The Western Front Experience: 1914-1918 by Gary Sheffield ISBN: 9781847329172
on February 7th 2012
Genres: History, Military, Pictorial, World War I
Pages: 63
Len's Summary: Billed as a basic guide to the Western Front; for the non specialist. // Heavily illustrated work describing the development of trench warfare spotlighting the appalling conditions endured by troops as well as specific actions and major battles. A coffee table book recommended by History Today.
The Great Game, 1857-1907: Russo-British Relations in Central and East Asia
The Great Game, 1857-1907: Russo-British Relations in Central and East Asia by Evgeny Sergeev ISBN: 1421415577
Published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press on August 25th 2014
Pages: 552
Len's Summary: The Russo-British competition for dominance in Asia drawing on the archives of regional actors, as well as those in Moscow and London. This cold war-like confrontation was muted for a time by the 1907 Entente which led to a WWI alliance between the two powers and France, the Triple Entente. The author is a Russian academic who has also written on the Russo-Japanese War.
Home Before the Leaves Fall: A New History of the German Invasion of 1914
Home Before the Leaves Fall: A New History of the German Invasion of 1914 by Ian Senior ISBN: 9781849088435
Published by Osprey Publishing on July 24th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, France, Germany
Pages: 392
Len's Summary: Germany’s near victory in World War One reexamined in detail. A History Book Club selection.
Spies in Uniform: British Military and Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the First World War
Spies in Uniform: British Military and Naval Intelligence on the Eve of the First World War by Matthew S. Seligmann ISBN: 9780199261505
Published by Oxford University Press on February 9th 2006
Pages: 272
Len's Summary: The author argues the thesis that Great Britain had good and sufficient reason, based on solid intelligence, to suspect aggressive German intentions in the years leading up to 1914.
The Royal Navy and the German Threat 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany
The Royal Navy and the German Threat 1901-1914: Admiralty Plans to Protect British Trade in a War Against Germany by Matthew S. Seligmann ISBN: 9780199574032
on May 24th 2012
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Military, World War I, Naval, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 186
Len's Summary: A politico-military history delving into an important, but often ignored aspect of the Anglo-German naval race that preoccupied the Admiralty throughout the Edwardian period. A good companion to Planning Armageddon: British Economic Warfare and the First World War by Nicholas Lambert (Harvard, 2012).
War Surgery, 1914-1918
War Surgery, 1914-1918 by Thomas Scotland, Steven Heys ISBN: 9781909384408
Published by Helion on December 19th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Medical, Surgery, General, Essays
Pages: 287
Len's Summary: Ten essays ranging over the field of surgery as practiced in The Great War.
Business in the Trenches: Win Using the Lessons of War
Business in the Trenches: Win Using the Lessons of War by David Schroeder ISBN: 0982882904
on March 2nd 2011
Pages: 400
Len's Summary: Offers suggestions for successful business strategies based on WWI experience on the Western Front. Unique.
Deliver Us from Evil: A Southern Belle in Europe at the Outbreak of World War I
Deliver Us from Evil: A Southern Belle in Europe at the Outbreak of World War I by Mary W. Schaller, Nancy Johnson Crawford ISBN: 9781570039508
Published by University of South Carolina Press on January 1st 2011
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Women, History, Military, World War I, Social Science, Women's Studies
Pages: 170
Len's Summary: Letters from American women travelers caught in Europe in August 1914. // Traveling on the traditional Grand Tour in August 1914, the 25-year-old daughter of a Kentucky Congressman struggles to find a way home as railways are commandeered for troop movements, trans-Atlantic liners scurry for home ports, banks suspend foreign exchange operations and the lights go out all over Europe.
Raiding on the Western Front
Raiding on the Western Front by Anthony Saunders ISBN: 9781848844858
Published by Pen & Sword Books on July 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 209
Len's Summary: Explaining how trench raiding was employed to maintain aggressive spirit among the troops, as well as to gather intelligence from prisoners and dominate no man’s land.
A Prayer for Gallipoli: The Great War Diaries of Chaplain Kenneth Best
A Prayer for Gallipoli: The Great War Diaries of Chaplain Kenneth Best by Gavin Roynon ISBN: 9781849833677
Published by Simon & Schuster UK on November 6th 2012
Genres: History, Military, General, World War I, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 304
Len's Summary: Chaplain Best was attached to the 42nd East Lancastrian Territorial Division. Also published under the title A Chaplain at Gallipoli.
Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina
Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina by Virginia Rounding ISBN: 9780312381004
Published by Macmillan on January 17th 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Royalty, History, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
Pages: 368
Len's Summary: History Book Club selection. A devoted but tragically flawed couple.
