This latest book by Malcolm Brown covers the final year of the Great War in a similar style to Lyn MacDonald's great books on World War One. Once again the author uses first-hand accounts of the participants of this dreadful conflict to reveal to the reader the horror of this conflict as seen through the eyes and experiences of the soldiers. With access to the Imperial War Museums archives he utilises the reports, letters, diaries and interviews of the soldiers and civilians on both sides who fought during 1918. I am a prolific reader of history books and I tend to forget sometimes that besides history I am also reading about people. This book is one of those rare books where you fully realise that this is not only history but also flesh and blood. The accounts of some the people in this book are truly sad, they hit home and make you realise that these were real people, individuals caught up in a war of massive scale and destruction.

I would like to present just a few accounts take from this magnificent book to demonstrate why I found this book such a great story of men and war.

This first account is by a 20-year-old Second Lieutenant during an assault on some German positions; "We passed on and quickly reached the objective, a line of trenches along the crest of slightly elevated ground. I jumped down into the German trench followed by a NCO and about eight men. The trench was deserted except for some bodies of dead Germans. Later, I noticed the sad manner of the death of one of these. Evidently a piece of shell had carried away the whole calf of his leg, baring it to the bone. He had dragged half of his body into a 'cubby-hole' at the bottom of the trench side, there to die quietly, in the dark, his face hidden from the world. He was respected and grieved for, in death, by at least one enemy soldier." This was after this officer had seen a number of his friends cut down by German defensive fire and having a team of three men operating a Lewis gun in a shell hole with him killed. He picked up the gun and wiped the butt clean of blood and brain and passed it onto other soldiers to continue their advance (Page 211-215).

Another account is from Major F.J. Rice, 82nd Brigade, RFA. His account is about the death of a twenty-four year old Bombardier. He later received a package from the dead soldiers parents which he subsequently forwarded to his own mother with this covering letter; "Will you please put the enclosed away for me somewhere safe? I have always got nice letters back from parents whose sons have been killed in my battery but these seemed exceptionally grateful for my letter and sent me a photo of Bombardier Stone and a sort of memorial ribbon. He was badly wounded during the barrage we fired on Sept. 18th when we were shelled from 5-15 to 6-45 a.m. and we had to go on firing our guns all the time. We had ten casualties during that time (six killed). It was the worst hour and a half I have ever had." (Pages 271-272). The ribbon had a poem, which went on to say:

'How little we thought when we said good-bye, We were parted for ever, and he was to die; Oh, the grief that we feel words can never tell' For we could not be with him to bid him farewell; But Christ will clasp the broken chain Closer when we meet again.'

Sadly the book is full of these sort of stories, the last letters of many men condemned to die on the Western Front but brought back to life by this author to allow us to feel the horror and exhilaration of this final year of the Great War. Many books have covered the German Offensive starting on March 21st 1918, the so-called 'Kaiser's Battle'. However this book goes past that point and carries the story to the Allied Counter-Offensive and final victory. The books main focus is on the Western Front but he does not neglect the Home Front nor those areas designated as 'Side Shows'.

Overall this is a great story, at first I found it a bit slow to start but after awhile I could not put the book down. I was proud to read about the accomplishments of my own countrymen and I came to fully appreciate the efforts of the British Army, the Canadians, and the Americans. This is an excellent book, written without bias, well researched and well presented. A number of black & white photos are presented to assist the narrative but no maps which I didn't find to be too much of a hindrance. If you enjoy Lyn MacDonald's accounts of World War One you will appreciate this book. It sits along side this authors earlier book on the Somme and all of Lyn MacDonalds books as well.

