Sam Mendes’ latest film, 1917, drops viewers into the fiery, treacherous barbed-wire battlefields of World War I. More than a century after the Great War, movie directors and authors still have true and fictional stories to tell about the politicians on the sidelines and the combatants in the trenches of the catastrophic conflict. Kirkus Indie recently reviewed three books about the war to end all wars that killed an estimated 9 million soldiers.
Robert Eugene Johnson based his debut historical novel, Austin in the Great War, on his father, a Nebraska farmer. Austin works in a United States Army unit in France in 1918 that wrangles huge hydrogen balloons. The story richly details the dangers from high winds, German planes and artillery, balloon explosions, and poison gas attacks. Our reviewer calls the work “a fine evocation of the face of war and the hidden wounds it leaves.”
In Tweets From the Trenches, Jacqueline Carmichael offers poems, stories, diaries, photographs, and documents. The inspiration for the project came from the “trench letters” of her World War I veteran grandfather, George “Black Jack” Vowel. Carmichael’s poems include tidbits from Vowel in italics: “Must try to remember why I am here / I am done / I am played out / I look like a loose button on an overcoat.” The compilation delivers “a harrowing, compelling, and moving scrapbook of primary sources and reflections,” our critic writes.
A passionate Theodore Roosevelt vigorously attempted to prepare America for World War I after the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania. David Pietrusza’s TR’s Last War details Roosevelt’s push for military readiness and his fervent wish “for a chance to crush Woodrow Wilson.” According to our critic, the well-researched book presents “a captivating look at a singular American figure and the tumultuous history he helped fashion.”
Myra Forsberg is an Indie editor.
