The Smell of War: Three Americans in the Trenches of World War I (Volume 14) (C. A. Brannen Series) - Hardcover

Bernhard, Virginia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1623495989 ISBN 13: 9781623495985

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Historian Virginia Bernhard has deftly woven together the memoirs and letters of three American soldiers—Henry Sheahan, Mike Hogg, and George Wythe—to capture a vivid, poignant portrayal of what it was like to be “over there.” These firsthand recollections focus the lens of history onto one small corner of the war, into one small battlefield, and in doing so they reveal new perspectives on the horrors of trench warfare, life in training camps, transportation and the impact of technology, and the post-armistice American army of occupation.

Henry Sheahan’s memoir, A Volunteer Poilu, was first published in 1916. He was a Boston-born, Harvard-educated ambulance driver for the French army who later became a well-known New England nature writer, taking a family name “Beston” as his surname. George Wythe, from Weatherford, Texas, was a descendant of the George Wythe who signed the Declaration of Independence. Mike Hogg, born in Tyler, Texas, was the son of former Texas governor James Stephen Hogg.

The Smell of War, by collecting and annotating the words of these three individuals, paints a new and revealing literary portrait of the Great War and those who served in it.

About this title

About the Author

VIRGINIA BERNHARD is professor emerita of history at the University of St. Thomas. She is the author of seven books, including Ima Hogg: The Governor’s Daughter, and most recently, The Hoggs of Texas: Letters and Memoirs of an Extraordinary Family, 1887–1906. She resides in Houston.

Review

"A good read and recommended for those with an interest in World War I." —The Journal of America’s Military Past (The Journal of America’s Military Past)

"Bernhard’s wonderful book will be of interest to a large and varied audience of scholars and other readers."—Southwestern Historical Quarterly (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1623495989
• ISBN 13: 9781623495985
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 180