Passchendaele: Canada's Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of Flanders by Norman Leach ISBN: 9781550503999
Published by Coteau Books on October 15th 2008
Genres: History, Canada, Post-Confederation (1867-), Military, Pictorial
Pages: 47
Len's Summary: Canadian historian Leach crafted this richly illustrated book for teenage readers, but it is equally suitable for grownups. Available from www.coteaubooks.com. Leach was historical advisor for Paul Gross’s war movie Passchendaele, released this year in Canada.
Admirals: The Naval Commanders who made Britain Great
Admirals: The Naval Commanders who made Britain Great by Andrew Lambert ISBN: 057123156X
Published by Faber & Faber on September 18th 2008
Pages: 492
Len's Summary: Embraces three centuries of naval history centering on the biographies of eleven British admirals including Robert Blake, George Anson, Samuel Hood, St. Vincent, John Fisher, Davie Beattie and Andrew Cunningham. Written by a premier British naval historian.
Batailles De Champagne
Batailles De Champagne by Gérard Lachaux ISBN: 235250063X
Published by Histoire & Collections on December 1st 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 116
Len's Summary: In French; the history of the costly and unsuccessful 1915 French Army attacks in the Champagne region. Available from www. Casematepublishers.com.
Pershing: A Biography
Pershing: A Biography by Jim Lacey ISBN: 9780230614451
Published by St. Martin's Press on June 9th 2009
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: One of several recent biographies of “Black Jack” Pershing.
The Zeebrugge Raid 1918: The Finest Feat of Arms
The Zeebrugge Raid 1918: The Finest Feat of Arms by Paul Kendall ISBN: 9780752453323
Published by History Press Limited on August 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 352
Len's Summary: Contains new material on this famous, but only partially successful action.
French Army, Volumes One & Two, 1914 August – December and 1915 to Victory
French Army, Volumes One & Two, 1914 August – December and 1915 to Victory by Andre' Jouineau ISBN: 2352501040
Published by Histoire & Collections on March 1st 2009
Pages: 68
Len's Summary: France mobilized 2.9 million men in 21 infantry corps during the summer of 1914. By 1918, 40% of all troops on the Western Front were artillerists. Written in French.
King of Airfighters: The Biography of Major “Mick” Mannock, VC, DSO MC
King of Airfighters: The Biography of Major "Mick" Mannock, VC, DSO MC by Ira Jones ISBN: 1932033998
Published by Casemate Publishers on July 1st 2009
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Some sources claim 73 “kills” for Mannock while he himself claimed only 51 aerial victories.
Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Division in World War I and Postwar America
Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America by Robert F. Jefferson ISBN: 9780801888281
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press on October 24th 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War II, United States, 20th Century, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, African American Studies
Pages: 321
Len's Summary: The experience of the first complete all-Black division to go into combat. See also American Foreign Legion, Frank E. Roberts, Naval Institute, 2004.
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.
Fort Lawton (Images of America)
Fort Lawton (Images of America) by Jack W. Jaunal ISBN: 9780738558110
Published by Arcadia Publishing on June 30th 2008
Genres: History, United States, State & Local, Military, Pictorial
Pages: 128
Len's Summary: The story of Fort Lawton, an Army infantry post outside Seattle during WWI.
Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War
Mobilizing Minerva: American Women in the First World War by Kimberly Jensen ISBN: 9780252074967
Published by University of Illinois Press on February 8th 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, 20th Century, Social Science, Women's Studies
Pages: 244
Len's Summary: WWI opened a new front in the debate over women’s place in society and the military.
A Lack of Offensive Spirit?: The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916
A Lack of Offensive Spirit?: The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916 by Alan MacDonald ISBN: 0955811902
Published by Iona Books on February 2008
Pages: 700
Len's Summary: Highly detailed examination of a failed attack on the first day of the BEF’s Somme offensive.
Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille
Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille by Frantz Immelmann ISBN: 9781932033984
Published by Casemate Publishers on July 1st 2009
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Originally published in the 1930s, this is the story of the ace after whom the “Blue Max” is named written by his brother.
Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915
Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915 by Andrew Iarocci ISBN: 9780802098221
Published by University of Toronto Press on 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Canada
Pages: 362
Len's Summary: The training and early battles of the first Canadians to go to war.
Kitchener’s Men: The King’s Own Royal Lancasters On The Western Front, 1915-1918
Kitchener's Men: The King's Own Royal Lancasters On The Western Front, 1915-1918 by John Hutton ISBN: 1844157210
Published by Pen & Sword Books on June 1st 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Summarizes the raising, training and battle experience of the territorial and service battalions of a British regiment.
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.
Our War: Ireland in the Great War
Our War: Ireland in the Great War by John Horne ISBN: 9781904890508
Published by Royal Irish Academy on October 24th 2008
Pages: 319
Len's Summary: A series of essays edited by Tomlinson Prize-winner John Horne on the experiences of Irishmen at home and in the trenches. Emblematic of renewed Irish interest in WWI, in the past a fraught subject in the Irish Republic. For a contemporary view of Ulster see: Unionists and Great War Commemoration in the North of Ireland, 1914-1919: People, Places and Politics, Catherine Switzer, 211 pages, Irish Academy Press, 2007, ISBN 0 7165 2872 X, £19 from Amazon.co.uk.
1918: A Very British Victory
1918: A Very British Victory by Peter Hart ISBN: 9780297846529
Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on October 7th 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I
Pages: 552
Len's Summary: A new look at the final German and British offensives of 1918, now available in the America from Orion for $29.95. Also available as an audio book.
