"Voices from the Front - an Oral History of the Great War" by

[RobL]

With the flood of books being published in the run-up to and during the centenary years it could almost be dissuasive to writers to work on something covering a relatively broad aspect of the war such as this. Fortunately, Peter Hart hasn't been put off and has produced what is, in my opinion, easily one of the strongest volumes on the experience of the British people during the Great War which popularity will remain after the centenary years. Peter Hart is in the enviable position of being an interviewer of military veterans and many of those whose experiences are shared in this book were interviewed by the author himself. More than just being an interesting fact about the author, Peter Hart clearly knew these veterans relatively well and he mentions this in the book - those including myself who read or listen to their accounts didn't know their mannerisms, what they were like as people, but in this case the author did, meeting them in their homes and spending many hours and days with them and the work is all the stronger for that, it not just being a book about what it was like in the war but a labour of love, a lasting written memorial to these men. The author's personal connection to those who feature in the book make this a much stronger book than someone detached from those they were writing about.

The broad spectrum of those who made up Britain's armed forces during the war is covered, from high ranking Officers to the lower ranks, men from inner city tenements to idyllic rural villages and all in-between. Those who served in British Army on the Western Front of course feature heavily as that is where most served and where the main fight was, but those in less well-covered theatres of war are too, through to those serving on small Royal Navy destroyers being thrown around the coastal seas of Britain on unglamorous but vital convoy work. It is hard not to be touched by many of the stories, and the anecdote of the soldier who was invited into Rudyard Kipling's home without realising who his host was is utterly sublime and will stay with you long after you have finished the book. The parts of the book covering the peace after the war, as well as the atmosphere in Britain before war was declared, were particularly interesting to myself and fit the narrative of the book into the wider story of the 20th century, and a reminder that the veteran's service in the years 1914-18 (or later for some) was just one part of their lives.

Those familiar with Peter Hart's work will almost certainly not hesitate to buy this simply on the strength of his previous work, but for those who don't this book is a powerful, personal volume which will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf for anyone with an interest in the Great War, even for those who aren't normally drawn to broad-covering books. This is certainly a cut above the rest