Letters From the Front by Kevin Smith
By taking a fresh look at the letters and diaries of the BEF soldiers who fought this war, Kevin Smith has uncovered first person accounts long undisturbed in the archives of the Imperial War Museum. There is humor: tales of city dwellers learning to ride horses. There is pathos: men returning from leave, freshly married, to be killed by a random shell. Above all, there is the human reaction to the stench, to the mud, to the lousy food and oh yes the lice, too. The little details carry the narrative forward, such as the incessant presence of 'bully' or using jam to flavor just about anything. Bread covered with mud, baths in whisky barrels, little pet dogs: they are all here. This book touches on all the great controversies--the bad leadership, the soldiers sent to be slaughtered, the first use of the tank, and so forth, but just enough ensure the reader understands the problem. The contemporary photographs strongly demonstrate daily life in the trench. This is a welcome addition to the human side of this monstrously inhuman event.
Kevin Smith has earned degrees from LaSalle, Lehigh, and Ohio State Universities. He has taught in the Columbus Ohio Public Schools and Columbus State Community College and knows how to make history interesting. His years of study and teaching about the First World War are reflected in this lively product of extensive research in Belgium and Britain.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781781553381 |
| ISBN 10 | 1781553386 |
| Title | Letters From the Front |
| Author | Kevin Smith |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Fonthill Media Ltd |
| Year published | 2013-10-01 |
| Number of pages | 160 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |