Al Parsons Posted 23 October , 2007 Share Posted 23 October , 2007 Was just perusing Blackwells' online catalogue and came across this gem. Publication date is evidently March 20, 2008. ISBN is 184415680X. Thanks Jack. I am really looking forward to it. Now I just have to play "catch-up" on your volumes on The Somme and Passchendaele! Hurray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 23 October , 2007 Share Posted 23 October , 2007 Jack is a really prolific writer and the volume does not take away from the quality of his work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 23 October , 2007 Share Posted 23 October , 2007 It is kind of you to say so. Each book takes me a year to produce. All the basic research and collection of material took place years ago, so for each successive title the additional items required can be obtained relatively quickly. It was a particular pleasure to write about Vimy, which was, above all, a Bavarian battlefield from first to last. As a result my bibliography has about five A4 pages of citations of primary source material found in Munich and selected from an immense quantity. It just makes me realise what we lost when the RAF bombed Potsdam and burnt the Prussian archives. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 25 October , 2007 Share Posted 25 October , 2007 Following the fine work of the 'Somme' & 'Passchendale' books, I just ordered and look forward to the receipit of the 'Vimy' book. Jack -are there any plans for any others ? Mick D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fair Posted 25 October , 2007 Share Posted 25 October , 2007 Thanks for the tip off Al, its now on my wish list. Jack, do you have any plans for volumes covering 1918? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 26 October , 2007 Share Posted 26 October , 2007 The ultimate aim, providing all goes well, is to attempt to produce a book, which provides a German perspective about each of the important battles and campaigns on at least the northern sector of the Western Front, but that is a massive canvas, so I do not know what will be possible. I seem to remember Milton had something to say about the fact that a man's reach should be further than his grasp. As I await the arrival of the first proof of the forthcoming Vimy Ridge book, I am assembling everything I need to write about Cambrai, which is my writing project for 2008. After that I shall be ready to switch from 1917, but I have not yet decided whether to go forwards or backwards in time. Bear with me. There is much to do and I am going as quickly as I can without compromising quality. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesmessenger Posted 26 October , 2007 Share Posted 26 October , 2007 Jack Whichever way you go you are doing us all a great service. Personally I would be fascinated in the German view on the ground of the 100 Days. There has not been anything I am aware of which covers the period, while the 1918 German offensives continue to produce a stream of books. It would at least through much light on the degree of collapse which the German Army suffered and whether it would have been capable of fighting on in any meaningful way in spite of the disintegration of the home front. Charles M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 26 October , 2007 Share Posted 26 October , 2007 Jack Whichever way you go you are doing us all a great service. Personally I would be fascinated in the German view on the ground of the 100 Days. There has not been anything I am aware of which covers the period, while the 1918 German offensives continue to produce a stream of books. It would at least through much light on the degree of collapse which the German Army suffered and whether it would have been capable of fighting on in any meaningful way in spite of the disintegration of the home front. Charles M I second that, there would be nothing as interesting to me from German side as that period, trouble is you have to cover 400 + miles of front and not 1 area as Jack has done til now, tough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halder Posted 26 October , 2007 Share Posted 26 October , 2007 I second that, there would be nothing as interesting to me from German side as that period, trouble is you have to cover 400 + miles of front and not 1 area as Jack has done til now, tough! Either the March offensive or the last 100 days would get a big thumbs up from me. But I can certainly ascribe to the difficulty of the length of front. My Normandy book (with fighting effectively at the eastern and western extremities of the front for most of the time) was considerably easier to write than the Polish campaign with its scattered fronts - Galicia, Danzig, Warsaw, Brest, Bzura etc. I've toyed with doing the last 100 days from the German viewpoint myself one day, but it won't be for a decade or me as I've pretty much decided upon my next three books and they're all WW2 Eastern Front. On the March offensives, I was reading Kabisch's book Michael today for a four-page feature I'm working on. Definitely one of the better inter-war histories produced on the other side of the hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Parsons Posted 26 October , 2007 Author Share Posted 26 October , 2007 Just one more response in favour of Jack - or anyone else for that matter - doing a book from the German point of view on the last Hundred Days. I think that would be fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 27 October , 2007 Share Posted 27 October , 2007 I agree with you all about the last 100 days, but the problems of writing about it would be immense. It is no coincidence, for example, that the accurate casualty figures fall apart from July 1918. I have never even really attempted to see what is left in the archives from that period and I suspect that the best regimental accounts will be those produced by those who fought the hardest and most effectively. This could leave a distorted impression, because plenty of regiments must have caved in. That said, I do know, from work I did on anti-tank methods and defences, that sensible, coherent work on this was still being produced as late as Oct 18. All I can say is that I shall keep it in mind and gather together what I can whilst working on other things. