1914-1918: Voices and Images of the Great War

by Shirley Seaton and Lyn Macdonald

Book Overview

This book uses personal accounts and illustrations, mainly from the author's own archives, to cover all aspects of World War I - from departure of the Old Contemptibles to fight the Kaiser in 1914,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0718131886
• ISBN13: 9780718131883
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Michael Joseph
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Powerful and Personal Approach to WWI

Lyn Macdonald is the finest authority on WWI, having written several books on the subject. Most of her books center on a certain time period during the war. This book is a more general approach to the subject, using several photos, letters, and interviews with different soldiers. With its highly personal approach, this book often tugs at your heart and reminds one just how insane trench warfare was. The bravery and endurance shown by soldiers of both sides is almost overwhelming. The photographs Macdonald chose are strikingly effective, without focusing on graphic depictions. Once you read this book, you will forever remember the "voices and images" of the Great War. Highly recommended! Also see: To the Last Man: Spring 1918 The Somme 1915: The Death of Innocence 1914 They Called It Passchendaele The Story of The Battle of Ypres and of the Men Who Fought In It Ordeal By Fire - Witnesses to the Great War

Awesome Photographs

This is a magnificent book. To be sure it isn't complete, perhaps Ms. MacDonald can be persuaded to do a similar book on the French and American activities in the Great War. Come to think of it, some more books on the air war and the sea war would be nice as well. I can't call this a history exactly, it is instead a series of letters, recordings, and reports from the people who were there. I suspect that a lot of these came from the Imperial War Museum which is creating a collection of such things. What I really can't imagine is where she was able to contain the huge number of truly amazing photographs. So many pictures you see of that war are reprints from a magazine and show the moire patters of being re-scanned, these do not. This has to be one book in your collection on the Great War, but I think you will find it to be a book that you pull down quite often, if for no other reason than the photographs.

MacDonald's "Voices and Images" Speaks Volumes

This one book is what led me to become a Lyn MacDonald fan who has eagerly collected and read each one of her books as they became available. She is one of the foremost experts on the WWI and as such, has brought to life in this one volume, the stories of the men who risked all in this long ago conflict.This book is dedicated to the individual soldier and the collective experience. As such, it is not straight history and is all the more compelling for it. If you are looking for something more detailed, this is not the book for you.What this book does offer is glimpses into the lives and deaths of the soldiers who participated. From heroes who won the Victoria Cross to deserters who were shot at dawn, each tale, snapshot or drawing provides a vivid introduction to the personal aspect of war.