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World War I has been the subject of countless books, films, and lectures that expand upon the causes, the individual battles, and the long-term ramifications of the global conflict that was naively called the "War to End All Wars." But while these overviews are informative, the stories that seem to impact audiences the most are the ones that recount the lives of individuals, often previously unknown except by their families, who saw the horrors of the war firsthand. In a hefty volume that focuses on the experiences of two brothers caught up in the fight, the author offers up a richly detailed yet highly readable account that hooks the reader from page one.
To properly set his stage Aonghais at first delves into the family's background in Suffolk, England, and especially on the fate of the family patriarch, William Baker, who finds himself a convict on a prison ship after stealing from a local farmer to provide for his children. The narrative soon shifts, though, to chronicling the experiences of his grandsons Victor and Malcolm, the former serving with New Zealand's forces in Egypt and Palestine and the latter under the flag of England on the Western Front in France. Enhancing their separate tales is a wealth of information on the locations, troops, and battles they encountered as well as transcripts of letters home, diary entries, and a plethora of pictures and illustrations.
Aonghais expertly reveals the human side of the war while at the same time giving the reader a well-researched treatise on two of its key fronts. Engaging and poignant, his book is a moving tribute to two brothers swept up into one of the 20th Century's most tragic events.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review