In the Fields and the Trenches [hc]
The Famous and the Forgotten on the Battlefields of World War I
By Kerrie Logan Hollihan [Ohio]
When it started, many thought the Great War would be a great adventure. Yet, as those who saw it up close learned, it was anything but. The stories of eighteen young idealists swept into the brutal conflict are traced and many would go on to become well-known 20th-century figures in film, science, politics, literature, and business. Writer J. R. R. Tolkien was a signals officer with the British Expeditionary Force and fought at the Battle of the Somme. Scientist Irène Curie helped her mother, Marie, run twenty X-ray units for French field hospitals. Actor Buster Keaton left Hollywood after being drafted into the army’s 40th Infantry Division. And all four of Theodore Roosevelt’s sons- Kermit, Archibald, Quentin, and Theodore III- and his daughter Ethel served in Europe, though one did not return.
Extensive original material, from letters sent from the front to personal journals, brings these men and women back to life. And though their stories are a century old, they convey modern, universal themes of love, death, power, greed, courage, hate, fear, family, friendship, and sacrifice. 208 pages
2017 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
January 1, 2016
