The Gold Star Mother Pilgramages of the 1930s: Overseas Grave Visitations By Mothers And Widows of Fallen U.S. World War I Soldiers by John W. Graham ISBN: 078642138X
Published by McFarland & Company on May 1st 2005
Pages: 229
Len's Summary: Between 1930 and 1930 the US Government paid the travel expenses of over six thousand Gold Star wives and mothers to visit their son's and husband's graves in England, France and Flanders. See the section on videos for a recent video on this subject.
Blood in the Argonne: The “Lost Battalion” of World War I
Blood in the Argonne: The "Lost Battalion" of World War I by Alan D. Gaff ISBN: 0806136960
Published by University of Oklahoma Press on October 17th 2005
Pages: 384
Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia
Oil Empire: Visions of Prosperity in Austrian Galicia by Alison Fleig Frank ISBN: 0674025415
on September 15th 2007
Pages: 366
Len's Summary: At the opening of the 20th Century Austria ranked third among the world's petroleum-producing states (surpassed by only the USA and Russia) accounting for five percent of global production. Yet, by 1918, the Central Powers did not have enough oil to maintain military operations. This book tells the story of what went wrong economically, socially, financially and politically in an ethnically diverse and often embattled area of Europe unfamiliar to most of us in North America.
German Strategy and the Path to Verdun
German Strategy and the Path to Verdun by Robert T. Foley ISBN: 0521044367
Published by Cambridge University Press on November 19th 2007
Pages: 316
Len's Summary: Did Falkenhayn actually plan to wage a battle of attrition at Verdun? Draws on previously unavailable German documents held in Russian archives since WWII. Look for a full review in Camaraderie.
Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika
Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika by Giles Foden ISBN: 1400075262
Published by Vintage on March 14th 2006
Pages: 272
Len's Summary: The Royal Navy attacks Germany in Central Africa, the events that inspired C. S. Forester's The African Queen.
Five Days in October: The Lost Battalion of World War I
Five Days in October: The Lost Battalion of World War I by Robert H. Ferrell ISBN: 0826215947
Published by University of Missouri on June 1st 2005
Pages: 152
Len's Summary: Contains new material. Dr. Ferrell, who spoke at the April 2005 GWS seminar in Los Angeles, is a Professor-emeritus at the University of Indiana and the author of many books on WWI.
Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905-21: Based on the Diary of Amar Singh of Jaipur
Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905-21: Based on the Diary of Amar Singh of Jaipur by DeWitt C. Ellinwood Jr. ISBN: 0761831134
Published by Hamilton Books on February 28th 2005
Pages: 694
Len's Summary: A veteran of the Boxer Rebellion, Singh was granted a restricted commission in 1905. Given a regular commission in 1917, Singh's diaries offer an unusual look at the British Indian Army in the period of The Great War. Dr. Ellinwood, professor-emeritus at SUNY Albany, spoke at the 2005 WFA national seminar at Plattsburgh.
An American Soldier in World War I
An American Soldier in World War I by Robert Sherwood Dillon ISBN: 9781892379238
Published by Five and Ten Press on 2005
Pages: 49
Len's Summary: The story of the author's father's experience as an engineer in the 35th Division (Kansas National Guard) which had a rough initiation into battle in the Meuse-Argonne. Harry Truman commanded an artillery battery in this division.
Loos 1915: The Unwanted Battle
Loos 1915: The Unwanted Battle by Gordon Corrigan ISBN: 1862272395
Published by Spellmount on November 2005
Pages: 262
Len's Summary: Story of an unsuccessful British attack that finished off many of the few remaining "Old Contemptibles"and provided lessons for future BEF commander Douglas Haig. Corrigan is the author of Sepoys in the Trenches about the experience of the British Indian Army Corps on the Western Front in 1914-1915, also from Spellmont.
Blindfold and Alone: British Military Executions in the Great War
Blindfold and Alone: British Military Executions in the Great War by Cathryn Corns, John Hughes-Wilson ISBN: 0304353973
Published by Cassell on December 31st 2001
Len's Summary: Based in part on newly available official records.
British Artillery 1914-19: Heavy Artillery
British Artillery 1914-19: Heavy Artillery by Dale Clarke ISBN: 1841767883
Published by Osprey Publishing on August 10th 2005
Pages: 48
Len's Summary: Many of the guns used by American Coast Artillery units on the Western Front were ob British design and manufacture.
The Great War and Urban Life in Germany: Freiburg, 1914-1918
The Great War and Urban Life in Germany: Freiburg, 1914-1918 by Roger Chickering, Paul Kennedy, Jay Murray Winter ISBN: 0521852560
Published by Cambridge University Press on February 26th 2007
Pages: 646
Len's Summary: A social history by a distinguished historian of World War I and professor at Georgetown University.
Most Unfavourable Ground: The Battle of Loos, 1915
Most Unfavourable Ground: The Battle of Loos, 1915 by Niall Cherry ISBN: 1874622035
Published by Helion & Company on June 1st 2005
Pages: 366
Len's Summary: A 90th anniversary reexamination of the unsuccessful culmination of the badly depleted BEF's 1915 Western Front campaign.
Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare
Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare by Daniel Charles ISBN: 0060562722
Published by Ecco on August 2nd 2005
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: Haber won the Nobel Prize for his work to extract nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into fertilizer. Though almost forgotten today, he was the chemical genius behind German war-time explosives production and the initiation of poison gas warfare in April 1915. Imperial Germany, blockaded by the Royal Navy, desperately needed his inventions in order to survive an industrialized conflict. Reviewed by Martin Sieff in the October St. Mihiel Trip-Wire. The author is a science correspondent for NPR.
1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs–The Election that Changed the Country
1912 by James Chace ISBN: 9781439188262
Published by Simon and Schuster on November 24th 2009
Genres: United States, Political Science, Campaigns & Elections
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: The story of the bitterly fought four-party 1912 presidential race won with a 42% plurality by T. Woodrow Wilson. Socialist candidate Debs garnered a record number of votes (some 900 thousand) for the Socialist Party, and was later jailed for his vociferous opposition to American entry into WWI. Proof that George W. Bush was not America's first minority President. Indeed, Wilson never won 50% of the vote in either 1912 or 1916. The 1912 election set the stage for a remarkable spate of progressive measures than included, during Wilson's first term, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, creation of the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Income Tax, and the Federal Reserve System, as well as a constitutional amendment providing for the direct election of Senators.
Grasping Gallipoli: Terrain, Maps and Failure at the Dardanelles, 1915
Grasping Gallipoli: Terrain, Maps and Failure at the Dardanelles, 1915 by Peter Chasseaud, Peter Doyle ISBN: 0750962267
Published by The History Press on June 1st 2015
Pages: 364
Len's Summary: The authors contend that the lessons from this campaign have been overdrawn by military historians.
Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I
Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army during World War I by Carol R. Byerly ISBN: 0814799248
Published by New York University Press on April 5th 2005
Pages: 251
Len's Summary: Examines the Army's response to the influenza pandemic of 1918-19.
The Lion and the Poppy: British Veterans, Politics, and Society, 1921-1939
The Lion and the Poppy: British Veterans, Politics, and Society, 1921-1939 by Niall Barr ISBN: 0313324743
Published by Praeger Publishers on August 1st 2005
Pages: 228
Len's Summary: The British Legion, dominated by the officer class, had a narrow agenda focusing mainly on domestic bread-and-butter issues and limited membership in the interwar years.
Seize the Trident: The Race for the Superliner Supremacy and How it Altered the Great War
Seize the Trident: The Race for the Superliner Supremacy and How it Altered the Great War by Douglas R. Burgess Jr. ISBN: 0071430091
Published by International Marine Publishing on June 1st 2005
Pages: 296
Len's Summary: Big liner competition on the Atlantic in peace and war.
