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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for ‘Tommy’:
‘Holmes is one of our foremost military scholars and a skilled writer who knows his audience well. This is excellent popular history: scholarly, highly readable and utterly absorbing.’ Daily Telegraph
‘Monumental…Every page of this is worth reading.’ Time Out
Product Description
A handsomely illustrated photographic account, by the bestselling author of 'Tommy' (2003), of the human experience of war as directly witnessed by British soldiers in the First World War.
Richard Holmes, one of Britain's best-known military historians (and President of the British Commission of Military History), has selected over 200 photographs taken for the most part by officers and men rather than by official photographers – mostly unfamiliar ones located in archive collections, regimental museums and private sources. There will also be specially taken photographs by Mike Sheil, one of the best battlefield photographers working today.
The book will deal with the whole of the British Army's experience of the First World War – Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and so on – and not just on the Western Front. The photographs will be grouped thematically as extended picture essays; topics include the pre-war army and mobilisation of 1914; the contribution made by nurses; medical treatment and the wounded; infantrymen and their weapons; the campaign in Mesopotamia, etc…
Like 'Tommy', the book is about people rather than things, about the human experience of war rather than its strategy or tactics, and at least as much about the everyday or commonplace – a latrine here or a plate of bully beef there – as about the lofty or portentous. It shows us the dirt beneath the fingernails of history.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
83 of 85 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Richard Holmes is well known as a military historian who can not only make the details of military campaigns intelligible, but can recognise the human stories beneath. There is little in terms of campaign detail. There is not that much that is especially original, either. But these are trivial matters compared with the book's place as in my opinion one of the best annotated photo albums about WW1. Enormous knowledge is worn lightly; the choice of photos is without exception excellent, with most them having appeared rarely if at all before. The greatest strength is that Holmes teaches us (without seeming to do so) how to read photos of WW1 and probably all conflicts, drawing us into the detail of the picture with warmth and humanity. Highly recommended even at full price.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book very interesting (superb value, possibly underpriced!) and the photos and commentary text are very readable; my interest was maintained throughout. The shots used are unusual, and many are of the less dramatic side to war- the sitting about, rations, casualty evacuation and the logistical side. There are also some less pleasant subject matters shown.
Richard Holmes also makes those very engaging battlefield documentaries and he's got a way with words too. This should be compulsory reading at secondary school, everyone should be aware of some the potential realities of war, and WW1 in particular.
Richard Holmes also makes those very engaging battlefield documentaries and he's got a way with words too. This should be compulsory reading at secondary school, everyone should be aware of some the potential realities of war, and WW1 in particular.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Richard Holmes is an outstandig historian on the two world wars. This book deals with the first and gives an insight into the minds of the brave men who fought.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fascinating.
A fascinating pictorial view of WW1 life. As usual Richard Holmes is entertaining and shows us some of the lesser known facts of the campaign. I loved it.
Published 8 months ago by frankie5angels
A Balanced Picture
Richard Holmes was one of the great authorities on the British Army, especially in respect of the Western Front of the First World War. Read more
Published 8 months ago by P. J. Connolly
Shots from the Front: The British Soldier 1914-18
A typically excellent volume from Richard Holmes as one would expect. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the First World War his detailed interpretation of the images extracts... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2009 by ICM
Par for the course for Holmes
The usual high standard we have come to expect from Richard Holmes, a fascinating collection of photos telling the story of WW1 from all theatres of war not just the Western Front. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2009 by S. C. Tipler
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