When This Bloody War Is Over

by Max Arthur

The songs in this book were the ones soldiers actually sang - on the march, in the dug-outs and trenches, amidst the carnage of the battlefield. Each song is introduced by Max Arthur, giving its historical background.

Genres: History, World War I

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Max Arthur is an author who specialises in first-hand recollections of historical events. He has worked closely with the Imperial War Museum to bring together two books in the Forgotten Voices series, Forgotten Voices of the Great War and Forgotten Voices of the Second World War. Prior to becoming a writer, he served with the Royal Air Force and for some years was an actor.

Reviews

[Esme_weatherwax · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting reading the different songs that were sung during WWI. There were crude songs ( which made me laugh), uplifting songs and sober songs. All of the songs spoke of truth and the more sober ones rang of truth more then the others. You can tell by the songs that the men were able to keep their moral up in the most depression of times. The preface and intro were especially interesting and gave a brief idea of the world these men came from. The only two things I wished there was in the book was more background information about the songs and the actual music. Although some of the tunes I did not know to play them in my head the words read like poetry which is fine by me. I also really liked they fact that the book had pictures and illustrations from the era.