A Gunner’s War: An Artilleryman’s Experience in the First World War
A Gunner's War: An Artilleryman's Experience in the First World War by Ian Ronayne ISBN: 9781848846081
Published by Pen & Sword Books on December 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Personal Memoirs, History, World War I
Pages: 192
Len's Summary: Memoirs of Clarence Ahler, a Channel Islander, who volunteered in 1914 and served with the BEF artillery on the Western Front.
The Kaiser’s Reluctant Conscript
The Kaiser’s Reluctant Conscript by Dominik Richert, David Carrick Sutherland ISBN: 9781781590331
Published by Pen & Sword Books on January 1st 2013
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Personal Memoirs, History, World War I
Pages: 288
Len's Summary: Adventures of an Alsatian conscript who fought for Germany on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, finally deserting to the French in 1918.
When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson and the Siberian Disaster
When the United States Invaded Russia: Woodrow Wilson and the Siberian Disaster by Carl J. Richard ISBN: 9781442219892
Published by Rowman & Littlefield on December 1st 2012
Genres: History, Military, United States, Other, Europe, Russia & the Former Soviet Union
Pages: 195
Len's Summary: In one of America’s earliest counterinsurgency campaigns outside the Western Hemisphere, US troops (along with British, Canadian, Japanese, French and Italian contingents) invaded Siberia in 1918 in part to support White Russian forces against Bolshevik revolutionaries, and in part to rescue the Czech Legion, but most importantly to frustrate suspected Japanese plans for territorial expansion.
The Black Book: Woodrow Wilson’s Secret Plan for Peace
The Black Book: Woodrow Wilson's Secret Plan for Peace by Wesley J. Reisser ISBN: 9780739185391
Published by Lexington Books on 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Political Science, International Relations, Treaties, Peace, Social Science, Human Geography, United States
Pages: 204
Len's Summary: American involvement in negotiating the breakup of European empires with particular reference to redrawing national borders in Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. These frontiers remain a living problem for diplomacy today.
Strategy and Command: The Anglo-French Coalition on the Western Front, 1914
Strategy and Command: The Anglo-French Coalition on the Western Front, 1914 by Roy A. Prete ISBN: 0773540792
Published by McGill-Queen's University Press on August 20th 2012
Pages: 280
Len's Summary: First published in hardcover in 2009, this is the first of three planned volumes on the Franco-British military alliance. // First of three planned volumes on the ever-evolving Anglo-French alliance in WWI.
Bill the Bastard
Bill the Bastard by Roland Perry ISBN: 9781743312629
Published by Allen & Unwin on 2012
Pages: 274
Len's Summary: If you liked War Horse, you will enjoy this tale of the bond between an Australian Light Horse officer and his cantankerous mount.
A Kingdom United: Popular Responses to the Outbreak of the First World War in Britain and Ireland
A Kingdom United: Popular Responses to the Outbreak of the First World War in Britain and Ireland by Catriona Pennell ISBN: 0198708467
Published by Oxford University Press on September 24th 2014
Pages: 326
Len's Summary: In the days before public opinion surveys no statistical estimates of popular opinion were possible. This study attempts to approximate such a survey using diaries, journals, letters and newspaper accounts over the first five months of conflict. -- A wide variety of responses, not all positive, drawn from personal correspondence, diaries and the popular press.
Civil War in Europe, 1905-1949
Civil War in Europe, 1905-1949 by Stanley G. Payne ISBN: 9781107648159
Published by Cambridge University Press on September 30th 2011
Genres: History, Europe, General, Modern, 20th Century, Political Science, Comparative Politics, Military
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Treats the world wars as a single conflict.
Essays on World War I
by Peter Pastor, Graydon Allen Tunstall ISBN: 9780880336864
Published by Columbia University Press on July 31st 2012
Genres: History, Europe, General, Eastern, Military, World War I, Essays
Pages: 188
Len's Summary: Selected papers from the February 2008 World War One Historical Association’s Florida and Gulf Coast Chapter seminar at Tampa. These focus largely on the war in Eastern and Central Europe. In addition to the editors, contributors include Richard DiNardo, Laurence Lyons, Timothy Dowling and Kees Boterbloem.
Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in World War I
Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in World War I by James Carl Nelson ISBN: 9781250018588
Published by Macmillan on November 13th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Biography & Autobiography, United States
Pages: 384
Len's Summary: The war biographies of five Harvard students who volunteered for army service in 1917 and were killed in action. The author, a WFA member, also wrote The Remains of Company D.
