3 Review(s)

This book provides an innovative analysis of World War One using memoirs of leading politicians and writers of the time.This is a unique study of World War One memoirs from a historical perspective. It explores the tremendous effect that war experience had on writers' lives and how they came to terms with it after 1918, in deeply moving and often brilliant writing. As well as such famous literary figures as Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, it includes historically significant writers such as Lord Reith, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan. It challenges the view that memoir writers were in any clear sense 'anti-war'. While many were appalled by heavy losses and awful conditions they were, however, determined to achieve victory and proud of their regimental service and comrades. Above all, they constitute a brilliant source for understanding the war on the Western Front.