In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae
Four years ago, I posted a
reading list
on Remembrance Day. I don't remember if I considered updating the
list every year but if I did I haven't been very good about it.
Her Privates We
, Frederick Manning
is around and reprinted every now and again. It is the one of
the best at conjuring the feeling of the thing.
The Broken Years
, Bill Gammage
is a heartbreaking Australian account, mostly based on
letters.
Up the Line to Death
, Brian Gardner
remains one of the best poetry collections.
Winged Victory
, W.V.M. Yeats
is cumulatively extraordinary. There's a heap of undergraduate
philosophy which you can skim - but it has a hypnotic fascination
once you realise this is how people thought their way through and
to their own destruction.. Cumulatively it paints a picture of
anomic horror that is unsurpassed.
Goodbye to All That
, Robert Graves
is important. So is
Memoirs of a Fox Hunting Man
by Siegfried Sassoon.
I would also recommend both Joseph Heller's
Catch-22
and William Shirer's
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
but not today.
I will try to find suitable links for the books throughout the
day. It's easy enough to find them at one of the big online
booksellers, but I'd recommend stopping by
your local library
instead.
If you've got a good link for one of the books mentioned or have
suggestions of your own,
please let me know
.
Four years ago, I posted a
on Remembrance Day. I don't remember if I considered updating the list every year but if I did I haven't been very good about it.This is the list from 1999 :
Here is a list for 2003:
Maciej offered the following:
David Tilley sent along these suggestions:
I would also recommend both Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich but not today.
I will try to find suitable links for the books throughout the day. It's easy enough to find them at one of the big online booksellers, but I'd recommend stopping by your local library instead.
If you've got a good link for one of the books mentioned or have suggestions of your own, please let me know .