Men of War: Masculinity and the First World War in Britain
Men of War: Masculinity and the First World War in Britain by Jessica Meyer ISBN: 9780230302327
Published by Palgrave Macmillan on February 15th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, Modern, 20th Century, Social Science, Gender Studies
Pages: 232
Len's Summary: Social history; psychological investigation of men at war. // A scholarly examination of masculinity among British soldiers based in part on their correspondence.
Battle on the Aisne 1914: The BEF and the Birth of the Western Front
Battle on the Aisne 1914: The BEF and the Birth of the Western Front by Jerry Murland ISBN: 9781848847699
Published by Pen & Sword Books on January 19th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 247
Len's Summary: Where the front turned into a gelid stalemate. Continuation of Murland’s book Retreat and Rearguard 1914: The BEF’s Actions from Mons to the Marne (Pen & Sword, 2012).
Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives
Imperial Germany Revisited: Continuing Debates and New Perspectives by Cornelius Torp, Sven Oliver Müller ISBN: 9780857459008
Published by Berghahn Books on October 15th 2012
Genres: History, Europe, Germany, Modern, 19th Century, Essays
Pages: 362
Len's Summary: Essays on continuities and discontinuities in modern German History. -- An exploration of the German Empire, its structure and its dynamic development from 1871 to 1918.
Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain: The National War Aims Committee and Civilian Morale
Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain: The National War Aims Committee and Civilian Morale by David Monger ISBN: 9781781380130
Published by Liverpool University Press on March 1st 2014
Genres: History, Europe, Great Britain, Modern, 20th Century
Pages: 310
Len's Summary: Demonstrates the significant role played by the War Arms Committee after July 1917 in combating war growing weariness among a civilian population worn down by years of total war.
The Shadow of the Past: Reputation and Military Alliances before the First World War
The Shadow of the Past: Reputation and Military Alliances before the First World War by Gregory D. Miller ISBN: 9780801464607
Published by Cornell University Press on February 17th 2012
Pages: 248
Len's Summary: Posits the axiom that only states perceived as reliable (viz., willing to support alliance partners in time of war) could form strong, effective military pacts. A study of diplomacy in the Belle Époque. // How states built and sustained alliances in pre-war Europe.
Contested Frontiers in the Balkans: Ottoman, Habsburg and Communist Rivalries in Eastern Europe
Contested Frontiers in the Balkans: Ottoman, Habsburg and Communist Rivalries in Eastern Europe by Irina Marin ISBN: 9781780761053
on December 11th 2012
Genres: History, Europe, Eastern, Social History, Political Science, International Relations, General, Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Good background reading for the Great War, its aftermath and post WWII.
Scraping the Barrel: The Military Use of Sub-Standard Manpower
Scraping the Barrel: The Military Use of Sub-Standard Manpower by Sanders Marble ISBN: 9780823239788
Published by Fordham University Press on August 14th 2012
Genres: History, Military, United States, Other, Technology & Engineering, Military Science, Essays
Pages: 354
Len's Summary: Essays from Dennis Showalter, Steven Short, and Peter Simkins among others.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915-1918
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915-1918 by John MacDonald, Zeljko Cimpric ISBN: 9781473845725
on May 5th 2015
Pages: 208
Len's Summary: The sixty-mile-long Isonzo Front stretching from the Julian Alps to the Adriatic, presented appalling terrain for combat as those of us who participated in Mike Hanlon’s WW1HA 2011 Italian Front tour observed. Includes material on the battlefield today and on the Kobarid (Caporetto) Museum. -- Fortunate WW1HA members visited Caporetto (Kobarid in Slovenia) the site of a major 1917 Italian defeat on our 2011 tour of the Italian Front. The word Caporetto has entered the Italian language as a synonym for disaster.
Too Many Heroes, Volume 1: The Translated War Diaries of the 1er and 3e BMILA, From Mobilization to 2nd Ypres
Too Many Heroes, Volume 1: The Translated War Diaries of the 1er and 3e BMILA, From Mobilization to 2nd Ypres by Allan D. Lougheed ISBN: 1477467629
Published by Createspace on August 1st 2012
Pages: 234
Len's Summary: Part of the French Armée d’Afrique and made up of former military convicts, the African Light Infantry served in North Africa as disciplinary labor until sent to the front in early WWI. Available from Amazon Canada.
At Belleau Wood with Rifle and Sketchpad: Memoir of a United States Marine in World War I
At Belleau Wood with Rifle and Sketchpad: Memoir of a United States Marine in World War I by Louis C. Linn, Laura Jane Linn Wright, B.J. Omanson ISBN: 0786449047
Published by McFarland on January 11th 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Personal Memoirs, History, World War I, United States
Pages: 189
Len's Summary: Memoir of young Marine complete with wood cuts and sketches depicting his life at war. Linn was also a poet whose work has recently been published by the University of South Carolina Press.
