was like to fly in and command a Zeppelin in combat.
Blood and Iron: Letters from the Western Front
Blood and Iron: Letters from the Western Front by Hugh Montagu Butterworth ISBN: 184884297X
on November 19th 2011
Pages: 234
Len's Summary: The letters of Hugh Butterworth of the 9th Rifle Brigade.
Happy Days!: A Humorous Narrative in Drawings of the Progress of American Arms 1917-1919
Happy Days!: A Humorous Narrative in Drawings of the Progress of American Arms 1917-1919 by Alban B. Butler ISBN: 9781849086295
Published by Osprey Publishing on November 22nd 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, Humor, Form, Comic Strips & Cartoons, Topic, Political
Pages: 110
Len's Summary: Originally published on the 10th anniversary of the end of the war these humorous cartoons were drawn by an aide to 1st Division commander Charles Summerall.
The War Horses: The Tragic Fate of a Million Horses in the First World War
The War Horses by Simon Butler ISBN: 9780857040848
Published by Halsgrove on May 1st 2011
Pages: 144
Len's Summary: Focuses on draught animals requisitioned for pulling guns and wagons in the BEF reminding us that WWI was largely a conflict of animal motive power.
Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by Daniel Allen Butler ISBN: 9781597974967
Published by Potomac Books, Inc. on September 1st 2011
Genres: History, Middle East, Egypt
Pages: 271
Len's Summary: A well crafted narrative history about the disappearance of an Empire forgotten by most Americans and Europeans; free of academic cant. A political history of the WWI era with relevance today.
Bodies of War: World War I and the Politics of Commemoration in America, 1919-1933
Bodies of War: World War I and the Politics of Commemoration in America, 1919-1933 by Lisa M. Budreau ISBN: 9780814725184
Published by NYU Press on November 1st 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, Veterans, 20th Century
Pages: 317
Len's Summary: First published in hardcover in 2009, this book explains how and why the USG took responsibility for the identification, repatriation or reburial and memorialization of war dead. // A serious analysis of the issues surrounding the repatriation of American war dead, the creation of the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Gold Star mother’s pilgrimage. Dr. Budreau is a member of WFA and frequent speaker at our seminars.
The Imperial German Eagles in World War I: Their Postcards And Pictures
The Imperial German Eagles in World War I: Their Postcards And Pictures by Lance J. Bronnenkant ISBN: 9780764324406
Published by Schiffer Military History on April 2006
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, Europe, Germany, World War I, Pictorial
Pages: 348
Len's Summary: Volume three of a valuable reference work that includes some Austro-Hungarian airman. // The second in a planned three-part series looks at the collectible Sanke, Liersch and NPG postcards featuring German WWI aviators. Available in April 2008.
Above the Battlefield: Modernism and the Peace Movement in Britain, 1900-1918
Above the Battlefield: Modernism and the Peace Movement in Britain, 1900-1918 by Grace Brockington ISBN: 9780300151954
Published by Yale University Press on March 8th 2011
Genres: Art, Criticism & Theory, History
Pages: 264
Len's Summary: Examines the role of writers and artists in the secular peace movement in Great Britain.
Cox’s Navy: Salvaging The German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow 1924-1931
Cox's Navy: Salvaging The German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow 1924-1931 by Tony Booth ISBN: 9781844151813
on October 2005
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Naval
Pages: 213
Len's Summary: History’s biggest salvage operation.
St. Miliel 1918: The American Expeditionary Forces Trial by Fire
by David Bonk ISBN: 9781849083911
Published by Osprey Publishing on October 18th 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States
Pages: 96
The Battle of the Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918
The Battle of the Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918 by Dale Blair ISBN: 9781848325876
Published by Frontline Books on April 21st 2011
Genres: History, Medieval
Pages: 208
Len's Summary: The author judges this fight to have been a draw and says Aussie commander Sir John Monash overestimated the abilities of untried American II Corps.
The Great War and the Making of the Modern World
The Great War and the Making of the Modern World by Jeremy Black ISBN: 9780826440938
Published by A&C Black on May 19th 2011
Genres: History, Modern, 20th Century, Military, World War I
Pages: 337
Len's Summary: Takes the position that WWI was a global war of imperialism rather than simply a European conflict.
The Balkans: Revolution, War and Political Violence since 1878
The Balkans: Revolution, War and Political Violence since 1878 by Mark Biondich ISBN: 9780199299058
on February 17th 2011
Genres: History, Europe, General, Political Science, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, Genocide & War Crimes
Pages: 400
Len's Summary: From the Ottoman Balkans and the 1878 Treaty of Berlin through the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and beyond; a primer in Balkan politics. This arrived just in time for the centenary of the Balkan Wars.
T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt: An Illustrated Guide
T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt: An Illustrated Guide by Joseph Berton ISBN: 9788496658356
Published by Andrea on February 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Pictorial
Pages: 220
Len's Summary: Photographic overview of Lawrence’s life and research guide.
Captain Roy Brown, A True Story of the Great War, 1914-1918
Captain Roy Brown, A True Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 by Alan D. Bennett, Margaret Brown Harman, Denny Reid May ISBN: 9781883283568
Published by Brick Tower Press on July 16th 2011
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, Aviation
Pages: 350
Len's Summary: Brown was the third player in the death of von Richthofen 21 April 1918. // Sheds new light on Brown’s encounter with The Red Baron.
Three Wings for the Red Baron: Von Richthofen, Strategy, Tactics and Airplanes
Three Wings for the Red Baron: Von Richthofen, Strategy, Tactics and Airplanes by Leon Bennett ISBN: 9781907677137
Published by Helion on June 19th 2011
Genres: History, Military, Aviation
Pages: 237
Len's Summary: The story of Red Baron and his famous tri-plane fighter.
In a Strange Land: The American Occupation of Germany 1918-1923
In a Strange Land: The American Occupation of Germany 1918-1923 by Alexander Barnes ISBN: 9780764337611
on July 28th 2011
Genres: History, Military, General, Pictorial, United States, Germany
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: Heavily illustrated popular history of the brief US occupation of the Rhineland as compared to British and other occupiers.
The Battle for Flanders: German Defeat on the Lys 1918
The Battle for Flanders: German Defeat on the Lys 1918 by Chris Baker ISBN: 9781848842984
on July 2011
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 218
Len's Summary: One of the final battles in Flanders summarized.
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