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikechorlt Posted 10 November , 2007 Share Posted 10 November , 2007 Jack, I have both of your books and enjoyed them greatly and am looking forward very much to the Vimy one. I was until recently a manager for Waterstones and recommended them to many customers. Feedback was universally good. Sadly most of th W's empire did not have the foresight to stock them but thankfully the internet has now increased opportunities for customers both on price and range. I have to say that Pen & Sword have done an excellent job on design and standard of production - they are indeed handsome volumes! Is there any chance that you may do a volume on Verdun? I would be fascinated to read a German account of the battle. Best wishes, Michael Nicholson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 10 November , 2007 Share Posted 10 November , 2007 If its a vote (!) then its the 100 days for me please. Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 10 November , 2007 Share Posted 10 November , 2007 I have read your other books and look forward to the one on Vimy. I suspect that the 100 days would need several books but if it's a vote, I have all my hands in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 13 November , 2007 Share Posted 13 November , 2007 Many thanks for these latest words of encouragement. I have registered the point firmly about the final 100 Days. It is clearly not something I can duck. I think I can see a way of providing at least a flavour of the events of that time, but it is going to have to be researched alongside other forthcoming titles and I shall just have to ask everyone to be patient. As for Verdun, the answer is that one day I might try it, but I am conscious of the fact that there are others out there with far greater knowledge than me about the area. Maybe if nothing fresh appears during the next few years...? In the meantime I am leaving for Ypres and the conference tomorrow. Hope to see some of you there. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 27 November , 2007 Share Posted 27 November , 2007 I'd buy anything WW1 Western front related ! I don't like the font used in the 'Somme' & 'Passchendaele' books though. I've heard others mention this too, but never seen it mentioned on this forum before. Mick D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 9 December , 2007 Share Posted 9 December , 2007 Mick I have only just noticed your post - sorry. Following discussion concerning the font for the Somme book - 10pt Ellington - the publishers switched to Sabon for the Passchendaele book. Once again there was some controversy over it, so the Vimy book is set in a typeface called Linotype Centennial. I can assure you that it has a more 'normal', 'rounded', appearance and having spent a considerable amount of time proofing and indexing it, I think that it will probably be easier on the eye and meet your concerns. Let me know when you have had a chance to see it. Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 9 December , 2007 Share Posted 9 December , 2007 Jack, Don't get me wrong, I'm not so fussy as It would put me off if the font didn't change ! It's just I find it tiring on the eyes. I've got my 'Vimy' on pre order. Mick D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 9 December , 2007 Share Posted 9 December , 2007 Like Mick, I'd buy it, whatever, but I'd like to see something from the early part of the War. 1915 on the Western front would be fascinating: coming to terms with a defensive war, adapting to technological change (gas, machine guns, aeroplanes, etc, all taking an increasingly important role); responding to the general growth in the scale of war; new tactics and new equipment. 1915 is always an under-exposed time, and I, for one, would love to read of the German experience at Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge, Loos and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick D Posted 9 December , 2007 Share Posted 9 December , 2007 Steve, A book on the areas you mention would be fantastic. Almost unique if done from the German point of view . Mick D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sheldon Posted 14 December , 2007 Share Posted 14 December , 2007 I have been chewing over the question of a book about 1915 for some time now and I expect to get round to a title of the type you have desiderated in due course - I am just not sure exactly when. Of course I have not neglected 1915 up to now. I covered it in my Somme book and two of the chapters of Vimy book are devoted to the subject. The point, of course, is that I was describing the German-French standoff, rather than the British-German one. I cannot promise to get straight onto it. After Cambrai, I am thinking of tackling one of two or three 1914 subjects, but there are still a few years left before the centenaries begin cropping up, by which time I hope to have worked my way through most of the outstanding battles and campaigns on the northern sector of the Western front. Jack Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 14 December , 2007 Share Posted 14 December , 2007 1914? German side of British retreat would be fascinating! And you have Edward Spears account of French thinking as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 14 December , 2007 Share Posted 14 December , 2007 1914? German side of British retreat would be fascinating! And you have Edward Spears account of French thinking as well. Well there is Walter Bloem's Advance from Mons 1914. Great little book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 15 December , 2007 Share Posted 15 December , 2007 Advance from Mons 1914 is indeed a great wee book. Just finished reading it yesterday. Fascinating to be able to tie in German movements with British. I had a copy of Edmond's Official History, Holmes's Riding the Retreat and Bloem's book all open. Fascinating comparing them. Just a pity Bloem was not at Le Cateau. Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halder Posted 15 December , 2007 Share Posted 15 December , 2007 Advance from Mons 1914 is indeed a great wee book. Just finished reading it yesterday. Fascinating to be able to tie in German movements with British. I had a copy of Edmond's Official History, Holmes's Riding the Retreat and Bloem's book all open. Fascinating comparing them. Just a pity Bloem was not at Le Cateau. Len Bloem's book is outstanding - his observations are probably helped by his "day job" as a novelist. He wrote a couple of other accounts of his life at the front, Sturmsignal ("Assault signal") and Das Ganze Halt ("Complete Halt") which, sadly, have never been translated into English. If there's a caveat, it's that rather like Junger, Advance from Mons is invariably the only German front-line account quoted in many English-language accounts in books on 1914; that, however, says more about English-speaking historians than it does about Bloem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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