Great Push: The Battle of the Somme 1916 (Images of War)
Great Push: The Battle of the Somme 1916 (Images of War) by William Langford ISBN: 9781781590416
Published by Pen & Sword Books on January 19th 2013
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Photography
Pages: 239
Len's Summary: First published in 1916, this picture book draws on stills from Geoffrey Malins’ famous documentary film of the same year. Many photos are badly reproduced, but most are impressive anyway.
Of Little Comfort: War Widows, Fallen Soldiers, and the Remaking of the Nation after the Great War
Of Little Comfort: War Widows, Fallen Soldiers, and the Remaking of the Nation after the Great War by Erika Kuhlman ISBN: 9780814748398
Published by NYU Press on March 19th 2012
Genres: History, United States, 20th Century, Military, Women's Studies
Pages: 235
Len's Summary: Scholarly social history; picking up the pieces in Germany and America after the war; the internationalization of war memorials and memory; changing social views of widows and widowhood.
On the Western Front with the Rainbow Division: A World War I Diary
On the Western Front with the Rainbow Division: A World War I Diary by Vernon E. Kniptash, E. Bruce Geelhoed ISBN: 0806140321
Published by University of Oklahoma Press on April 17th 2009
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Military, History, World War I, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 256
Len's Summary: Experiences of an extraordinary ordinary soldier of the AE.F. // Memoirs of an Indiana National Guardsman who served as a radio operator in the 42nd Division.
The March on Paris: The Memoirs of Alexander von Kluck, 1914-1918
The March on Paris: The Memoirs of Alexander von Kluck, 1914-1918 by Alexander Von Kluck ISBN: 1848326394
Published by Frontline Books on April 19th 2012
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Military, World War I, Modern, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 134
Len's Summary: By the commander of the extreme right flank of the German attack in 1914.
Eyewitnesses to the Great War: American Writers, Reporters, Volunteers and Soldiers in France, 1914-1918
Eyewitnesses to the Great War: American Writers, Reporters, Volunteers and Soldiers in France, 1914-1918 by Ed Klekowski, Libby Klekowski ISBN: 0786463481
Published by McFarland & Company on July 30th 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, World War II, United States, 20th Century, Personal Memoirs
Pages: 253
Len's Summary: Novelist Edith Wharton, Mrs. W K. Vanderbilt and other American expatriate socialites, adventurers as well as diplomats, soldiers, journalists, and relief workers among others write of their experiences on both sides of the lines. A different slant on the war by two new members of WWHA.
On Assignment: The Great War – Edward N. Jackson Photojournalist
On Assignment: The Great War - Edward N. Jackson Photojournalist by Joseph J. Caro ISBN: 9781477548295
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform on May 1st 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I, Illustrated
Pages: 238
Len's Summary: A history of the war through the lens of Edward Jackson, President Wilson's photographer. Part of a series of Edward N. Jackson's photo studies of America in the WWI era covering such subjects as the 27th Division, Training Our Troops, the Armistice and Gold Star Mothers.
The Will to Believe: Woodrow Wilson, World War I, and America’s Strategy for Peace and Security
The Will to Believe: Woodrow Wilson, World War I, and America's Strategy for Peace and Security by Ross A. Kennedy ISBN: 9780873389716
Published by Kent State University Press on March 13th 2009
Genres: History, Military, World War I, United States, General, 20th Century, Political Science, International Relations
Pages: 291
Len's Summary: A nuanced look at the debate surrounding Wilson’s national security policy and the shadow this casts across contemporary foreign policy formulation. // The author, an Assistant Professor of History at Illinois State University, takes a new, sophisticated look at how three competing groups — pacifists, liberal internationalists and Atlanticists — addressed national security issues during the Wilson Administration. // A fresh analysis of Wilson’s foreign policy focusing on three competing groups: pacifists, liberal internationalists, and Atlanticists.
Aisne 1914: The Dawn of Trench Warfare
Aisne 1914: The Dawn of Trench Warfare by Paul Kendall ISBN: 9780752463049
Published by History Press on May 1st 2012
Genres: History, Military, Pictorial, World War I, Photography
Pages: 416
Len's Summary: A September 1914 British defeat as mobile war turns to siege warfare.
The Balkans, Italy and Africa: From Sarajevo to the Paive and Lake Tanganiyka
The Balkans, Italy and Africa: From Sarajevo to the Paive and Lake Tanganiyka by David Jordan ISBN: 9781906626143
Published by Amber Books on March 2012
Genres: History, Military, World War I
Pages: 224
Len's Summary: Practically everything but the Western Front.
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