In essence, as Brown states in his preface, the Imperial War Museum is the author of this thought provoking compilation of moving textual and stunning visual records of the First World War, 1914-1918. The Museum was established in the wake of the greatest conflagration the world had ever known and has an almost inexhaustable reserve of pictures, posters, postcards, photographs, films, pamphlets, books, diaries, letters, and documents detailing the massive British effort to fight and win 'the war to end all wars.' The author does not attempt to present a comprehensive study but rather one that naturally leans towards areas in which the Museum's holdings are rich. Thus, the British role on the Western Front is emphasized although other wartime operations such as Gallipoli, Salonika, and the Middle East are not ignored. While the war was highly political and technological, the focus of this book is on the personal and the particular. The subject matter is not war so much as people caught up in war and the author clearly intends to provide a fresh look at the First World War which is as precise and objective as possible yet spiritually enriching and in context to current events. Strong editorialship is utilized to weave together personal profiles and special features with linking narrative prose which is clearly written and assimilated. In these pages great political and military figures such as David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, and Douglas Haig appear remote and somewhat dehumanized rather than the masses of individual participants as is usually the case. For example, the reader is shocked but ultimately relieved at the situation of W.H. Wykeham-Musgrave, Royal Navy, who was torpedoed three times on the same day as the armored cruisers HMS ABOUKIR, HOGUE, and CRESSY were sunk by a single German U-boat on 22 September 1914. There is also ample evidence of the largely unheralded efforts of women in the munitions factories and in military support services such as nursing and transportation. Contemporary humor remains relevant especially in regard to the contrasting abysmal conditions in the trenches and the more comfortable home fires. In one military paper a woman asks a soldier "What struck you most about the Ypres battle?" to which he replies "Shrapnel, lady." (p. 265). Finally, the book concludes with the disillusioned observations of one soldier who argues that "the old order had changed; the genteel of 1914 were gone; blatent riches reigned in their stead; money was the power in the land; money that had been reaped from the bodies of the dead. This was victory. The war to end war" (p. 282). Such a loss of idealism in the aftermath of this cataclysmic horror became the zeitgeist for an entire 'lost generation' and is well represented in this book and masterfully communicated to the reader.

I recently purchased this author's latest book: 'The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918: Year of Victory' and was prompted to do so because I enjoyed his book on the Somme. I first read this book when it was released in hardback some years ago and I am somewhat surprised that it has not received any reviews of yet.

I have a passionate interest in books covering the Western Front during the Great War. I found this book to be a well researched and presented account of this terrible battle. Having read quite a few books on this battle I have no hesitation it placing it along side such great books as Lyn MacDonald's 'Somme' and Martin Middlebrook's 'The First Day on the Somme'.

Malcolm Brown has utilised numerous first hand accounts from diaries, reports, newspapers and interviews and uses these in a manner that brings life to this terrible battle. Somewhat similar in style to Lyn MacDonald and just as good, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author tells the battle through the experiences of the ordinary (I should say extraordinary) soldier; British, Australian, Canadian, German and the many others who fought during this terrible carnage.

The narrative flows along smoothly and the personal accounts of the soldiers seem to blend in effortlessly. Malcolm Brown has used the resources of the Imperial War Museum to present a detailed and accurate story of the Somme which I am sure that most people would enjoy and find rewarding. If you can no longer find a copy of Lyn MacDonald's 'Somme' or Martin Middlebrook's 'The First Day on the Somme' grab this book instead, you won't be disappointed!

Of interest to other readers this book was recently hailed as "a valuable addition to First World War literature".

This gorgeously illustrated book is a treat to look at. Scores of photos, sketches and reprints amply show off the Nouveau style in jewelry, furniture, furnishings, art, posters etc. The text gives a good history and background of the style, and shows how it makes it's presence in current culture. This is a great book for artists looking for creative ideas and anyone that appreciates great style.

This book came to me as a Christmas gift from a friend who knows both me and the author. I met the author, Malcolm Glass, when we were students in college. Over the years Malcolm has sent me poems to commemorate events in my life - confirmation, ordination to the priesthood. Often I had looked for his name in anthologies. Now, at last, I find his published works.

The author, Malcolm Glass, has been a teacher (at Austin Peay University, Clarkesville, Tennessee, since the 1960's) and poet (since at least the 1940's), husband, father, churchman, traveler.

This book gave me a delightful reunion with Malcolm and an opportunity to catch up on what had been going on in his life - death of his father-in-law, Henry Jesse Davis (To the River), and recalling Aggie (Going Back) both of whom I had met.

Remembering across the years and catching up brings us face-to-face with our own mortality and the transitoriness of events. But remembering "In the Shadow of the Gourd" (the title is from one of the poems about the true story of James Bartley who was actually swallowed by a whale, like Jonah, and survived) is to reconnect with life-changing events. In "Witnessing" we are shown the effects of horrific experiences witnessed by innocent bystanders. In "Harris Tweed" a grandfather is recalled when the author puts on the sport coat he inherited.

