Forgotten Voices of the Great War : A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Recollection from So Many Years Ago
Review: The sub-title says a lot about this book, it is a history of World War I in the words of the men and women who were there. The basic work was begun in 1972 when the British Imperial War Museum set about the task of tracing ordinary veterans of World War I and interviewing them in detail about their experiences.

It was found that the events of the war had so burned themselves into the minds of the veterans that they were reported almost as though they happened yesterday. The recordings of these meetings with British, Canadian, French and German soldiers as well as soldiers from the British Commonwealth and civilians who quite often bore the brunt of the hostilities has grown to be the most important collection of stories from the Great War.

The author, and his staff had unlimited access to the audiotapes and listened to literally hundreds of hours to create this book.