Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World [Paperback]

Farley Mowat (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1570981736 | ISBN-13: 978-1570981739 | Publication Date: November 1997

In 1953, Farley Mowat, a Canadian infantryman during World War II, returned to Europe, a place he knew only during the ravages of wartime. Together with his wife, he returns to England, France, and Italy to reexamine the past and find hope in the future. This is a unique and compelling look at a world that has undergone dramatic changes in the last fifty years, described in vintage Farley Mowat style.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1953, Mowat (Never Cry Wolf), who had been a soldier in the Canadian army, returned to see the France and Italy he had known only under wartime conditions. He relates how he and his wife, Frances, bought a car in England and drove through both countries, where he was astonished to be welcomed as a returning war hero. Savoring scenes both familiar and changed, the couple avoided tourist centers, sought out quiet places and relished local histories, architecture, landscapes and, above all, the regeneration of people who had put their wartime suffering behind them. Among his memorable discoveries, Mowat recalls the little pottery commune in an Italian seacoast cave near Positano where, without modern technology, the craftsmen and their families lived and worked, taking pleasure in ancient methods of refining and working clays; and, farther along the road, a fishing village where the fishermen limited their catches to what they and their neighbors could eat to avoid overfishing and thus preserve an age-old way of life for their children. Although time must now have changed much of what Mowat found, this is a disarmingly upbeat and gracefully written memoir.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Canadian writer Mowat, perhaps best known for Never Cry Wolf, agreed in 1952 to write a history of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. His memoir reflects back on an ensuing tour of Europe taken with his wife, where together they retraced much of the ground Mowat knew intimately from serving with that regiment during the war years. Writing with a gentle yet affecting resonance, Mowat reveals the suffering endured by many of the individuals he encounters during their travels through the English countryside and in France and Italy. The account is by turns sobering and moving as Mowat relates the exploits of French resistance fighters and visits Italian sites where memories of battle are stirred and recalls atrocities. In this replaying of the effects of war on ordinary folks, the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity is revealed over and over again. Alice Joyce --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Roberts Rinehart Pub (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570981736
• ISBN-13: 978-1570981739
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,189,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travels through place and time: Europe in the 50s, May 4, 2000

By 

Owen Hughes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World (Hardcover)

Farley Mowat has written a number of books which may be described as war memoirs. Since they were written at decent intervals and to some extent, for different purposes, there is a degree of repetition. Nevertheless, as there is hardly ever a dull moment in a text by Mowat, we can forgive him for telling the same story twice. To be honest, I'm no longer certain where the overlap occurs, although in "Aftermath," a book written comparatively recently, he certainly revisits some parts of the Italian theatre in which he served, and refers to the same events he has recounted in detail elsewhere ("And No Birds Sang"). But "Aftermath" doesn't dwell particularly on war, and there are a number of stories in this ongoing narrative which are worth reading by themselves. Scenes such as that where the author and his wife visit the Black Eagle somewhere in Kent and procure some of the Queen's Brew are classic Mowat. Their visit to Amalfi and tour of its ancient potteries, and their final return to England where they visit with Peter Scott, son of the Antarctic explorer, and learn all about the Severn Wild Fowl Trust, are just a couple of the highlights of this rather unusual journey.

This is not your ordinary Mowat, but then I'm wondering if there really is such a thing. An overlooked book, "Aftermath" won't disappoint, and fortunately for readers everywhere, thar's plenty more Mowat where that come from!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Middling Book by a Great Author, November 30, 2009

By 

S. J. Huse (Rehoboth, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World (The Farley Mowat Series) (Paperback)

Babe Ruth was a great hitter. But he didn't connect with the ball everytime was was at bat.

Farley Mowat is a great writer. Sadly not all his books are home runs. If you would like to read some of his best then try:

-And No Birds Sang: The Farley Mowat Library
-The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug
or
-The Boat Who Wouldn't Float


Not every book written by a great author is a good book - we all have our off days. But that should not stop you from reading his best work.