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.
Shots from the Front: The British Soldier 1914-18
Shots from the Front: The British Soldier 1914-18 by Richard Holmes ISBN: 9780007275489
Published by HarperPress on 2008
Pages: 240
Len's Summary: Picture essays covering the pre-war army, conscription, weapons and infantrymen, the war in Mesopotamia as well as on the Western Front drawing on period photographs and modern photos from Mike Sheil; written by a major British military historian.
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.
The Greater Game: Sporting Icons Who Fell in the Great War
The Greater Game: Sporting Icons Who Fell in the Great War by Clive Harris, Julian Whippy ISBN: 1844157628
on July 1st 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 199
Len's Summary: Reviews the lives of British sportsmen and athletes who fell in The Great War.
Images of War: New Zealand and the Great War
Images of War: New Zealand and the Great War by Glyn Harper ISBN: 9781869506766
Published by HarperCollins on November 1st 2008
Pages: 336
Len's Summary: Some 800 photographs from all theaters of war taken from the New Zealand Army Memorial Museum and private archives. Includes photos of facial wounds and results of reconstructive surgery from Gilles Archive.
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.
Sopwith Camel vs Fokker Dr I: Western Front 1917-18
Sopwith Camel vs Fokker Dr I: Western Front 1917-18 by Jon Guttman ISBN: 9781846032936
Published by Osprey Publishing on March 18th 2008
Genres: History, Military, Aviation, World War I
Pages: 80
Len's Summary: A comparison of these famous WWI pursuit aircraft by a premier American aviation historian.
The German Infantryman, 1914-1918
The German Infantryman 1914-1918 by Jean-Claude Laparra ISBN: 2352500710
Published by Histoire & Collections on July 1st 2008
Pages: 66
Len's Summary: A view of the war as experienced by a typical German infantryman based on memorabilia and notes left by an unidentified infanterist found in a Berlin flea market. // Explores the life of the German infantryman. In French.
Great War on the Western Front: A Short History
Great War on the Western Front: A Short History by Paddy Griffith ISBN: 9781844157648
on June 1st 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 160
Len's Summary: A short introduction to the conflict from a fine British historian available from www.casmatepublishing.com.
Lawrence of Arabia: Mirage of a Desert War
Lawrence of Arabia: Mirage of a Desert War by Adrian Greaves ISBN: 9780753823668
Published by Phoenix on August 5th 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Historical, Military, Political
Pages: 260
Len's Summary: Yet another book about T. E. Lawrence, part of a recent plethora sparked, no doubt, by the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics
Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics by Lewis L. Gould ISBN: 9780700618569
Published by University Press of Kansas on April 9th 2008
Genres: History, United States, 20th Century, Political Science, Political Process, Campaigns & Elections
Pages: 254
Len's Summary: A snap shot of American politics on the eve of The Great War. Roosevelt, Wilson, Taft and socialist candidate Eugene Debs duke it out at the apogee of the Progressive Era.
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.
A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas
A Strange and Formidable Weapon: British Responses to World War I Poison Gas by Marion Girard ISBN: 9780803222236
Published by University of Nebraska Press on June 1st 2008
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, Weapons, World War I, Social History
Pages: 279
Len's Summary: This is a social history. Although most Britons considered poison gas an abominable weapon, many eventually condoned its use as necessary for victory. The author teaches at the University of New Hampshire.
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.
Democracy’s Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent
Democracy's Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent by Ernest Freeberg ISBN: 9780674057203
Published by Harvard University Press on May 31st 2008
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Political, History, Military, World War I, United States, 20th Century, Political Science, Civil Rights
Pages: 380
Len's Summary: This is the story of an early 20th century conflict between the perceived demands of national security and the constitutional guarantee of free speech that led to the creation of the American Civil Liberties Union. Railway labor leader and five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate, Eugene Debs (1855-1926) is forgotten today, but won nearly a million popular votes in 1912 and 1920. Debs ran for President in 1920 from a jail cell convicted under the 1917 Espionage Act cell because of his outspoken opposition to American entry into WWI. He was pardoned in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding. The author teaches at the University of Tennessee.
The Great War and America: Civil-Military Relations during World War I
The Great War and America: Civil-Military Relations during World War I by Nancy Gentile Ford ISBN: 0275981991
Published by Praeger Security International on February 28th 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877), 20th Century
Pages: 191
Len's Summary: Starting with the preparedness movement, Ms. Ford traces civil-military relations in America through the draft and training of citizen soldiers, mobilization of public opinion and suppression of dissent, the application of science and technology through demobilization and reemployment starting in 1919. Documents include the Sedition Act of 1918. The author also wrote Americans All: Foreign Born soldiers in World War I (Greenwood 2001).
The Question of MacArthur’s Reputation: Côte De Châtillon, October 14-16, 1918
The Question of MacArthur's Reputation: Côte De Châtillon, October 14-16, 1918 by Robert H. Ferrell ISBN: 9780826218308
Published by University of Missouri Press on November 30th 2008
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
Pages: 111
Len's Summary: Army records indicate that MacArthur’s subordinates deserve most of the credit for this successful Meuse-Argonne action for which MacArthur was nominated for the Medal of Honor. By the prolific author of Five Days in October: The Lost Battalion in World War I (Missouri, 2005) and many other WWI histories. Reviewed in the Wall Street Journal November 25, 2008.
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.
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
