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michaelkerr 's review for:
And We Go On: A Memoir of the Great War
by David Williams, Will R. Bird
Erich Maria Remarque observed in his preface to All Quiet on the Western Front that he was writing for and about the men who may have escaped the shells but who were nonetheless destroyed by the war. Based on diaries written during the fighting, this narrative is a testament to that perspective.
When the ghost of his dead brother appears to him in uniform, Bird resolves to "take up the quarrel with the foe" and joins up. It is the first of many supernatural experiences the author has during the war, giving the book a strange, otherworldly feel - entirely in keeping with the great interest in spiritualism that characterizes the post-war period.
As a common soldier, Bird has a lot to say about the officer class and about the conduct of the war; however, this book is mostly about the pointless waste, the price to be paid when we allow ourselves to be suckered into conflict. It is a lesson we would do well to remember in our current time of troubles. By turns gruesome, amusing, infuriating, and thought-provoking, this Canadian classic of the "Great War," is a must read.
When the ghost of his dead brother appears to him in uniform, Bird resolves to "take up the quarrel with the foe" and joins up. It is the first of many supernatural experiences the author has during the war, giving the book a strange, otherworldly feel - entirely in keeping with the great interest in spiritualism that characterizes the post-war period.
As a common soldier, Bird has a lot to say about the officer class and about the conduct of the war; however, this book is mostly about the pointless waste, the price to be paid when we allow ourselves to be suckered into conflict. It is a lesson we would do well to remember in our current time of troubles. By turns gruesome, amusing, infuriating, and thought-provoking, this Canadian classic of the "Great War," is a must read.