Lyn Macdonald is a celebrated historian specializing in the First World War, renowned for her deeply human approach to conflict. Her narratives delve into the personal experiences of soldiers and the challenges faced by medical teams, bringing to life the profound impact of pivotal battles. Through meticulous research and evocative prose, she captures the essence of a generation profoundly marked by war. Macdonald's work offers readers an intimate understanding of the tragedy, resilience, and enduring legacy of the Great War.
Uses personal accounts and illustrations to cover many aspects of World War I - from the departure of the Old Contemptibles to fight the Kaiser in 1914 to the bloody fields of Flanders. This book touches on subjects as diverse as propaganda, fear, morale, bravery, bawdiness and frivolity.
Over two decades' research puts Lyn Macdonald among the greatest popular chroniclers of the First World War. In 1915: The Death of Innocence, from the poignant memories of participants, she has once again created an unforgettable slice of military history. By the end of 1914, the battered British forces were bogged down, yet hopeful that promised reinforcements and spring weather would soon lead to a victorious breakthrough. A year later, after appalling losses at Aubers Ridge, Loos, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres and faraway Gallipoli, fighting seemed set to go on for ever. Drawing on extensive interviews, letters and diaries, this book brilliantly evokes the soldiers' dogged heroism, sardonic humour and terrible loss of innocence through 'a year of cobbling together, of frustration, of indecision'. 'It is rare to find a history of the First World War which manages to convey the front-line soldiers' experiences and to describe what it was that enabled those who survived to get through it. Lyn Macdonald has done just that' Sunday Times Over the past twenty years Lyn Macdonald has established a popular reputation as an author and historian of the First World War. Her books are based on the accounts of eyewitnesses and survivors, told in their own words, and cast a unique light on the First World War. Most are published by Penguin.
This is an account of the first few months of the Great War, from the build-up of the fighting to the first Battle of Ypres, written by the author of "Somme", "They called it Passchendaele" and "The Roses of No Man's Land".