Fields of Memory: A Testimony to the Great War - Softcover

Roze, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841881112 ISBN 13: 9781841881119

Publisher: Seven Dials, 2001

Synopsis

"You know what the war was like, my friend, but who else will remember when we are dead?--Jacques Meyer. More than eight million died, and countless others were wounded, in World War One's terrible series of offensives and counter-offensives--and the French and Belgian countryside still bears the scars of these bloody battles. Cemeteries and memorials commemorate those who perished, and the crumbling remains of fortifications and trenches testify to the war's destruction. Tour this somber, thought-provoking landscape in photographs old and new, and recall the key events of this "War to end all Wars," including the battles of Marne, Ypres, Flanders, Verdun, Somme, and Passchendaele. Contemporary materials--journals, letters, newspaper reports, and the writings of key figures such as Wilfred Owen and Erich Maria Remarque--provide heartrending personal accounts of the fighting and its effects. As you gaze on the serene images of the present-day landscape, and compare it to the wartime photos, the stark contrast will move you...and inspire remembrance.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From Library Journal:

It is fitting at the close of the 20th century that some thought be given to the initial calamity that set the century upon its destructive course. The First World War by Prior (history, Australian Defense Force Acad.) and Wilson (history, emeritus, Univ. of Adelaide) provides a fine narration of the military course of the war on land (a companion volume in Cassell's "History of Warfare" series will treat the war at sea). It concentrates on the European fronts, East and West, and on the strategy and outcomes of the battles between the major participants. The authors show a decidedly pro-British perspective, giving less-than-equal treatment to French and American contributions to victory. Although there is a good chronology, the battlefield maps contain more detail than needed for such a general narrative. This strictly military history provides some debatable conclusions on the war's genesis and a paean to the justness of the Allied cause. It may be in answer, intended or not, to Niall Ferguson's provocative The Pity of War (LJ 3/15/99) or even John Keegan's stark The First World War (LJ 4/15/99). Roze, a classical literature professor in France, has produced a more thoughtful work in her Fields of Memory. True to its title, it is a testament in words and images to those who suffered and died in the Great War. Its fluid story is extensively illustrated with period photographs as well as recent ones of the French and Belgian countryside, still littered with ruins. Personal narratives of French participants are frequently cited to give life to the dead and help individualize the war experience. It is not scholarly like Jay Winter's Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning (Cambrige Univ., 1995), but it has much more to offer than its coffee-table exterior would lead one to expect. Both books are recommended for public and academic libraries.
-James Tasato Mellone, Hofstra Univ., Hempstead, New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Seven Dials
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1841881112
• ISBN 13: 9781841881119
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 232