T.E. Lawrence in War and Peace: An Anthology of the Military Writings of Lawrence of Arabia
T.E. Lawrence in War and Peace: An Anthology of the Military Writings of Lawrence of Arabia by Malcolm Johnston Brown, Michael Clarke ISBN: 1853676535
Published by Greenhill Books on February 2nd 2006
Pages: 280
Len's Summary: The author specializes in WWI at the Imperial War Museum in London and is the author of biography (NY University Press, 2003) and several other anthologies of Lawrence's papers. A 2006 History Book Club selection for $27.99
The German Revolution, 1917-1923
The German Revolution, 1917-1923 by Pierre Broué, Brian Pearce, Ian Birchall, Eric D. Weitz ISBN: 1931859329
Published by Historical Materialism on May 1st 2006
Genres: Germany
Pages: 980
Len's Summary: New translation of a work first published in 1971 as La Revolution ne Allemagne, 1917-1923.
Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control
Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control by John Brooks ISBN: 9780415407885
Published by Routledge on September 1st 2006
Pages: 321
Len's Summary: Gunnery, a subject that has fascinated naval historians for centuries, is also covered in Joh T. Sumuda's In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Financial Limitation, Technological Innovation and British Naval Policy, 1899-1914, Routledge, 1989 (hardback) and 1993 (paper).
The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians
The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians by Donald Bloxham ISBN: 9780199226887
Published by Oxford University Press on 2007
Pages: 329
Len's Summary: A non- partisan account of the genocide and the impact of Ottoman relations with German, the Entente and America. Published to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the massacre of Armenians, April 24, 1915, a newly relevant date given the impending negotiations for Turkish entry in the European Union.
Fire Power: The British Army Weapons & Theories of War 1904-1945
Fire Power: The British Army Weapons & Theories of War 1904-1945 by Shelford Bidwell, Dominick Graham ISBN: 1844152162
Published by Pen & Sword Books on March 1st 2005
Genres: Weapons, Artillery, Military, Great Britain
Pages: 327
Len's Summary: Development of the artillery arm in two world wars.
Beneath Flanders Fields: The Tunnellers’ War 1914-18
Beneath Flanders Fields: The Tunnellers' War 1914-18 by Peter Barton, Peter Doyle, Johan Vandewalle ISBN: 0773543015
on January 1st 2014
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: A story of a cat-and-mouse game of mine warfare which is still relevant since several mines remain unexploded deep beneath the former Western Front. A good companion volume to the CD video Miners at War available from www.puddleproductions.co.uk or phone (866) 991-3627 toll-free from the US or Canada.
Spies of the Kaiser: German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era
Spies of the Kaiser: German Covert Operations in Great Britain during the First World War Era by Thomas Boghardt ISBN: 9781403932488
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on January 15th 2005
Pages: 248
Len's Summary: Written by a historian at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He begins his survey with a look at the pre-war period of Anglo-German naval rivalry finding that German espionage before and during the conflict produced few tangible results and practically nothing on the British Expeditionary Force.
White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian
White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian by Jamie Bisher ISBN: 0714656909
Published by Routledge on February 1st 2005
Pages: 452
Len's Summary: Built around the biography of Cossack warlord and Ataman Grigori Semenov this book examines conflicts involving a host of characters including the Soviet Red Army, the American and Japanese Armies and the Czech Legion.
The German 1918 Offensives: A Case Study in The Operational Level of War
The German 1918 Offensives: A Case Study in The Operational Level of War by David T. Zabecki ISBN: 9780415356008
Published by Routledge on July 25th 2006
Genres: Military, Strategy
Pages: 408
Len's Summary: An analytical look by a premier military historian drawing on many German sources to explain why Ludendorff's spring 1918 offensives failed to cause Entente collapse and achieve German victory. Includes extensive maps and many useful tables showing orders of battle, comparative troop strengths, reserves, numbers of guns, trench mortars and aero squadrons. Author of Steel Wind: Colonel Georg Bruchmüller and the Birth of Modern Artillery (Greenwood, 1994). Recommended.
Royal Navy Handbook, 1914–1918
Royal Navy Handbook, 1914–1918 by David Wragg ISBN: 0750942037
Published by The History Press on August 1st 2006
Pages: 320
Len's Summary: How the RN adapted to WWI. The author has written several books on naval warfare, including naval aviation.
The Millionaires’ Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power
The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power by Marc Wortman ISBN: 9781586484446
Published by PublicAffairs on May 8th 2007
Genres: Military, United States, Aviation
Pages: 313
Len's Summary: Like the author, many of these flyboys were graduates of Yale.
