Customer Reviews

Father Duffy's Story: A Tale of Humor and Heroism, of Life and Death with the Fighting Sixty-Ninth

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This is an excellent book, but I would recommend any reader interested in WWI in general, and the 69th NY National Guard Brigade specifically, read it in tandom with Stephen Harris's book, Duffy's War. Both books are excellent - the best!! One complements the other. Father Duffy's moving account of the 69th is wonderful memorializing the Soldiers who served in the brigade and those within the 42nd Rainbow Division. Stephen Harris's work goes into more detail highlighting the larger picture of the Rainbow Division and the various units within it. Read them together - you won't be disappointed!!

An amazing book by an amazing man is the least comment that I can make. It is a well-written story of the '69th' in WWI and as such could stand on that merit alone. It is also a 'keyhole' look into the world of America in 1917/18. The expression of attitudes and beliefs illustrates that era in a most human way. We can readily read how the Americans of that time period thought and believed. This allows us to compare with our contemporary beliefs both those that match theirs and those which are so askew from the "boys that made the Kaiser dance".

The book is both a history of a group of men in war and a people during a time period in our history. I think it is a 'must read' for the young, especially those with only 'one world view' as I admit to reading it late in life.