Forgotten Voices of World War II: A New History of World War II 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 WORLD WAR II brings us the voices of those who had a hand in the greatest war of the twentieth century. From the early days in 1938 to the dropping of the atomic bomb from the Enola Gay, it tracks the civilians and combatants of war-German, Japanese, British, American, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Max Arthur's
Forgotten Voices of the Great War

"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 0fantastic 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

In order to assemble all the narratives for Forgotten Voices of World War II, editor Max Arthur and his team of researchers were given unlimited access to the complete collection of World War II audiotapes accumulated by the British Imperial War Museum. These are the almost-forgotten voices of an entire generation of civilian and military survivors of some of the most mundane—or horrendous—episodes of the war.
Their simple, often rough words cut straight to the heart. As Able Seaman Bob Tilburn tells us:
We were on three separate little rafts. . .
I actually tried to go to sleep on this thing that was tossing up and down. I thought, if I’m going to die, I might as well die in my sleep. And then Dundas shouted, “What’s that?” and I woke up a bit and looked behind me, and there was this destroyer coming, the Electra. What a beautiful sight.
Then it went straight past us.

Tilburn, Dundas, and their fellow sailor Briggs were the only survivors of the sinking of the HMS Hood by the Bismarck, while 1,415 of their comrades went down. Tilburn’s narrative, and those of thousands of others—Americans, Australians, British, Canadians, French, Germans, Japanese, Russians, and more—give us an unvarnished picture of the true cost of war for its survivors, as well as an incomparable tribute to the many who did not make it.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592285864
• ISBN-13: 978-1592285860
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real People, December 3, 2005

By 

D. Spidet (UK) - See all my reviews

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

There is always so much imfo. in these war books that whenever one reads them it's impossible to take it all in. I read the first Forgotten Voices book (WW1) and most of it was about the Trench Experience. WW2 however was just so huge that you feel the author struggles admirably to get it all in and at the same time maintain the entertainment factor of the first book. Practically everything in the book is an account of something told by a survivor. Max Arthur obviously has to try and use accounts which are funny perhaps, or sad, or imformative or all three. The book just can't go into depth about certain things. There is a D-Day section, a concentration camp section, Market garden, Africa, Japanese etc. and there are books out there about these things in their own right. For instance I just read Armageddon by Max Hastings which is about the battle for Germany in '44/'45. But this book, Forgotten Voices, is not really about the war. It is about the ordinary people/children and soldiers fighting/existing in it so there's a big difference between this and all the others. On several occasions while reading it I've had to put the book down when reading of a situation someone had found themselves in- I've just put the book down and thought 'Oh my God!' and have needed time to think about it before continueing.
It is a mainly British perspective with the occasional American/German/Dutch input etc. I would strongly recommend it and if you like these Forgotten Voices books then you would also like All Quiet on the Home Front. A similarly told book of mainland Britain during the first world war.
Good reading!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories from the Common Soldier, March 7, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

There are any number of books written by people involved in World War II, most of them of course by Generals. This book is different.

Like Steven Ambrose's collection of recordings from vetrans in this country, the Imperial War Museum has taped the accounts of thousands of ordinary participants from World War II.

Here is the report from the young British sailor. He got a pass and with his friend picked up two girls to go to the movies. Suddenly the movie was interupted with a message for all sailors to return to their ships. They went to Dunkirk.

Some of the recordings are from the Axis. A Japanese naval officer reports: "Our forces were ambushed by the American forces... My ship was hit by more than a hundred shells in, I think, about a two hour engagement. At that time I was quite high on the deck, and I was holding the binoculars with both hands. A splinter came up and cut off both my arms in the middle.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, Unforgettable, June 20, 2011

By 

Melinda Burnett "Springlering" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

I know this book is out of publication, but I just got my copy, and have not been able to put it down.

I have never read or seen such a collection of reminisecences. They just draw you in, and short as they are, you can literally see, smell and hear the experiences they describe. I've been moved to tears, felt the frustration of some of the speakers as they watched lives and effort wasted, and laughed out loud in a couple of spots, particularly as one soldier describes a joyful French cafe owner, cafe conscripted as a hospital on D-Day, digging ninety bottles of champagne out of the garden to distribute to the wounded heroes who've come to rescue his beloved France.

Marvelous, marvelous book, of interest to anyone who reads history, or enjoys a good human interest story. I sincerely wish there would be additional volumes in the series.