Not all that brief

[Ron]

This serves as kind of an oral history of the First World War, told through correspondences and diary entries. Some are true standouts, such as the surreal accounts of the zeppelin bombing raids on London, as well as horrific stories about life in the trenches. Still others are beyond mundane, such as the drab essay that closed out the book, by Douglas Haig, commander of the BEF and known by some as the Butcher of the Somme, who seemed to think that mounted cavalry was more effective than tanks. The stories are vastly overweighted with British accounts.

It is far from brief, and would have benefited greatly from illustrations and photos, but is a useful account of what the war was like on the ground.