In this remembering we find events transformed into the kind of images which shape us and define us throughout our lives. With "In the Shadow of the Gourd", Malcolm Glass has done the work of a poet: to take ordinary events and lift them up to the level of art. There we may come to know ourselves as more than mere accidents of nature or pawns of those who might seem more powerful and more important than ourselves. In the art of the poet we are given our rightful place as participants in a larger life.

In the tradition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer prayers are offered for the dead, those who have been granted "an entrance in to the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of [God's] saints". The work of the poet is to open for the living gates of a larger life in the fellowship of a vast communion of persons. Malcolm Glass has done this. Thank you, Malcolm.

I've know Johnny France since he was a young man. Without his dogged determination, these two killers might not have ever been captured. Don Nichols is still in prison and most likely will never get paroled. This book tells fascinating tale almost too strange to believe in these modern times. Great reading!!

Beneath some of Montana's grandest mountain peaks lurked a preditor. Caught in the crosshairs of Don Nichols twisted logic was Kari Swenson. The idea of a mountain bride, stolen from a remote wooded trail. Most amazing is how the Nichols' not only managed to elude the persistance of Johnny France, but stayed one step ahead certain death in the Montana winter of 1984 with just the packs on thier backs. You wont be able to put this one down!

For two decades following the Vietnam war, ill-fated attempts by the United States to obtain conclusive evidence concerning the fate of hundreds of POW/MIA's from the Vietnam war finally found success. In a bold and daring espionage mission, former U.N. refugee officer Theodore G. Schweitzer was the acting agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in what later became known as Operation Swamp Ranger.

Beginning in March of 1992 and lasting several months, Schweitzer was granted access to Vietnamese war archives that held a voluminous amount of information on U.S. servicemen that were missing in action and others that were held as prisoners of war. Vietnam, up until this point, had strenuously denied for years that they had any useful data on missing servicemen and they blatantly withheld documents that would solve many discrepancy cases on unknown losses of U.S. personnel. Using previously unreleased photographs, meticulously annotated files, and physical evidence, Operation Swamp Ranger completely exposed Vietnam's attempts to bury the POW/MIA issue over the years. Although only suspected by the U.S. government, Vietnam's General Political Directorate (GPD) finally admitted that many U.S. servicemen were killed in cold blood.

Operation Swamp Ranger also proved to be useful in the aspect that it helped dispel the widespread theory that Americans had been abandoned by the U.S. government after repatriation of POW's in 1973. Furthermore, scams and other fraudulent activities aimed at the grieving families of MIA's were exposed and contradicted by evidence gained from Hanoi's archives. Lastly, there appears to be no conclusive facts to date which could verify that there are actual live POW's still held in Vietnam today.

Although limited cooperation with the Vietnamese government regarding POW/MIA's faltered after revelations from Operation Swamp Ranger became known to the public at large, the U.S. government still claimed a large victory in what amounts to a monumental breakthrough in the enduring POW/MIA controversy. Unfortunately, this long and arduous journey does not have a happy ending. Not yet, anyway. Even as the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) continues to negotiate, haggle, bargain, cajole, and mediate with Vietnam regarding additional unreleased material they still hold, there are no clear indications of just how much further progress will be accomplished in the future. As stated in the author's narrative, communist archives are notoriously known for disinformation and forgeries and nothing in Vietnam is ever straightforward or simple.

Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives is a remarkable investigation into previously hidden wartime data. Generously footnoted and offering revealing photographs, this is a fascinating and memorable reading experience. Anyone having the slightest or even most demanding questions concerning the ongoing legacy of missing U.S. servicemen in Vietnam, I would enthusiastically recommend this book to you and to everyone in general.

I heard excerpts of this book at a symposium for Lowry in 1996. The person reading this memoir said it would only be available after Gabriel's death so I'm assuming she has passed on. I was very moved during the reading in 1996 and I was no less moved when I finally was able to read the entire book. Gabriel has a very poetic and flowing style of her own. She is very honest throughout the book as she writes about her tragic relationship with Lowry. This book won't make you happy but it will give you insight into their relationship that you can't find anywhere else. On that level, it is as equally important as Pursued by Furies. In the end, we get to see a sympathetic character in Jan Gabriel that counters Lowry's portrayal of her in Under the Volcano. We also get an insights on Lowry from the most important period of his creative life.

Without this book all business libraries are incomplete. With articles rangeing from the biographies of such legends as Bill Gates to fully referenced and peer reviewed articles on world regions and their economic statuses and of course a thorough grounding in the business basics. This not only superseeds the first edition but comprehensively betters it.