Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There [Hardcover]

Max Arthur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

FORGOTTEN VOICES OF THE GREAT WAR is the fruit of a project of the British Imperial War Museum begun in 1972 to tape-record the accounts of soldiers of all the armies involved in The Great War.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Very few men are still alive who fought in the trenches in the First World War. The words of the soldiers, however, are as fresh as if they were written yesterday...extraordinary."--Deborrah Moggach, The (London) Mail on Sunday

"These stories are so harrowing, and their witness so precise and devastating."--Andrew Motion, The Times (London)

"This book really shows what it was like for us on the Western Front. It is remarkable. It really captures our voices, our spirit, and our memories."--Albert "Smiler" Marshall, Essex Yeomanry & Machine Gun Corps, 1915-1918

"Gripping and poignant."--Daily Mail (London)

"A compelling account of a world not to be forgotten."--Despatches

"The testimonies are vivid and many are compelling. They are gruesome and dark in places, with no holds barred when it comes to describing wounds and horrors at the front ... everyone who loves oral history will enjoy the often harrowing accounts contained in this book."--History Today

"This book is not just a particular, compelling and important record, it is in its own way as fine a memorial as the memorials in towns and villages to all those who never returned to their own country, and a reminder to future generations of the real horrors of trench warfare."--Nautical Magazine

"An impressive anthology of eye-witness expweiences which does not short-change us on the horror and filth, the pity and terror of that dreadful conflict."--The Herald (Glasgow)

"Tailor-made for classroom use as well as maximum impact on the general reader."--TES, Book of the Week

"'Oral history'--older people being encouraged to tape their memories--has opened up vast new vistas of social, political, and military research. Just look at the historian Max Arthur's fantastic new book, Forgotten Voices of the Great War. It draws on the Imperial War Museum's sound archives to chronicle the First World War as it has never been chronicled before: through the vivid recollections of the poor blokes in the trenches."--Richard Morrison, The Times (London)



"Forgotten Voices ... is a collection of transcribed interviews with survivors of the war. 'Ordinary men and women,' the blurb calls them. 'Extraordinary' is more like it."--The Times Books

"An extraordinary and immensely moving book."--Stephen Fry

From the Back Cover

Forgotten Voices of the Great War is a touching, searing, and above all mesmerizing account of World War I, told in the voices of those who endured the tedium, heat, cold, pain, loss, and fear of the world’s most brutal trench warfare to date.
In 1972 the British Imperial War Museum set about the momentous task of tracing ordinary veterans of World War I and interviewing them in detail about their experiences. The Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, which includes recorded firsthand accounts of the experiences of American, British, Canadian, French, and German soldiers, as well as soldiers from the British Commonwealth, has since grown to be the most important collection of its kind in the world. The archive’s recordings provide a vivid and compelling account of day-to-day life during one of the most harrowing periods of modern times.
These recordings, many of which have remained unheard for decades, contain the forgotten voices of a generation no longer with us. Only a small fraction of the material has been used by historians. Now, thirty years later, after hundreds of hours in the archive and unlimited access to the complete World War I audiotapes, acclaimed author Max Arthur and his team of researchers have created this remarkable landmark history of the Great War—told in the words of the ordinary men and women who experienced it in the raw.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592285708
• ISBN-13: 978-1592285709
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent First-Hand Accounts from WW1, February 26, 2005

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There (Hardcover)

Max Arthur's book covering the Great War is quite unique in that its content is nearly all first-hand accounts from people who experienced the horror of the Great War. The author has utilized a number of tape recorded interviews conducted by the Imperial War Museum in 1972. Many of the tapes from the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive had been forgotten and left unheard for years.

Now Max Arthur has put together many of these unheard voices from the Great War to produce this spellbinding and captivating book. I must admit that I was reluctant to buy this book as I was worried that a book full of short accounts would be too disjointed and really not detailed enough to satisfy my interest. I can honestly say that I truly enjoyed reading this book.

Each chapter of the book was a year of the Great War and was commenced by an introduction by the author offering a brief run down on the major events of that year. Then we heard from the men and women who participated in these events, from both sides of no-man's land. The author has concentrated mainly on the Western Front and Gallipoli and has tried to run the oral segments in chronological order.

I was really taken by these segments and I found it hard to stop reading. The accounts from these soldiers and civilians alike were at times humorous, strikingly direct, horrifying and on many occasions quite sad. I was really taken in by these accounts and I don't think that any World War One library would be complete without this title sitting on the shelf. I can honestly say that I learnt quite a few things from this book and I would place it along side such works offered by Lyn MacDonald. Well done to the author and the Imperial War Museum for allowing these veterans, many now long dead, the last word on their experiences in the Great War. This is a great book, you won't be disappointed.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Recollection from So Many Years Ago, January 17, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There (Hardcover)

The sub-title says a lot about this book, it is a history of World War I in the words of the men and women who were there. The basic work was begun in 1972 when the British Imperial War Museum set about the task of tracing ordinary veterans of World War I and interviewing them in detail about their experiences.

It was found that the events of the war had so burned themselves into the minds of the veterans that they were reported almost as though they happened yesterday. The recordings of these meetings with British, Canadian, French and German soldiers as well as soldiers from the British Commonwealth and civilians who quite often bore the brunt of the hostilities has grown to be the most important collection of stories from the Great War.

The author, and his staff had unlimited access to the audiotapes and listened to literally hundreds of hours to create this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL WORK - GOOD ADDITION TO YOUR COLLECTION, May 17, 2006

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There (Hardcover)

Detailed descriptions of great battles and campaigns and after battle reports are good and certainly worthwhile, but this work is just as important, if not more important in some ways, than the first mentioned. This is a collection, taken primarily from original tapes, of the recollections of those who were actually there. As one reviewer has already pointed out, most of these observations were made by those actually in the trenches, actually working on the home front, and not just the recollections of Generals,leaders and journalists. This is quite refreshing and informative. The author has, as much as possible, kept the recollections in chronological order and has given us a brief history before each segment. Some of the recollections are quite mundane, but in being so, make them that much more special. The many black and white photos added much. The only problem I had with the book was that each nationality represented here have used their own colloquialisms, many of which I had never encountered before. But...this actually, in the end, was an advantage for me personally, as it forced me, due to pure curiosity, to do further research and find out just what they were referring to. I learned much this way! Most, if not all, of this generation is gone now and we are quite fortunate to have records such as this. I hope there are more to come. Overall I highly recommend. I collect books from and about this era and recommend you add this on to your collection.