A Nation in arms : a social study of the British Army in the First World War /

These uniformly fine essays treat aspects of the British military experience most often ignored in popular accounts of trench warfare on the Western Front. Following an introductory overview, separate essays discuss the prewar regular army, the ``New Armies'' (of volunteers and conscripts raised during the conflict), and the Fortunes of the Territorials (who were envisioned, before 1914, as a reserve for the regulars but then ignored as far as possible by Lord Kitchener once war came). The provision of officers for the rapidly expanding forces is carefully examined as is the problem of billeting soldiers with civilians in Britain and behind the lines in France. A survey of the demographic impact of the war and of the shaping of the postwar regular army round out the collection. The reference notes are excellent as is the lengthy annotated bibliography, and the illustrations actually illuminate the themes. This collection is a model of its kind. College and university libraries.-R.A. Callahan, University of Delaware