This is a brilliant book. Every picture, many of which I have never seen before tells a different story. Max Arthur has juxtaposed the photographs in chronological order and there is a real drama in the build up to the war from both sides and also in the lead up to the battles of the Somme and Arras. The consequence of the battles is poignantly told not only in photos but in words of the men who fought in them. I was particularly moved by the photo of the packs taken from the bodies of the dead, the photo shows British soldiers searching through for anything that can be sent home to the dead man's next of kin.

One particular photo is accompanied by the words of a young Lieutenant 'Now we die. It is the wet death, the muddy death, death dripping with blood. The bodies lie frozen in the earth which slowly sucks them in. The luckiest depart wrapped in canvas, to sleep in the nearest cemetery.'

But there are lighter moments such as the amazing shot of the Zulus dancing in their full battle costume and the tough looking Australian who the Kaiser loathed because he was always stealing from the German dead. There are many more like this in this memorable book.