Somme [Paperback]

Lyn Macdonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 1993

This book looks at the Battle of the Somme, which was planned as "The Big Push" that would at last break the long stalemate on the Western Front in World War I. However the 18 divisions that went over the top between Arras and St-Quentin on the morning of 1 July 1916, walked into a battle that has gone down in the annals of human conflict as the slaughterhouse of a generation. The author has written other books about the history of World War I, including, "They Called it Passchendaele" and "The Roses of No Man's Land".

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (June 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140178678
• ISBN-13: 978-0140178678
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somme - A lesson for us all, November 4, 1998

By 

Phil Allsopp ([e-mail]) (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somme (Paperback)

I read this magnificent and chilling book several years ago. The voices of the men who recalled with absolute clarity the destruction of their youth is a lesson that everyone should take to heart. World War I is not generally taught in US schools - we were only in it for a very short time. But for those countries that were - Great Britain and its Empire, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy to name the principal players - the war forever changed them. In Britain's case (where I was born and grew up) the country has never recovered from that war. Its current economy bears the scars of the terrible losses that were exacted during the four bloody years of continuous combat - the Somme being the worst of all nightmares.

To put Britain's losses from the four years of fighting in WWI into perspective, it would be equivalent the US today losing 6.5 million dead and another 13 or so million wounded - a couple of million of whom might never be able to work again. The effects on us all and on the world would be obvious.

Somme prompted me to purchase and read all of Lyn MacDonald's books on that era. Having read the books, particularly Somme, I came away with a deeper appreciation of the futile sacrifices that were made all those years ago. While no pacifist and appeaser of tyrants, I would highly recommend Somme to every school and any member of Congress, prospective politician or Presidential candidate.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific social and military history, January 15, 2004

By 

Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Somme (Paperback)

Ian McDonald apparently developed a passion for WWI somewhere along the way. Her other works - 1914, THEY CALLED IT PASSCHENDAELE, THE ROSES OF NO MAN'S LAND - along with this one form a tetralogy of points of view. WWI has long interested scholars in its possiblities and implications. By any measure, Germany, the strongest power, should have won. This would have taken care of Hitler, finessed Marxism and maintained the status quo of related royal rulers. Instead it was a prelude to a conflict that dwarfed the first war in every way imaginable.

The author provides us with testimony from witnesses and participants. Therefore we visit battlefields, nursing homes and churches. We hear the ribald military humor and experience the hell of war. The social context - politics, manners, the mood and demeanor of the people - all of this is presented with humor, clarity and verve. This is a testament to a time that ended a civilization that was the freest in the history of the world. The liberal (classical, not modern) idea of education, civility, honor, duty and country would soon give way to darker and more "modern" themes. These are hinted at throughout as even the common soldier realizes that the world is changed forever. Photographs, maps and drawings are included.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Somme - Better than the rest, December 15, 2006

By 

Andrew Giguere (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Somme (Paperback)

Havin read "The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War" by Martin Gilbert, "The Somme" by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, and "The Somme" by Lyn MacDonald, I found MacDonald's book to be the best of the three.

While Gilbert's book is a general history which provides a broad overview of the battle, it is not able to convey the movement of the battle. MacDonald's use of maps, as well as her step by step approach in describing battle is much easier to follow.

In addition, MacDonald lavishes the book with detailed accounts by survivors. It is not a rarity to find entire paragraphs, rather than sentence long quotes, taken directly from the individual soldier's words. This is incredibly welcome as it gives the reader a better understanding of what actually happened on the ground.

Prior and Wilson's book is great if one is interested in tactics. In addition, their book debunks several Somme myths which I will not go into here. Yet their work does not bring the reader into the lives of the troops or their experience outside of citing casualties.

MacDonald's book describes the establishment of the "Pals" battalions, their training and their general experience prior to the battle. In addition, she also discusses the role of the ANZAC on the Somme and gives an excellent account of their history from Galipoli to their attack on Pozieres.

While Wilson and Prior focus on tactics, Gilbert vacillates between tactics, general history and the soldier's own experiences. Wilson and Prior succeed in showing the immense planning, terrible cost and miscalculations of the battle, but fail to craft an comprehensive narrative.

While touching with its poetry and its frequent, tragic recitation of "he is listed on the Thiepval memorial," or "he is listed on the Gommecourt memorial," Gilbert's book does not make the battle more comprehensible.

MacDonald on the other hand gives a wonderful start to finish narrative of the battle in which she uses the survivor's own words to draw the reader in. In addition, MacDonald also discusses a variety of different roles from the soldiers to the Pioneer battalions to wireless operators.

Overall, while each book is worthwhile in its own right, MacDonald's is the best read for both the amateur and the historian alike.