Tommy's war : the Western Front in soldiers' words and photographs /

Tommy's war : the Western Front in soldiers' words and photographs /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Van Emden, Richard, author.
Imprint:	London : Bloomsbury, 2014.
Description:	375 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	World War (1914-1918) World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British. World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front. World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front -- Pictorial works. World War, 1914-1918 -- Trench warfare. Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Biography. Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Correspondence. Soldiers. Great Britain. Biography. Personal narratives -- British. Photographs. Records and correspondence.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10043349

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9781408844366 1408844362 (hardback)
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (pages [369]-370) and index.
Summary:	For the first time ever the soldiers' experiences of the First World War are recorded in their own words and pictures. Shortly after images of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 found their way into national newspapers in Britain, the military authorities banned the private use of cameras on the Western Front. A considerable number of soldiers continued to use them illicitly to record life and death in the front line trenches. Including over 250 personal and unpublished photographs, this large-format book gives a new perspective on the war that was not captured by the official photographers who traversed the Western Front. Combined with extracts from personal diaries and letters written by soldiers and civilians in Britain through each year of the war up until Armistice Day in 1918, The Great War is a remarkable, vivid account of war. It is a stunning portrayal of humanity, at its best, and at its worst.

Description
Summary:	Conventional histories of the Great War have tended to focus on the terrible attritional battles of Ypres, of Arras and of the Somme. What they do not tell us is what life was like for the ordinary soldier, what mattered to him, and how he survived, both physically and mentally.Now for the first time, one of Britain's leading military historians, Richard van Emden tells the story of the Great War exclusively through the words and images of soldiers on the ground.In Tommy's War , he gathers some of the very best first-hand material written about the War, some of it published at the time and forgotten, some of it previously unpublished, but all of it wonderfully descriptive and immediate, and often wickedly funny. Tommy humour, frequently very dark, played a vital part in men's mental survival, particularly in times of great stress. Until now its critical role in victory has been overlooked. Richard van Emden restores the balance, giving weight to the soldiers' natural inclination to laugh during their darkest moments.Illustrating these eyewitness accounts with soldiers' own photographs taken on privately owned cameras, often tiny Vest Pocket Kodaks - the smart phones of their day - van Emden has created an entirely new and fresh history of the Great War, giving us a glimpse of 'Tommy Atkins' as he has never been seen before.
Physical Description:	375 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references (pages [369]-370) and index.
ISBN:	9781408844366 1408844362