Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work has doubtless its place among the books dealing with The Great War, being built up from narratives, letters, diaries, and personal interviews, often with the help of the principal actors in the events narrated. It is dedicated to the general reader, who wishes a coherent account of the Great War, an account which shall not make large demands on his previous knowledge and which is written in easy, readable style. The emphasis is definitely and intentionally on English action and English achievement. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has the true heart of the military historian. This is volume three out of six, covering the events of the year 1917 with a focus on the Battle of the Somme.
“A superb read . . . destined to become the go-to book for anyone interested in this long-neglected period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.” —The Napoleon Series To crush the French Revolution, the armies of the First Coalition gathered round France’s borders, the largest of which was assembled in Flanders. Composed of Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch, Hessian, Prussian and Imperial Austrian troops, its aim was to invade France and restore the nobility to what was considered their rightful place. Opposing them was the French Armée du Nord. In command of the Anglo-Hanoverian contingent was the son of George III, the Duke of York. The campaign was a disaster for the Coalition forces, particularly during the severe winter of 1794/5 when the troops were forced into a terrible and humiliating retreat. Britain’s reputation and that of its military leaders was severely diminished, with the forces of the Revolution sweeping all before them on a tide of popularism. Yet, from this defeat grew an army that under the Duke of Wellington would eventually crush the Revolution’s greatest general, Napoleon Bonaparte. Of the Flanders Campaign, Wellington, who fought as a junior officer under the Duke of York, remarked that the experience had at least taught him what not to do. Napoleon Series research editor Steve Brown has produced one of the most insightful, and much-needed studies of this disastrous but intriguing campaign, with particular focus on the British Army’s contribution. With copious maps and nineteen appendices including detailed orders of battle, he concludes this important work with an analysis that draws striking, and significant comparisons with the Flanders campaigns of 1914 and 1940. How history repeats itself . . .
This great series addition of Sherlock Holmes includes a full-length novels and short stories. Sherlock Holmes: Volume 3 continues the exciting adventures of the world's most famous pipe-smoking detective, Sherlock Holmes, collecting works written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Included are the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) and the novel The Valley of Fear (1915). From his home, 221B Baker Street in London, the legendary Sherlock Holmes (accompanied by his loyal companion and chronicler, Dr. Watson) employs his mastery of deductive reasoning and expert sleuthing to solve an arraying of complex and harrowing cases, baffling the police and becoming internationally renowned for his remarkable observations and even more eccentric habits. Complete and unabridged, this elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Daniel Stashower.
This book deals with an aspect of the Great War that has been largely overlooked: the war reportage written based on British and American authors’ experiences at the Western Front. It focuses on how the liminal experience of the First World War was portrayed in a series of works of literary journalism at different stages of the conflict, from the summer of 1914 to the Armistice in November 1918. Sara Prieto explores a number of representative texts written by a series of civilian eyewitness who have been passed over in earlier studies of literature and journalism in the Great War. The texts under discussion are situated in the ‘liminal zone’, as they were written in the middle of a transitional period, half-way between two radically different literary styles: the romantic and idealising ante bellum tradition, and the cynical and disillusioned modernist school of writing. They are also the product of the various stages of a physical and moral journey which took several authors into the fantastic albeit nightmarish world of the Western Front, where their understanding of reality was transformed beyond anything they could have anticipated.