Hunters of the Steel Sharks: The Submarine Chasers of WWI
Hunters of the Steel Sharks: The Submarine Chasers of WWI by Todd A. Woofenden ISBN: 9780978919207
Published by Signal Light Books on 2006
Pages: 218
Len's Summary: The history of the operations of US Navy 110-foot wooden submarine chasers in European waters. Available from the publisher at www.signallightbooks.com.
Hell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle East
Hell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle East by David R. Woodward ISBN: 9780813146744
Published by University Press of Kentucky on December 6th 2013
Genres: Great Britain, Middle East, Military
Pages: 280
Len's Summary: Being published in the UK by Tempus under the title Forgotten Soldiers of the First World War. Dr. Woodward teaches modern European and Russian History at Marshall University and has written several other monographs on WWI. He spoke at our WFA seminar at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at Dayton in 1997, and is a member of the panel awarding the Annual WFA-Phi Alpha Theta Undergraduate Essay Prize.
Remembering War: The Great War between Memory and History in the 20th Century
Remembering War: The Great War between Memory and History in the 20th Century by J. M. Winter ISBN: 9780300110685
Published by Yale University Press on 2006
Genres: Military, Social History, Great Britain
Pages: 340
Len's Summary: Another in a series of social histories by prolific social historian Jay Winter about how war is remembered in Great Britain.
Battles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign in the First World War
Battles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign in the First World War by Ron Wilcox ISBN: 1844154300
Published by Pen & Sword Books on July 1st 2006
Pages: 245
Len's Summary: A new history of a campaign with modest aims, and often inept political and military execution.
Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I
Uniforms, Equipment and Weapons of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I by Bret Werner ISBN: 0764324314
on March 30th 2006
Pages: 288
Len's Summary: Color plates of both original and replica uniforms, headgear and personal and specialist equipment; small arms, medals, decorations, insignia, and implements, including nurses' and women volunteers' (Salvation Army, Red Cross) uniforms.
Haller’s Polish Army in France
Haller's Polish Army in France by Paul S. Valasek ISBN: 0977975703
Published by Whitehall Publishing on January 1st 2006
Pages: 432
Len's Summary: The author's grandfather served with this force in France along with some 1,600 recruits from the southwest Pennsylvania. Order from the author 2643 51st Street, Chicago, IL 90632-1159, e-mail hallersarmy@aol.com.
Boy Soldiers of the Great War
Boy Soldiers of the Great War by Richard Van Emden ISBN: 9781408824726
Published by A&C Black on February 12th 2013
Genres: Military, Great Britain
Pages: 416
Len's Summary: The experiences of a handful of the hundreds of thousands of underage men and women who served in British forces during WWI written by a veteran historian and author of previous memorializing BEF veterans.
The New Navy, 1883-1922 (The U.S. Navy Warship Series)
The New Navy, 1883-1922 (The U.S. Navy Warship Series) by Paul Silverstone ISBN: 9781135865436
Published by Routledge on May 13th 2013
Genres: Military, Naval, United States
Pages: 296
Len's Summary: Covers naval ships authorized and commissioned beginning with the ABCD ships of 1883 to the never-completed 1916 naval construction program through the Washington Naval Disarmament Conference of 1921-22. . The entire set of six volumes covering ships of 1775 though 2005 is available for $395.
Madness and the Military: Australia’s Experience of the Great War
Madness and the Military: Australia's Experience of the Great War by Michael Tyquin ISBN: 9781876439897
Published by Australian Military History Publications on January 1st 2006
Pages: 180
Len's Summary: The author examines the often uneasy relationship between the Australian military and the medical establishment in treating shell shock.
Crusader Nation: The United States in Peace and the Great War, 1898-1920
Crusader Nation: The United States in Peace and the Great War, 1898-1920 by David Traxel ISBN: 0375410783
Published by Knopf on December 18th 2007
Pages: 432
Len's Summary: A portrait of America at the turn of the 20th century, the height of the Progressive Era and of the expansive and reformist leadership of Roosevelt and Wilson at home and overseas. Available from the History Book Club for $22.00.
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
