Pict Hist WWI YR PA

by Edward Jablonski

Text and photographs give some attention to the home front and to the high military commanders behind the lines but concentrate on the soldier on the front lines

Genres: World War I, History

Paperback

First published March 5, 1979

About the author

Edward Jablonski was the author of several biographies on American cultural personalities, such as George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Alan Jay Lerner and Irving Berlin, as well as books on aviation history.

Jablonski was born in Bay City, Michigan to a family of Polish-American journalists and writers. His father had been a writer for Sztandar Polski and another relative, Paul F. Jablonski, wrote for the Bay City Times. Early on he fell in love with the music of George and Ira Gershwin. A fan letter he wrote to Ira while in school quickly turned into regular correspondence and eventually a lasting friendship with the lyricist.

While Jablonski was interested in music, his true fascination was with aviation. Supposedly, he spent much of his time watching the planes at the James Clements Airport near the South End of Bay City. He had grown up, he said later, listening to the music of the day as he ''hung around the airport watching the planes.'' As a schoolboy he also started a correspondence with Gershwin. Later on in his life, he became interested in aerial warfare. Telling an interviewer in 1986, "Aviation makes possible the most deadly form of warfare ever -- the perversion of one of man's greatest inventions."

He served in the United States Army Field Artillery in New Guinea during World War II. For his actions in New Guinea, he was awarded the Silver Star.

After leaving the army, he attended junior college in Bay City as a pre-journalism major. He continued his studies at the New School for Social Research, receiving his bachelor's in 1950. He also completed postgraduate work in anthropology at Columbia.

While working for the March of Dimes charity in New York, Jablonski wrote articles and music reviews for a number of small magazines as well as liner notes for albums; this was the beginning of a fifty-year freelance career.

At the time of his death, he was working on "Masters of American Song", which would have been a comprehensive history of American pop music.

Reviews

[Robert Hund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checked out from the Port Austin Library during our vacation at Pointe Aux Barques, MI in August 2000.

The story has been written many times before. Emphasis on the western front "the commanders are aged. Uniforms from the most recent war were worn, antiquated weapons and techniques were used. (how sad...ed. note) The youth of mankind died to prove them wrong. - and how they died!"

Only slight mention of the mutinies in the French and German Armies, and the German and Russian Navies.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, as the title suggests, was chock full of interesting photos from the Great War. However, I was a bit disappointed with the writing, which was dry and read mostly like a textbook. I did learn some interesting facts, but would like to read more on this war to get a better picture of it. Overall, I bought the book for the pictures, and was satisfied in that respect at least.

[Andy]

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