War Letters of Fallen Englishmen (Pine Street Books) [Paperback]

Laurence Housman (Editor), Jay Winter (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2002 | Series: Pine Street Books

More than eight million young men perished during the First World War—a staggering figure. The natural reaction to such a great loss of humanity was to forget the individuals and recast the conflict into one of faceless armies and battles commemorated in stone and metal monuments. War Letters of Fallen Englishmen was published following the war in order to remind the living of those who were lost in the name of the British crown—brothers, husbands, fathers, sons.

This collection provides, in the very words of those who participated and died in combat, the closest approximation possible to the experience of war. Carefully selected from thousands of letters, those in this collection are poignant, powerful, and graphic and were chosen for their depth of perception, the intensity of their descriptions, and their messages to future generations. This edition contains a new foreword by the distinguished World War I historian Jay Winter.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Excellent, truth-telling letters."—Edmund Blunden

"In this book we get what, after all, I must call the real thing."—H. W. Nevinson

"The whole book is of such a quality as to stir the remembrance of 'the hope and promise of youth, which the wastefulness of war has carried away.'"—Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Laurence Housman (1865-1959), younger brother of A. E. Housman, was an accomplished illustrator, musician, and author of more than eighty works of poetry, fiction, plays, nonfiction, and stories for children. Jay Winter, Professor of History at Yale University, is the author of many books, including Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History. He was cowriter and chief historian for the PBS series The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century, which won an Emmy award in 1997.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Pine Street Books; 1 edition (June 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812218159
• ISBN-13: 978-0812218152
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gripping and clear look of WWI front lines, September 6, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War Letters of Fallen Englishmen (Pine Street Books) (Paperback)

Compiled and edited by Laurence Housman (Professor of History, Yale University), War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen is an emotional and compelling collection of primary sources surveying the horrors of World War I, from the writings of Englishmen and three Englishwomen who ultimately joined England's "Lost Generation". WWI casualties disproportionately wiped out the British force's officers, and those officers were usually drawn from the more educated upper class, therefore officers and the upper class are much more heavily represented in War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen than enlisted men, though there is testimony from both segments of the British population. A gripping and clear look of WWI front lines, so real as to make the reader grateful that he or she is not physically there, War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen is a unique and welcome contribution to WWI Military History supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotional and compelling collection, August 8, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War Letters of Fallen Englishmen (Pine Street Books) (Paperback)

Compiled and edited by Laurence Housman (Professor of History, Yale University), War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen is an emotional and compelling collection of primary sources surveying the horrors of World War I, from the writings of Englishmen and three Englishwomen who ultimately joined England's "Lost Generation". WWI casualties disproportionately wiped out the British force's officers, and those officers were usually drawn from the more educated upper class, therefore officers and the upper class are much more heavily represented in War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen than enlisted men, though there is testimony from both segments of the British population. A gripping and clear look of WWI front lines, so real as to make the reader grateful that he or she is not physically there, War Letters Of Fallen Englishmen is a unique and welcome contribution to WWI Military History supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.